01 Jan 2014
UNICEF releases videos on birth registration in Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands
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UNICEF has just published three videos on birth registration in the Pacific. The videos highlight the different challenges as well as some of the common solutions. The video on the left explains the Kiribati government's plans to decentralize civil registration services to all provinces and expand the number of service points and agencies with authority to provide civil registration. These activities will ensure increased registration coverage of vital events, in particular births. Recognizing that disaggregated data is instrumental for government planning and decision making, the video also showcases the recently introduced electronic databases that allow countries to further disaggregate data. 

The development of the Civil Registry's Information Management System by the Department of Civil Status in Vanuatu received international recognition for promoting national ownership in addition to facilitating decentralisation and reaching families in some of the most hard to reach islands. A 14 minute video documenting this unique and innovative approach is also available.

A key goal of the Government of the Solomon Islands is to establish functional civil registration services in rural and urban areas. This video captures the value of an expanded and decentralized approach towards birth registration in significantly contributing towards the establishment of a wider national civil registration system in the long term. The improved system will reach all children in the main island as well as the outer islands.