Online Reporter
Online Reporter
AFTER cycling for almost 15km, with his wife and one-year-old child on the saddle, 28-year-old Honest Mudenda finally managed to acquire a birth certificate for his daughter.
On Tuesday, Mudenda was issued the document at Sinamusanga Primary School, some 160 km away from Binga District Centre.
The institution is one of the marginalised areas that the Government has identified as centres for mobile registration.
It’s a process whereby the Government is taking civil registration to people’s doorsteps, as part of a grand plan to have all citizens legally documented by 2030.
Computerisation of Civil Registry sub-offices is also ongoing across the rural areas as part of the Government’s digitisation efforts.
Kariangwe in Binga has already benefited. The Government is working in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), with funding from the governments of Sweden and Switzerland.
The programme has so far covered Zimbabwe’s eight rural provinces, especially the hard-to-reach areas like Sinamusanga, where locals are also exposed to human-wildlife conflict.
“It was important for my daughter to have a birth certificate; she could not go to school if she didn’t have this document,” he said.
“That is why I had to cycle for over 15 km to get to Sinamusanga Primary School.”
Deputy Registrar General provincial operations, Ms Christina Chikerema, said the government is targeting Zimbabwe’s eight rural provinces.
“What is happening here is part of a broader programme that the Civil Registry Department is embarking on in collaboration with Unicef,” said Ms Chikerema.
“We are going to those areas to issue birth certificates, death certificates and national identity cards.
“Our main goal is to fulfil the key priority area of provision of legal identity for all by 2030.”
The programme has been to areas like Chikombedzi in Masvingo, Mangwe in Matabeleland South and Mhangura in Mashonaland West.
“By targeting hard-to-reach areas, we are ensuring that we leave no one and no place behind,” she said.
“Yes, the department is fully decentralised to districts, to sub-offices like in this Binga District, there is an office in Siabuwa and Tinde.
“But it is still not enough. We feel that we want to bring the services to the people. The documents that we issue have a direct impact on the life of people. For people to participate in all national affairs, they have to be documented. For children to go to school, they need birth certificates. For women and men to access health services, they need their IDs.
“For people to vote, for people to get agricultural inputs. So our department is a cross-cutting enabler. We have to be there where the people are.”
Unicef’s child protection manager, Dr Nyasha Mayanga believes legal documentation of citizens is a key gateway to accessing essential services.
“Let us appreciate that securing a birth certificate or the birth registration process is not merely an administrative process or a bureaucratic process, but it is a way of protecting the children and ensuring their right to identity and nationality is fulfilled,” said Dr Mayanga.
“That is very fundamental, so a birth certificate is not just a piece of paper, there are these attendant issues that are beneficial to the children of Zimbabwe.
“We are working with the Government of Zimbabwe, supporting the government of Zimbabwe in terms of computerising sub-offices in rural areas, in peri-urban areas and some selected urban sites.
“In Binga, we have supported the Government to computerise the Kariangwe sub office. The key issue really in terms of computerisation and digitalisation processes is to ensure that the children, the parents, the guardians, the caregivers have access to digitised legal documentation.”
