Locations05.12.2019, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Your excellency, Dear Minister of Justice, Mr. Rustam Shohmurod,
Dear Deputy Minister of Justice, Ms. Shahnoza Nodiri,
Dear SDC Deputy Country Director- Ms. Corrine Demenge,
Ladies and gentlemen!
It is an immense pleasure to welcome everyone on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme to this Joint Steering Committee meeting organized in the frame of “Support to the Civil Registration System Reform in Tajikistan” project, the Phase I of which is ending in the end of December 2019.
Today is the final Steering Committee for Phase I which gives us an opportunity to review cumulative results of the Project from 2016-2019 and discuss lessons learnt from this Phase to apply in the second phase for a smooth and results oriented implementation, which will start in 2020.
While a detailed presentation on Phase I results will be made shortly, I would like to highlight some of the most strategic and foundational results such as the recent adoption of legal amendments to the Law on Civil Registration, which include far reaching provisions for digitalization of civil registration and free birth registration within the first 3 months after the birth of a child. This presents a great incentive for people, especially poor and marginalized, to register their new-borns and ensure their citizen rights.
The official transition from paper-based civil registration system to electronic database will also lay the foundation for modernizing public administration systems and will especially contribute to evidence-based and needs-based service delivery planning and monitoring. The civil registration offices opened in Dushanbe city, GBAO, Sogd and are now fully equipped with required IT equipment and have already made the transition to electronic system. Lessons from those offices will help in improving registration services and expanding them further.
I have personally visited the Kulyab and Rudaki One Stop Shop Offices and have been very impressed not just by the modern facilities but more importantly by the transparent display of information critical for citizens, such as the price rates. The One Stop Shop Offices are symbols of modernizing interaction between public service providers and citizens. These will not only increase accessibility to registration services but will also reduce time spent in obtaining the necessary documents.
There is a lot more work ahead of us and we are committed to remain focused on results in the Phase II of the project.
Let me conclude with very special thanks for the tremendous leadership of the Ministry of Justice and to the SDC for our productive partnership, which goes beyond financial assistance and is a true collaboration for results.
