The Directorate of Local Government and Rural Development launched Birth Registr
ation Project (BRP) in Mohmand district of tribal areas on Tuesday.
In this connection, a workshop was held at the district headquarters, Ghalanai Jirga Hall, which was attended by Lower Mohmand Assistant Commissioner Touseef Khalid, Local Government and Rural Development Assistant Director Shera
z Ahmad, BRP Merged Districts Project Manager Faisal Saeed, Agency Educ
ation Officer Faridullah Khan, District Birth Registr
ation Coordinator Hameed Ullah.
Speaking on the occasion, Local Government Assistant Director Shera
z Ahmad said that the birth registr
ation was started in the district in 2014-15 as a pilot project in two tehsils – Ekkaghund and Haleemzai.
“The pilot phase continued successfully for three years in the area,” he said, adding that the Fata Secretariat wanted to extend the birth registr
ation programme to other parts of the district with the help of UNICEF.
Shera
z Ahmad urged departments’ heads, tribal elders and social workers to convey the message to the rest of the area. He said that male and female facilitators would go to door to door to make tribal people aware of the birth registr
ation process.
AD Shera
z Ahmad urged line departments and community elders to cooperate with birth registr
ation teams in the
area.
While starting the birth registr
ation project in the area, Assistant Commissioner Touseef Khalid registered a child on the spot. He said that registr
ation of children was an important
step in the development of the
area.
He as
sured that the district administr
ation would fully support the birth registr
ation teams everywhere in the district.
BRP Merged Districts Programme Manager Fasial Saeed said that the main objective of the project was to give children identity as per the constitution of Pakistan and UN charter. BRP District Coordinator Mohmand Hameed Ullah said that that only one percent birth registr
ation had been completed in the merged districts so far. “We will achieve the target of registering 58,628 children in the area.” “A number of social workers and volunteers had also been trained, who would go to house to house for data collection of children in the area,” Hameed said.
Published in Daily Times, October 24th 2018.