Exist to Exist - Birth Registration in Zimbabwe

We have continued providing practical support to people facing barriers to birth registration. During the period, 58 clients received case-management support, including 10 who first required counselling. We also paid registration fees for 68 Zimbabwean returnees from South Africa, helping people displaced amid growing anti-migrant pressures to secure the documentation they need to access education, employment and other essential services.

Alongside individual support, we have continued working with government and other stakeholders to address wider barriers to birth registration. Through Child Protection Committee meetings, government workshops and activities with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, we have raised challenges affecting registration and promoted the importance of registering children early. We also worked with NUST FM to raise public awareness of the particular difficulties faced by women and teenage mothers in accessing legal documentation.

Importantly, we were invited by the Ministry of Home Affairs to contribute to the review of Zimbabwe’s Births and Deaths Registration Act. The review is considering how the legislation can be better aligned with Zimbabwe’s Constitution and international law and strengthen protection of the right to legal identity. This provides an important opportunity to bring the barriers experienced by communities directly into national discussions about improving the birth registration system.

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