
A right to identity
Here at Toyboybox we believe that a basic quality of life should be the right of all children, rather than a privilege enjoyed by a few. Every child has the right to a name and a nationality so should be registered when they are born.
In practice, this doesn’t always happen for vulnerable children, particularly those born on the streets. Since 2013, we have been supporting children and their parents to access their birth certificates so that they have an official identity. We also work with policy makers to improve processes to enable this to happen.
Using technology to accelerate progress
Last year, Toybox launched an exciting new pilot project in Guatemala in conjunction with the civil registry office using mobile phone technology to design and test an app-based solution to support timely birth registration.
In Guatemala, many thousands of births take place outside of hospitals and health centres and are attended by community midwives many miles from the local registration offices. As a result, many children born at home or on the streets currently miss the initial registration stage. The law in country states that a baby must be registered within 60 days of their birth, after that there is a cost implication, and the process becomes more complex.
Roz Elliott, Programme Manager for Latin America shares, "In Guatemala, approximately 70% of births in homes or communities are attended by a midwife and their interaction with families offers a key opportunity to record the child’s birth. This project will focus on developing the app, as well as training midwives in the use of it. The project aims to simplify the registration process and help accelerate progress towards universal birth registration in the country. Alongside the work with midwives, the project will also work directly with the local registrars, local authorities and volunteer networks to support families to complete registration on time."
The pilot is initially focussed in three departments within Guatemala and is led by our local partner CONACMI, and RENAP, the government department responsible for managing birth registrations in the country.