Consultancy: Technical assistance for Civil Registration and Legal Identity Management at UNICEF

Scope Of Work

Background and Justification

The Government of Kenya is in the process of developing an integrated civil registration, vital statistics and identity management system as conceptualized under the National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS). The United Nations Legal Identity Agenda (UN LIA) Taskforce, led by UNICEF Kenya, is working closely with the Government to ensure the integrated identity management system in Kenya is aligned to the UN LIA and that it complies with international standards, principles and recommendations including: article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to be recognized as a person under the law”, article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name and a nationality and the Sustainable Development Goal target 16.9 - “legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030”.

In Kenya, under 1 birth registration coverage has been on the rise from 66.5% in 2017, to 73.4% in 2018 (Kenya Vital Statistics Report). The under 5 birth registration rate is reported in the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) as 66.9%, while the 2019 Kenya Population. Lapses in registration often mean that certificates, including birth certificates, are not issued by civil registration authorities in a timely manner. This, in turn, can deprive children of the opportunity to exercise their civil rights and access to services. There is notably a huge gap between birth registration and the number of persons actually having a birth certificate. The 2014 KDHS reported birth certificate coverage of 24%.

Additionally, simply raising birth registration levels is not sufficient. There is need for concerted effort to enhance the quality of the civil registration systems to achieve universal coverage along with continuity, confidentiality and regular analysis dissemination of data. Universality of birth registration should also be considered with regional and county disparity in birth registration reported and 10 counties in Kenya having below 50 percent birth registration coverage therefore creating gaps in planning and inequity in service provision. At the same time, the registration process itself must be client friendly, easily available and accessible to all. Parents continue to face challenges of distance to the civil registration offices and repeat visits for application and collection of birth certificates. This results in additional costs and time wastage contributing to reluctance to seek these services.

SDG Target 17.9 calls for support in building the statistical capacity needed for strong national civil registration systems. Such systems produce vital statistics, including those on birth registration, which are foundational for achieving sustained human and economic development. In Kenya, the department of civil registration has made effort to ensure annual production of the Kenya Vital Statistics Reports. However, the country still has a challenge of completeness of data and data quality concerns, coupled with conflicting birth and death registration and certification coverages from different data sources.

Automation of birth registration and issuance of birth certificates is one of the internationally recommended practices that ensures an increase in certification of birth, and has been noted to increase the number of children, especially newborn babies, being issued with birth certificates. While discussions on automation of these services in Kenya started around 2017, Kenya is yet to fully automate the birth registration and certification processes, a critical strategy to enable integration and interoperability of the CRVS system with other registration of person’s and identity management systems. The Department of Civil Registration Services has digitized and uploaded 48 million civil registration records with the process of uploading into the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems (CRVSS) ongoing. UNICEF supported the review of business processes of birth registration in 2017, which contributed to increased effort in digitizing and establishment of electronic database for civil registration data.

It is within this context that UNICEF Kenya plans to support the Government of Kenya to fulfill the promise of universal birth registration, and a legal identity for every child in Kenya, by 2030 through accelerating effort at national and sub-national level, to not only increase birth registration coverage, but also certification through advocating for birth registration and certification as foundational to identity management in Kenya.

Goal And Objectives

The ultimate goal of the consultancy is to support the Government of Kenya ministries, departments and agencies in establishing an integrated identity management system guided by the UN LIA framework and to facilitate a coordinated UN response.

More specifically, the consultant will provide technical and coordination support to UNICEF Kenya in its role as the lead and chair of the inter-agency UN legal identity agenda taskforce. Additional technical support will be provided to the Department of Civil Registration Services (CRS) to strengthen its system and policy framework to enable it to play its key role as the source of foundational data for implementation of the integrated identity management system (NIIMS) and to support UNICEF in delivering results for children in the area of birth registration.

Specific Objectives

• To support UNICEF in implementing the Country Programme document priorities, as outlined in the annual Child Protection section workplan in relation to civil registration, within the broader framework of the UN LIA
• To coordinate the implementation of the UN legal identity agenda by providing the UN agencies, funds and programmes with technical support to implement the UN LIA workplan and projects.
• To provide regular liaison with the Government of Kenya ministries, departments and agencies involved in the implementation of the integrated identity management system, with particular regular contact with the Department of Civil Registration Services (CRS) and the National Integrated Identification System (NIIMS).
• To provide technical support to on civil registration in strengthen the enabling environment (policy, strategy and financial) for accelerated effort towards realizing universal coverage of births and death registration and certification and the implementation of a national identity management agenda guided by the UN LIA principles and recommendations and in a collaborative manner.
• Contribute to resource mobilization efforts for the country’s implementation of the UN legal identity agenda.

Overall, the consultancy will contribute to the below strategic objetives for the UN and UNICEF Kenya:

• UNDAF Outcome 2.7.1 - Strengthen civil registration, vital statistics and identity management systems

UNICEF Kenya Country Programme document – Output 3.3. Strengthen CRVS system to offer universal birth registration in Kenya
Activities and Tasks

• Provide technical and coordination support to UN LIA Taskforce in the implementation of the UN legal identity agenda in Kenya and implementation of the taskforce workplan
• Act as a liaison between key civil registration and identity management stakeholder institutions and the UN to facilitate collaboration in the implementation of UN LIA , ensure implementation and follow up on agreed activities and action points.
• Provide technical support to the UN LIA taskforce and ensuring finalization of the work UN – Government of Kenya UN LIA Operational Framework
• Support resource mobilization and donor engagement for UN LIA in Kenya (e.g. donor roundtable) and for the UNICEF child protection programme; identify new opportunities for resource mobilization and contribute to donor reports
• Technical assistance to UNICEF in implementation of UNICEF supported civil registration initiatives at national or county level, including provision of technical support for Zonal Offices
• Development of training material for capacity building of CRS and other stakeholder institutions technical and functional staff on accelerating birth and death registration services and deliver trainings as needed
• Provide technical inputs, review reports, facilitate meetings and consultations at national and county level for the KAP study on birth and death registration
• Provide technical support for the development of the communication material on the implementation of an integrated civil registration, vital statistics and identity management system
• Contribute to strengthening the UN LIA legal framework through support to CRS and stakeholder institutions (those working closely with CRS) in the development/review of policies, regulations, guideline, standard operating practices (SOPs) or strategic plans
• Contribute to the legal review of Huduma Bill 2020 and/or the Huduma Bill regulations (as part of the support to the legal review sub-committee) and the public participation process
• Provide technical input into the mid-term review of CRS Strategic Plan 2018 to 2022 – based on the capacity assessment report
• Contribute to the analysis of the KVSR to ensure analysis of UNICEF key monitoring indicators of Under 5 birth registration and certification coverages
• Contribute to UNICEF mid-year/year end reports (RAM, SMQ etc.) and UNDAF planning and reporting processes relating to Civil Registration/UNLIA and contribute to the Situation Analysis and the preparation of new Country Programme
• Contribute to the implementation of the Child Protection annual workplan, in areas as per mutual agreement.

Work Relationships

The individual contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist but under the overall technical guidance of the Chief of Child Protection Section. H/She will work in close cooperation with the communications for development (C4D) team in supporting the KAP study on birth and death registration and the development of the communications materials. Social Protection team will provide support with contribution to the KDHS and review of the development of the budget briefs. The function will require close cooperation with several other UN agencies who are part of the UN Legal Identity agenda task force and engagement with the UN Economic Commission for Africa UNLIA team.

Deliverables

The Deliverables For The Consultancy Are

• Development of a workplans (for entire period and a more detailed 3 month workplan; UNLIA workplan)
• Monthly for UNICEF and bi-monthly UNCT updates
• Minutes and reports for the UNLIA TF and other coordination meetings. Specifically, the below minutes/reports:
• Report on the review of business processes and linkages between the registration of persons and identity management systems
• Donor round table meeting report
• UN LIA Operational Framework approved by the UN LIA Taskforce
• Multi-year resource mobilization plan for the implementation of the UN LIA operational framework and resource mobilization and donor reporting documents
• Capacity building materials including a module for accelerating birth registration for children with disabilities and children in institutions, and deliver/coordinate virtual/face to face training sessions as needed for government, UN and CSO staff as required
• Communications materials and key messages approved by the UN LIA Taskforce and the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government
• CRVS Advocacy and Communications Strategy approved by the National CRVS Technical Working Group (to be annexed to the mid-term review of the CRS strategic plan)
• Revised CRS/NIIMS guideline/SOPs and strategic plans
• The mid-term review of the CRS Strategic Plan
• Approved UN memo to parliament with UN feedback on the Huduma Namba Bill, 2020 and final inputs incorporated into the Huduma Act, 2021
• Kenya Vital Statistics Report (KVSR) 2021 and Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) include analysis of Under 5 birth registration and Birth Certification coverages
• Inputs provided to UNICEF year-end reports
• Donor reports prepared for funds received to UN LIA work

Payment

Payment on satisfactory completion of the deliverable duly authorized by the supervisor of the contract:

• Deliverables are submitted and are of acceptable quality and within the planned timelines.
• Performance will be evaluated considering the quality of the deliverables, consultation with stakeholders, timeliness of the deliverables and comprehensiveness of the work done as defined by the terms of reference.
• The consultant is expected to provide all products/ deliverables in accordance with professional communication development standards.