Tanga and Kilimanjaro regions: Decentralized birth registration program was introduced for under-five children

The decentralized birth registration system has begun in the areas of Tanga and Kilimanjaro today. More than 580,000 children under five are projected to obtain a birth certificate in both regions over the next two months. This means that the number of regions with the latest birth registration system has already begun exceeds 18. The purpose of the program is to create a system for tracking all new births and for registering all children under the age of five in both regions.

This initiative improves the community’s access to birth registration. Where registration can only occur in the district headquarters town before registration, now registration points are being developed in health facilities providing reproductive and child health services and in Community executive offices in compliance with Government decentralization policy through transfer. Registration points would allow parents in both these regions to conveniently access more than 1,070 existing registration points in contrast to 13 registration points currently in place by designated health facilities and Ward executive offices. 

“The current decentralized structure substantially speeds birth registering in Tanzania Mainland, after years of stagging,” said Emmy Hudson, Acting Administrator General and Chief Executive Officer of the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agence (RITA), which is responsible for this programme. The program simplifies access to a birth certificate for children and their families. Parents can now get birth certificates from the health centres and/or the offices of the ward.

We are committed to ensuring that no child is left behind and have therefore taken more measures to increase the emphasis on sex and gender so as not to leave anyone behind. She has concluded by acknowledging UNICEF’s commitment to supporting the birth registration system in the world, the Government of Canada and TIGO. The software also implements a method of ‘one step, one visit’ and takes a creative approach to data collection. Registration fees under this system have been waived by the government and free of charge is given the first edition. Data is transferred and published immediately by the use of SMS so that progress is tracked in real-time. 

In cooperation with UNICEF, Tigo and the Canadian government, the Government has been implementing this initiative since 2013. The Tanga and Kilimanjaro projects today include Ruvuma, Morogoro, Pwani, Singida, Dodoma, Mara, Simiyu, Lindi, Mtwara, Geita, Shinyanga, Mbeya, Songwe, Mwanza, Iringa and Njombe, which already cover 4.6 million children under the age of 5. The new program led to an rise from less than 10% to more than 80% in total under-five qualification in these regions. The program also helped to boost Tanzania Mainland ‘s certification rate from less than 13% to over 50% in seven years. 

UNICEF has been working closely with the Government since the start of the design of the revolutionary birth registration system to incorporate one area at a time smoothly in order to cover the whole country. Supported by Canada, the Government of Tanzania has established a sustainable birth registration model for girls and boys under 5 in 18 regions to hit more than 4.6 million. The funding contributes significantly to the growth of the country’s successful civil registration and critical statistical framework. Via advanced mobile technology, Tigo supports this initiative to ensure that birth registration data is uploaded and sent to a central database in real-time.

Moreover, Tigo also provides 1,350 TZS 169 million smartphones and free text messaging to support this initiative. Tigo ‘s Northern Zone Territory manager Daniel Mainoya said at the launch ceremony: “Our decision to support this initiative underlines our commitment to building a strong social ecosystem that offers technology promise in our region. Tigo contributes greatly to the Sustainable Development Goals with this breakthrough. This relationship also demonstrates the role that mobile service providers can play in addressing pressing social needs by using their technology and expertise. 

Birth registration is important because children have a birth certification which gives them access to all social services. Additionally, a birth certificate is mandatory for adults to obtain a variety of other forms of identification, including Voting ID, Driver License, Passport and National ID. The registration of the SIM card today can not be achieved without the national identification card. This modern birth registration program has bridged the rural-urban gap, increasing access to registration for their children among the most vulnerable populations and removes gender-based barriers to the registration of births. This study deals with the main issues of “accessibility” and “accessibility,” a significant obstacle in Tanzania’s birth registration system.

Inputs from UNICEF Tanzania