Exist to Exist - Birth Registration in Zimbabwe

As always, Trinity Project has had a busy and productive quarter, supporting individuals with tailored legal advice and support, working more broadly with communities to raise awareness and empower agents for change, and with local authorities and stakeholders to improve children’s legal and socioeconomic rights. We were fortunate enough to join them for a week, to join them in visiting client’s homes, see some of the vital work they are doing in local communities running clubs and workshops, and work with local authorities to advocate for change on child protection and child rights. It was inspiring to see the cutting-edge work they are doing to protect and empower vulnerable children, and how much change and progress they are making despite the urgent situation and sheer number of families in need of support.

Project workers provided legal advice and support for over 200 birth registration cases and nearly a further 200 cases on child abuse, neglect, avoidance of child maintenance payments and other legal challenges to children’s rights. These cases are overwhelmingly referred by women. Trinity is proud to have fostered a safe space where women feel they can discuss sensitive matters and seek help, but notes the need for men to take a more active role in raising children and protecting children’s rights in Zimbabwe.

Trinity Project continues to run psychosocial support for disadvantaged children by the way of kids clubs. It offers life skills, educational activities, empowerment workshops on children’s rights, recreational activities to allow a safe space for kids to be kids. Workshops this quarter included producing posters, plays and poems about child abuse, child marriage and peer pressure. Children are encouraged to be self-aware and self-confident, learning about themselves and their rights and offered the opportunity to play, create and take part in sports.

They have expanded this programme this quarter to focus on clubs for young women and girls, which offers the same support and opportunities but focuses on gender parity and women’s empowerment, with workshops focusing on child marriage, girls education, gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive health. Girls are provided with free refreshments, sanitary products and encouraged to express themselves and demand their rights. We were lucky enough to talk to some of the children after workshops, and hear first hand how much they had learned and how they were raising their expectations as a result of the message.

Trinity also ran awareness-raising workshops throughout Matabeleland reaching over 1000 people. These work with community leaders and local families to raise awareness on children’s rights, the importance and process of birth registration, and other child protection issues like child abuse, child marriage and education. There was a marked increase in knowledge, understanding and commitment from the communities we worked with after the sessions.

The project was also able to advocate and facilitate for change in the communities they work in, organising dialogues between local communities and local authorities and service-providers. For example, sitting families down with village heads, local healthcare workers, local birth registrars, social services officers and district councillors to discuss child protection issues and find community-based solutions. This is transformational, bridging the gap between communities and authorities and finding real, practical solutions to the registration crisis. It is too soon to see the benefits of this, but clear plans for change were developed and communities were grateful that Trinity had helped their voices be heard.

Trinity is constantly expanding, finding new ways to support children and families in need of registration and support and working with wider communities and institutions to tackle registration. As we expand, we hope you will expand with us and be able to continue support this vital work, which helps vulnerable children to get the legal documents they need to access education, healthcare and welfare.