The Birth of Birth Registration
A lot of people from Lamorde, Kabang, Wuropatuji and Gaya communities of Mubi South in Adamawa State had been living without the knowledge of the importance and procedures of birth registration and other vital issues regarding parenting. Fortunately, our intervention packages on the project include positive parenting sessions, which is aimed at enlightening parents on child upbringing and other parental responsibilities. In these sessions with the people, we discussed issues around birth registration, its importance and the medium through which it can be accessed. Rukkayatu Ahmadu and Hapsatu Musa together with other caregivers were in attendance and got to understand the importance of birth registration. After one of the sessions, they showed interest in getting their wards registered, and the procedure was initiated. Today Hapsatu's and Rukkayatu's children amongst scores of other children whose parents haven't had the opportunity to attend the positive parenting sessions but have also been enlightened by the direct beneficiaries of the program, have now been registered by the National Population Commission (NPC), and have obtained their birth certificates. Their children are now happy and more confident because they wouldn't have to be scared when faced with situations where their birth certificates would be needed. Hapsatu and Rukkayatu, together with other caregivers who are beneficiaries of the program, are grateful to ROHI for taking them through the process and ensuring their wards are registered. In her words, Hapsatu said "I want to sincerely thank ROHI for enlightening me on the need for birth registration. I'm the first in my neighborhood to register all my children, and now I'm further encouraging others to do same." Rukkayatu also was not left out in the show of gratitude and has promised to educate other caregivers within the community on the need of birth registration and medium through which the service can be accessed. Expressing herself in Hausa she said "... much thanks to ROHI for this privilege. I have now registered and obtained birth certificates for all my seven children." Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI) is achieving these in partnership with UNICEF Nigeria, using funds from Education Cannot Wait (ECW).