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Universal Birth Registration in West Africa : the importance of birth registration

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Plan "count me in!" 2005-2006 report. Download (pdf
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Statistics from Plan's latest report on UBR "count me in!" (2005/2006) show 55% of the children in the subsaharan region are unregistered. Birth registration is a critical first step in ensuring a child’s rights to survival, development and access to quality services.

Registration means proof of identity. It is vital to secure recognition before the law, protect rights such as inheritance and access to public services, and make children less vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, especially if separated from their parents.

In countries like Togo, Plan faces the challenge of protecting children from child traficking and early school drop out. It is difficult for parents to report their lost child and for local organizations to find them. Children in such cases often do not know their birth day and fail to give true names.



Plan supports ‘Community Population register Program’ in Ghana
In Ghana, Plan supports birth registration through financial and technical support program to enable state agents to easily register children at birth. This action comes in addition to the 'write me down make me real' advocacy campaign 2007.

Striking Universal Birth Registration campaign
February in Burkina was definitely the month of the Universal Birth Registration campaign. After the FESPACO, meeting with officials gives hope of increased support to Plan's actions in the field.

Promoting UBR
Outstanding West African filmmaker Idrissa Ouédraogo helped Plan, UNICEF, UNFPA advocate for UBR with a spot.

Doris case in Cameroon
This is the story of Doris, a ten year old brought to the Social Affairs Office in Yaounde Cameroon by two men who found her both with an older girl loitering in one of the most sensible areas of the city.
 

Advocating in Togo
Since 2001, Plan Togo has supported the establishment of over 15,000 birth certificates for children from the East Mono district, whose parents failed to register them within the first month as legally required.
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Support our UBR Global Campaign 2007


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Statistics
(source UBR 2005/2006 Report)

UBR in West Africa supported by Plan:

 - Benin: 8,200 children registered since 2003

 - Burkina Faso: 82,821 children registered since 2004

 - Camerron: 3,353 children registered since 2005

 - Ghana: over a million registration, an increase of 26% since 2004

 - Guinea: 5% increase in birth registration

 - Guinea Bissau:77,722 children registered since 2002

 - Mali: 8,572 birth registration

 - Niger 25,000 children registered since 2002

 - Senegal: 18% increase in birth registrations between 2000 and 2004

 - Sierra Leone: 110,068 children registered representing 80% of former unregistered children since 2005

 - Togo: 107,314 children registered since 2005

The importance of birth registration is raised in the preamble of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7 of the Convention, and the UN General Assembly resolution A World Fit for Children. Despite this attention to birth registration, provision for registration of all children at birth is still a major challenge for many countries.
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Promoting UBR
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Outstanding West African filmmaker Idrissa Ouédraogo helped Plan, UNICEF, UNFPA advocate for UBR with a spot.
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Doris case in Cameroon
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This is the story of Doris, a ten year old brought to the Social Affairs Office in Yaounde Cameroon by two men who found her both with an older girl loitering in one of the most sensible areas of the city.
 
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Advocating in Togo
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Since 2001, Plan Togo has supported the establishment of over 15,000 birth certificates for children from the East Mono district, whose parents failed to register them within the first month as legally required.
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