Remarks by Dr. (Ms.) Pratibha Mehta,

UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan

08.10.2020, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Your excellency Mr. Ashuriyon Muzaffar, Minister of Justice,

Dear Ms. Salome Steib, Country Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Tajikistan,

Ladies and gentlemen!

We are meeting in unprecedented pandemic times when we are required to take all the precautions but also ensure business continuity and I am very pleased that we are convening the Steering Committee meeting for  our  extremely important flag ship project to register vital civic acts of Tajik Citizens as this  data will also contribute in government’s socio-economic planning, including response to COVID19 impact.

The phase 2 of “Civil Registration System Reform Project in Tajikistan” builds on the very successful phase 1 which contributed to the improvement of the CR System, most notably to  transition from paper-based to the new electronic system and introduced a new model of service provision with One stop shop elements in 2 CR Offices. More than 300 CROs employees were trained on best practices to deliver services, computer literacy and rules for using the new electronic information system.

The adoption of legal amendments to the Law on Civil Registration was another important achievement, which made the birth registration free of charge within the first 3 months after the birth of a child. This was a great incentive for people, especially poor and marginalized, to register their new-borns and ensure their citizen rights. The phase one also contributed to the adoption of a new communication and outreach strategy by MOJ to encourage people for timely civil registration.

Soon after starting the Phase 2 of the project, the world was hit by COVID19 pandemic, challenging all the countries, including Tajikistan, to find unconventional ways to deliver services to avoid exposing people to infection.

It is now widely acknowledged that E-governance, digital public service delivery model can not only ensure business continuity during crises, but can also help modernize public administration as well as improve access, transparency and speed of service delivery and we believe that the CR project is at the core of this transformation to digital governance.

With support from our longstanding partner SDC, UNDP continues to position Civil Registration Reform at the heart of rights-based sustainable development agenda and help achieve SDG16,Target 16-9 to ensure right to legal identity to all, which in turn will enable citizens to exercise their right to health, education and other socio-economic as well as civic and political rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.

COVID19 disrupted service delivery, including civil registration and vital statistic systems in Tajikistan. According to the latest CR systems reports, there is an average of 30% decrease in civil registration during the months of Apr-Jun 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.  These statistics are alarming and we still don’t know how long we might have to deal with the pandemic and its impact. It is important therefore to examine bottlenecks and find innovative ways to ensure continuity of civic registration, especially during health crises such as COVID19 when registration of vital statistics such as death, birth, etc. becomes even more important.

Our project team has been testing alternative ways to keep the progress on track.  For example, in-person training of CR staff was replaced with online training. The project team is also planning to initiate competition inviting innovative ideas to ensure uninterrupted delivery of civil registration services. For example, e-notification about the facts of birth and others, non-cash payment system, use of media and digital means for public awareness, etc. Obviously, proper digital service delivery would also require reforms for a functional, affordable and easily accessible internet facilities in urban and rural areas.

As we proceed with the project implementation, UNDP will work with the MoJ to develop various measures to allow for business continuity of CR during pandemic.

COVID 19 has also impacted interagency coordination efforts, which is a critical element for improving interoperability of data from the CR electronic system with other existing state-owned electronic registration systems. I would like to underscore the importance of inter-ministerial coordination and encourage MOJ to establish mechanisms to convene online meetings. Digital meeting platforms will also allow MOJ to remotely connect to regional and district level entities and regularly monitor progress on civil registration.  UNDP remains ready to support the ministry in these endeavors.

Lastly, I would recommend that the Steering Committee also start considering financial and institutional sustainability of CR system beyond project modality and ensure CR becomes a necessary and regular government initiative.

Let me conclude with a special thanks to the tremendous cooperation we have with the Ministry of Justice and SDC.  And are very proud to also bring EU as a new partner to further advance CR and fundamental right to identity of every Tajik citizen. EU-UNDP is jointly working on a complimentary CR project of USD 10 Million which is now under consideration of the government, we are aiming to start the project from January 2021, and hope that the project will be approved soon by the government.

Thank you very much for your attention.