Signed the Cooperation agreement between the Government of Malawi and the Community of Sant'Egidio to implement BRAVO! in the Country

On December 5^th, in Lilongwe, the Interior Minister of Malawi and the Community of Sant’Egidio signed the memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the BRAVO! Program in Malawi during an official ceremony attended by many officials, members of the National Registration Bureau and Malawian representatives of the Community of Sant’Egidio.

The registration of births, marriages and deaths in Malawi is compulsory by the National Registration Act of 2010. Now the Government wants to implement it with the support of stakeholders working for the promotion of fundamental rights, and in particular the rights of children.

It is estimated that only 10% of the population hold the birth certificate. This agreement is therefore an important step forward for Malawi. For the newly elected President, Peter Mutarika, the civil registration is a priority, and he put it  among the programmatic points of the presidency during the assignment speech.

Since many years the Community of Sant’Egidio included the birth registration among the actions for the protection of thousands of children, that are helped through the DREAM Program, the School of Peace, the distance adoptions throughout Malawi, to ensure to all the legal identity and to defend them from human trafficking, child labour, early marriage and all form of exploitation.

The BRAVO! Program will support the registration of the whole population of Malawi, starting from the rural district of Balaka. The Program has shown in recent years, in Burkina Faso and Mozambique, to have developed an effective strategy to reach people living in villages. Indeed, BRAVO! is considered a best practice at continental level also for being able to deal successfully with one of the most problematic issue of the African states: the registration of the population living in rural areas.