How We’re Ensuring Every Girl Is Counted
Across Mozambique, especially in rural areas like the ones we serve, many people lack a birth certificate or legal form of identification. Oftentimes, children don’t know their exact birthdays or legal names which can present a lot of problems down the road.
Documentation is vitally important, correlating directly to more safety, opportunity, and the ability to exercise one’s rights. It can truly make a world of difference for an individual offering various benefits including access to:
Education - Several countries require registration in order to test out of primary school. Without it, a child is not permitted to progress on to a secondary education.
Healthcare - When there is no official record of a person’s existence, they are excluded from their government’s benefit programs and health services.
Employment - Without legal recognition, an individual is unable to gain legitimate employment, narrowing down their job opportunities later in life.
Without proof of identity, a person is invisible to their government. For children in particular, there are dangerous consequences including increased vulnerability to child labor, child marriage, prostitution, and trafficking.
To give you an idea of how critical this issue really is, here are some striking statistics about birth registration in developing countries:
According to UNICEF, on average, one in three children under age 5 (166 million) are not registered.
UNICEF estimates that 237 million children under age 5 worldwide currently do not have a birth certificate.
World Bank states that globally, more than 1.1 billion people are unable to prove their identity.
How have the girls of Kurandza been affected?
Since many of the girls in our program are vulnerable and orphaned, they move around frequently with different parents and guardians. This can make it quite difficult to keep accurate, up-to-date records on file. With each move, a guardian may change the child’s registered last name to their own last name, or even change their first names to other ones of their choosing. We’ve found this to be especially true with the preschool students.
Many people in Mozambique also have two first names - A “nome de casa” or “house name” which is the name that they’re called at home, and then a “school name”, also known as their official name. On top of that, in Changana culture, many last names have two parts; The name itself plus a word to honor and pay homage to the name’s ancestor(s). Because of this, last names can often be displayed differently on different documents. Some individuals use one last name while speaking, but another on paper.
As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts and layers of complexity to keep track of.
What we’re doing to help
Kurandza is currently working with local authorities on an intake campaign so the children in our program can be documented and participate fully as a citizen of their country. We have prioritized this project as a crucial step to serve the girls and set them up for success in the long run.
The intake is similar to a census or inquiry with the purpose of identifying which girls in our program lack a birth certificate or ID, and that we have all their accurate personal information. Once we have that information, we’ll begin gathering their correct information, and then applying and eventually paying for the official documentation.
Our team is doing everything possible to get the most accurate information from going house to house and surveying the girls to looking through all existing school and personal documents. We’re also interviewing parents, neighbors, and community leaders to help us put the pieces of the puzzle together the best we can. Every person deserves access to a birth certificate and a form of identification, and we’re working hard to make this a reality for the 200+ girls in our program.
Thank you to our community
This initiative wouldn’t be possible without the love and generosity of our supporters. Thank you for helping us bring more empowerment, freedom, and dignity to the girls by way of this program.
If you feel called to support life-changing initiatives like this one, please consider sponsoring a girl. With sponsorship levels starting at just $20/month, you can cover the costs of her school fees, uniform, supplies, and transportation to-and-from school. Click below to learn more.