| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Support to the Safeguard and Modernization of the Civil Registry - Recipient-executed Portion |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
LICUS |
Status: |
Closed |
| File Number: |
43-a
| Region: |
AFR |
| Sector: |
Health and other social services |
Country: |
Cote d'Ivoire |
| FY approved: |
2008 |
Grant Theme : |
Social dev/gender/inclusion |
| Keyword(s): |
Conflict prevention;Media and communications |
Approved Amount: |
$2,060,000.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
The World Bank and the Norwegian Relief Council
# Please note that there are two child trust fund numbers under this project - one for the Bank executed part of the project and one for the recipient executed part of the project: TF092002/TF092003 |
Grant Purpose:
The key objective of the proposed grant is to support the establishment of a modern civil registry system in Cote d’Ivoire by financing a small set of urgent preliminary activities that will prevent irreparable losses and make the whole exercise more credible and sustainable. Specific objectives are:
• safeguarding the unique data contained in the national registry;
• producing a detailed master plan for the modernization of the civil registry, including data harmonization, computerization and protection;
• facilitating implementation of the master plan through coordination, quality control and awareness/information campaigns;
• assisting individuals in nine locations (in the ex-rebel controlled zone and in the capital) in obtaining needed legal documentation.
While being a pre-requisite for credible elections, a functioning civil registry is primarily a basic necessity in a democracy, as it makes it possible to have a reliable database that can be updated regularly to reflect new facts (including deaths, so as to minimize the fraudulent use of IDs) and facilitates the delivery of identity cards, passports and other documents key for the exercise of basic civil and economic rights. Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that all identity cards will expire at the end of 2009, causing at least the risk that the entire population of Cote d’Ivoire could be left without a valid identity card as of that date, with predictable legal and financial consequences.
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Grant Activities:
Component 1: Coordination and quality control
International experts that have been advising the government (thanks to joint funding from the Bank (LICUS), the European Union and the UN) on activities related to the national identification will provide overall coordination, quality control and technical assistance. Specifically, five consultants will be contracted, some of them full-time and others part-time, to carry out the following functions:
• Overall supervision and coordination:monitoring progress and implementation of the modernization of the civil registry in coordination with the technical teams of the relevant ministries assigned to the identification process.
• Liaison with the government agencies responsible for the Crisis Recovery Program, local authorities and the NGOs and development partners directly or indirectly involved with the modernization of the state.
• Technical assistance: providing the unique specialized knowledge needed to set-up a modern civil registry system sustainable over-time.
• Communication and dissemination: developing and supporting the implementation of a communication strategy to guide exchanges with the administrative, judiciary and local authorities.
• Implementation assistance
Component 2: Reconstitution, safeguarding and computerization of the civil registry
This component will respond to two urgent needs: (i) safeguard precious legal documents containing information that might otherwise be lost forever; and (ii) set the basis for a modern civil registry system so that a similar situation would not be repeated in the future.
Component 3: Public awareness and public information campaign
It will be critical to conduct a robust public information campaign to raise awareness on the progress being made through the activities supported by the Bank, the EU and the UN. Highlighting how the modernization of the civil registry is a necessary step and will contribute to a credible, transparent and reliable identification process will be important to stem social tensions that will otherwise likely erupt as a result of the further delay of the elections.
Component 4: Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance in the Centre-North-West and in Abidjan
Under this component, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC, an NGO) will be contracted to help protect and promote the rights of people in the CNW zone and Abidjan primarily through Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) drop-in centers.
This component will finance the following activities:
• Direct assistance to beneficiaries: drop-in centers will (a) provide information on the steps, documents needed and costs of obtaining different legal documents; (b) collect the papers and bring them to the national structure concerned; (c) establish constructive relationships with different concerned entities and negotiate agreements to facilitate (or simply clarify) steps; (d) follow-up all cases accepted and trouble-shoot when needed; (e) obtain substitute birth certificates (jugements supplétifs) and birth certificates for children.
• Training and sensitization on identity laws and regulations: NRC will (a) hold workshops to strengthen the capacity of civil registry agents and administrative authorities, (b) identify – or set up – and train community groups/organizations to serve as the first relay for information and sensitization at the grassroots level, and also to handle local level disputes that risk escalating and requiring legal recourse (e.g., property-related disputes). This work will be supported by information programs on identity papers and other select legal documents to be broadcast using local radios.
• Advocacy to improve the functioning of national structures: To complement the training and sensitization activities, NRC staff will share its experience and discuss frequently encountered problems – and possible solutions – with local and national entities as well as with national and international development partners.
• Management and supervision.
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News:
An estimated 3.5 million people in Cote d’Ivoire lack proper identification papers, due in part to the fact that much of the country’s civil registry (held in paper form) was destroyed during the conflict. Furthermore, those identification papers that do exist in the country will expire at the end of 2009. Because resolving this situation will be key to the country’s reconciliation process, the World Bank is supporting the reconstitution of the country’s civil registry.
Issues related to citizen identity are particularly sensitive in Cote d’Ivoire. Beginning in the early 1990s, following the death of the country’s ‘founding father’ Houphouët-Boigny, political leaders promoted a philosophy of Ivoirité, asserting the primacy of Ivoirian citizens’ rights over those of the country’s large immigrant population. This discourse was adapted by various leaders to mobilize and favor their particular regional constituencies, and tension at the national level was replicated in local conflicts between autochtones (original settlers) and allogènes (foreigners) or allochtones (internal migrants). Questions of identity thus became key contributors to the 2002 conflict and the ensuing political and military stalemate.
Furthermore, proper identification of all Ivoirian citizens is a prerequisite for national elections, planned for November 2009, and essential for the proper functioning of various legal and institutional regimes, including land rights, national education exams, the justice system, and formal employment. To take just one example, students cannot receive an elementary school diploma without presenting a birth certificate.
To address this challenge, several institutions have joined forces to re-establish the civil registry in Cote d’Ivoire. The World Bank and the European Commission are working together to safeguard existing information, construct new National Archives, buying new equipment, and establish a modern and reliable computer system to manage identification records. Importantly, the project is contributing to the establishment of a database which could be updated regularly to reflect new data, such as the number of births and deaths in the country.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is complementing this effort by operating twelve Mobile Legal Assistance Centers, which consist of simple white tents equipped with a table and three plastic chairs. The tents are pitched in areas with high numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) and heavy traffic, such as near markets and birthing centers. At each center, two young lawyers (a man and a woman) offer information, counseling and legal assistance (ICLA) to facilitate the process of obtaining legal documents. In practice, this entails helping people understand the law and fill out forms, travelling to present cases in person to the relevant local authorities (travel that is often unaffordable or unsafe for vulnerable people), and, if necessary, ensuring the resolution of problematic cases. These services would be unaffordable for all but the wealthiest Ivoirians; at the ICLA centers, they are provided free of charge, and in a non-intimidating environment.
In pursuing the important goal of facilitating the identification process, the project has had two additional effects. First, it has provided a number of young people with employment: more than 800 students are currently involved in creating the new registry system, recording existing information and converting hard-copy records into electronic files. Second, the project has served as a forum for cooperation between Government ministries and agencies from various parties, setting a positive precedent.
Overall, the project has enjoyed wide support, both from the Government and from individual beneficiaries. More than anything else, it is perhaps the long lines of people waiting outside the white tents that attest to the success of the initiative so far.
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