Digital reforms, incentives drive birth registration gains in Tajikistan, Philippines and Uganda

There is progress in global efforts to reduce the phenomenon of invisibility as countries march towards the target of SDG 16.9, which calls for universal legal identity, including birth registration for all, before 2030. Recent developments in Tajikistan, Uganda, and the Philippines confirm the push in the direction of that critical objective.

While the approaches differ, all three countries are attempting to strengthen the foundations of legal identity by making civil registration systems more accessible, efficient and inclusive.

CRVS made easy in Tajikistan with UNDP-funded project

Tajikistan is living a new legal identity experience after a project funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and supported by the European Union and Switzerland digitized the country’s civil registration system, making the issuance of birth certificates much easier.

A recent UNDP blog article narrates the experience of a grandmother in Vahdat city who confessed to easily obtaining a birth certificate for her seven-month-old granddaughter thanks to the reform.

According to the grandmother, before the novelty, people were required to travel long distances, incur huge travel costs, and sometimes be forced to make multiple trips just to get served.

Thanks to the modernization drive, civil registration in the country has become much easier as users can save time and money, and obtain foundational identity services in a more timely and efficient manner.

With the reform implemented in 74 civil registration centers across the country, Tajikistan has now registered up to 98 percent of children under the age of five, and at least 84 percent of citizens have reported satisfaction with how they access CRVS services.

Philippines has new digital system for CRVS petitions

There is now a new system in place where administrative petitions related to the correction of civil registration information can be easily managed in the Philippines.

In a statement issued recently, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the Administrative Petition for Correction Automated System (APCAS) had been unveiled. It is a web-based platform to enhance how officials at Local Civil Registry Offices (LCROs) can manage complaints brought to their attention.

Officials use the APCAS to manage complaints related to things like change of name or the handling of clerical errors in civil registration documents.

The PSA said by the end of April, more than 5,900 complaints had been processed using the system, which has already been set up in 201 LCROs.

Many of the LCROs have been urged to adopt the system, which the PSA’s Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa, described as a move that will contribute to the major goal of the government’s digital transformation drive, which is about improving the lives of citizens.

Uganda issues free birth certificates

Alongside an ongoing national ID registration and renewal campaign and broader identity modernization efforts, Ugandan authorities have launched a special drive to increase the number of children with birth certificates in the country.

Nile Post reports, citing an official of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), Claire Ollama, as saying that free birth certificates will be issued to children who are registered before they reach six months.

Apart from free birth certificates, the NIRA registrar said the ID authority reserves VIP treatment for all those who make a recommendation for at least a group of ten children to be registered.

According to Ollama, the move is intended to encourage parents to register their children as Uganda pursues broader legal identity goals and modernizes its national identity infrastructure using MOSIP.

“With this campaign, we’re saying that if you have a group of friends who’ve recently had a baby, and the babies are under six months, or even under nine months, make a group of ten and send us an email. We will give you VIP treatment. It doesn’t matter where you are. We will come to your church or your community,” Ollama said at a press conference.

Birth registration remains one of the foundational building blocks of legal identity systems, providing individuals with proof of existence that can later support access to national identity programs, government services, education and financial inclusion initiatives.

The reforms reflect a broader trend discussed at the recent ID4Africa 2026 AGM, where governments highlighted civil registration modernization as a prerequisite for achieving universal legal identity and expanding digital public infrastructure.

Article Topics

birth registration  |  civil registration  |  CRVS  |  digital ID infrastructure  |  legal identity  |  Philippines  |  SDG 16.9  |  Tajikistan  |  Uganda