Mozambique: BRAVO! starts also in the maternity wards of Matola and Manga Chingussura

BRAVO! activists in  Manga Chingussura

Sensitization in Matola

BRAVO! extends the work of sensitization and the registration of new born in two more provinces of the Country: Maputo and Sofala. The collaboration with the maternity ward of the city of Nampula, active since 2014, has shown how the collaboration between Health and Civil Status is crucial. Almost all the children of the area pass in the hospitals and the Health Centers,   some coming for the childbirth, some for the postnatal visit, some other for vaccinations and else. In recent months the BRAVO! Program met thousands of mothers, making them aware of the importance to register children immediately after the birth and informing them about the procedures to obtain the birth certificate for their children.

Sensitization in Manga Chingussura

Now BRAVO! began the work to raise awareness of families and registration of newborns in two important Health Centers near Maputo, in Matola, and in a suburb of Beira, in Manga Chingussura. These two new maternity wards serve heavily populated neighborhoods and are daily visited by more than a thousand mothers with their children. This will make easier and clearer to register the children and obtain the birth certificate.

Training of BRAVO! activists

In January BRAVO! created two new groups of activists dedicated to the sensitization and registration in the two maternities. The activists received an intensive training on the benefits arising  from the possession of the birth certificate and problems that can result for a child without it, on administrative procedures for the civil registration, on the preservation of the documents and the computerization of the data, on strengthening of the communication and disclosure skills

Training of BRAVO! activists

The activists will be able to answer as effectively and clearly as possible to all the questions of the people they meet in the maternity wards and they will help them to complete the procedures of the newborns registration.

Birth registration in Manga Chingussura

The BRAVO! activities in the two new maternity wards started immediately after the training, and the activists have already met many mothers. The beginning of the activities in the two maternity wards has been received very positively  by the hospitals, which are already experiencing an intense collaboration with the DREAM program of the Community of Sant’Egidio for the fighting against AIDS.

All the above has been made possible thanks to the funding from the Minister of Economic and Development Cooperation (BMZ) and the collaboration of Kindermissionswerk.

Sensitization in Manga Chingussura

Sensitization in Manga Chingussura

Sensitization in Manga Chingussura

Burkina Faso: BRAVO! register 11.000 people in 2014

In May 2014, the Government of Burkina Faso declared eight months free of charge for late registration (those that take place over 60 days from birth). BRAVO! Program is committed for a long time in support of rural municipalities in the Country, thanks to the financial support provided by Kindermissionswerk and some Italian local authorities.

During the extraordinary free campaign of registration, launched by the Government on May 8, BRAVO! helped the Government to give birth certificates to 11.000 people living in the Province of Sanguié, where more than 300.000 people are living. BRAVO! organized more than 200 Public Hearings (Audience Foraines) in all the villages. The registration teams reached the rural areas of the country where the registration rate is lower, due to the great distance from the civil status office. The BRAVO! method implemented in collaboration with the local authorities is very effective to overcome the difficulties that people meet to get the birth certificate. There are zones particularly disadvantaged and under-served not only in rural areas but also in urban areas, where low birth registration rate are noted. The opening  of registration offices nearer to the places where people live gave a fundamental contribution to a lot of registration. The campaign also highlighted the high rate of illiteracy among those who had no birth certificate.

The main beneficiaries of the registration campaign in Sanguié were minors, about 40% of total registered. The birth certificate allows children to attend school and is a necessary condition to take exams and access to the High School.

The campaign data show a high percentage of women compared to men, and this shows how, thanks to the BRAVO! Work, a significant number of mothers had the opportunity to register themselves.

Burkina Faso has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world, having 75% of the population who can’t read nor write. Just to encourage school attendance, BRAVO! will continue its work not only with moving teams, but will also start the registration campaign in the primary schools, which in the Sanguié Province are 250.