CIVIL REGISTRATION IN TANZANIA

Introduction The level of registration in Tanzania is currently 16 per cent (15 per cent for Mainland and 79 per cent for Zanzibar) and it seems to have remained at the same level in the past five year (TDHS 2010) On the mainland the percentage of children under the age of five who have been registered with civil authorities is 14.6% and less than half (6.2%) have a birth certificate. The reasons for low rates of registration are varied and complex and include: low awareness among parents and caretakers on the value of obtaining a birth certificate; the cost of obtaining a certificate and the travel costs to district headquarters to collect it; highly centralized and generally inaccessible registration services; and high rates of home births (half of all births take place at home).

Efforts to date On the Mainland, the Government through Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) is implementing a new birth registration strategy, which aims to bring birth registration and certification services closer to where people live. RITA has come up with an Initiative called Under Five Birth Registration Initiative (U5BRI) to improve the rate of birth registration uptake rate for all ages but with a keen focus on the U5. Under five age group is strategically important as a vital denominator statistic feeding into universal rights and the Millennium Development Goals.

Key aspects of the new Initiative Registration and certification will be carried out concurrently; The number and range of people who can perform the role of an Assistant Registrar will be increased; The handwritten birth certificate will be issued free of charge for the first issue for under five children; A Birth Registration Information System will be developed with mobile and scanning technology for data transmission and entry.

Pilot of the New Approach RITA with support from UNICEF, piloted the new approach in one district of Temeke. The pilot was implemented for 6 weeks from 4 June to 13 July, 2012 and it covered 14 wards out of 30 wards. Statistics showed that only 15% of the U5s had been registered and had birth certificates in the 14 wards selected.

Pilot contd By the end of the 6 weeks pilot, 15,513 U5s additional children were registered. This is on average, 2,585 children a week or 514 children a day. Through this pilot alone, RITA registered 29% of children under five, in the 14 wards increasing the under-five birth registration in the 14 wards to an average of 44%.

Analysis of the Pilot The 6 weeks pilot in Temeke proved the effectiveness of the newly introduced process, one step form, and technology. Moreover, the good practices and lessons learned from the pilot experience is informing the scale up of under- five birth registration to five regions out of the 24 regions in Tanzania mainland over the next 2 years. These efforts are geared towards increasing national coverage and the Government’s target of 80% registration of under 5s by 2016.

Way Forward Up-scaling of U5BRI to the five regions of Mwanza, Geita, Shinyanga, Simiyu, and Mbeya from July 2012 onwards is guided by lessons from the field test; Increasing awareness; An MoU is to be signed between Ministry of Health, and Prime Ministers Office Regional and Local Government Legal framework review is in progress; Preparation for the formation of a high level steering committee that will comprise of government officials and development partner's have started.

Tanzania Progress against the Declaration of Ministers responsible for Civil Registration Proposed amendment to the Births and Deaths Registration Act are underway. Responded to Civil Registration & Vital Statistics Baseline Regional Assessment Questionnaire Draft Memorandum of Understanding with key Ministries on improvement of births registration is ready hopefully to be signed Improved coverage regarding birth registration through the U5BRI. Formulation of the National Coordination Team of experts on Civil Registration.