In preparation for the expansion of the Free Birth Registration project to additional target municipalities, the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Childrenโs Fund (UNICEF), conducted a series of training sessions for its partners in Maguindanao del Norte, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
The participants, including local civil registrars, key officials from concerned municipalities, information technology officers, select youth representatives, and encoders, underwent training on the projectโs procedures, with a specific focus on utilizing the birth registration system software.
Among the municipalities targeted for project expansion are Tabuan-Lasa in Basilan, Datu Blah Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte, Maimbung in Sulu, and Panglima Sugala in Tawi-Tawi.
The initial batch of trainees from Maguindanao del Norte received training from July 18 to 21, 2023; the second batch from Basilan and Sulu underwent training from August 01 to 04, 2023; while the third batch from Tawi-Tawi completed their training from August 07 to 10, 2023.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH) revealed that the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has the lowest birth registration rate among all regions. This indicates that approximately 1.10 million individuals in the Bangsamoro region have yet to register their births.
The Free Birth Registration project is currently being implemented in various parts of BARMM, aimed at assisting indigenous children aged 0 to 12 years in obtaining their birth certificates from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) free of charge. This project is implemented through the Ministryโs Children and Youth Welfare Program (CYWP). Through this initiative, a total of 1,500 indigenous individuals from different parts of BARMM received their birth certificates in 2022.
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