Kenyan communities give children their right

The community are working together to register births

The Mrima community may be living in one of the driest and poverty stricken districts in Kenya, but it is achieving results that more developed communities cannot compete – birth registration for their new-born children.

The community was affected by child trafficking for years, without birth registration children officially did not exist and were vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Children were also being denied their basic rights to school, health care and housing.

With Plan and Unicef joining partners with the local government to highlight the campaign, the highly receptive community supported it, particularly as birth registration is part of a health activities called for by the community.

Community-driven birth registration

Work by the Mkembau Community-Based Organisation has shown how to socialise birth registration and turn it into a community-owned and driven initiative. Active community members have derived satisfaction and pride in their accomplishments.

The community is divided into units, each consisting of ten households with a health committee in charge. The committee is represented at local level by its chairman who sits in the location health committee.

All births are reported to the committee members whose network covers all the villages. They then submit the names to the chief. The chief, who acts as assistant registrar of births, has his own independent system to verify reports given including names, parentage, place, date and relations. In case he detects anomalies, he consults the committee.

Community influencing others

90% of births have been registered

The collective efforts by chiefs, assistant chiefs and elders for several years, has brought fame to the community, with the Eastern and Southern Africa Conference on Universal Birth Registration held in the community.

The Conference gave the community the opportunity to voice their comprehensive knowledge to high-profile visitors, including a former Zambian president, along with several ministers and senior ranking government officials from over 25 countries. They even taught one or two lessons on how birth registration can be achieved through genuine community participation.

The Mrima community is now more motivated by the recognition it has received. Even the neighbouring communities consider Mrima as a model and have begun birth registration initiatives.

With Mrima’s influence, Kilifi is another Plan area that despite its poverty has been able to make significant efforts in birth registration. Here, many chiefs have improved the accuracy and systematic approach to birth registration, “we are actually reaching a point where a birth is reported within the first 24 hours,” says Chief Kassim Tambwe.

As Universal Birth Registration gains momentum, it is now dawning on many that the secret of its success lies in community ownership.