Thousands Receive Birth Certificates
By: , July 15, 2020
Photo: Contributed
Project Assistant, Integrated Community Development Project at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Sabrena Mindley (left), distributes birth certificates to residents of Steer Town in St. Ann, recently. The birth certificates were distributed through Operation Certification, an initiative between the JSIF and the Registrar General’s Department.
Photo: Contributed
Senior Social Officer at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Shunelle Nevers, presents Stanford Wesley Headley, a resident of Anchovy in St. James, with his birth certificate. Mr Headley was among 250 residents who received their birth certificates on Thursday, July 9, through the JSIF and Registrar General’s Department's Operation Certification programme.The Full Story
More than 6,000 Jamaicans from vulnerable communities across the island have received birth certificates through the Operation Certification Programme, which began in 2017.
The initiative is being implemented through a partnership between the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Registrar General’s Department (RGD).
Funded by the World Bank, the programme, which is now in its final stage, has spearheaded the distribution of birth certificates to persons who had signed up with data collectors that were employed to conduct interviews and registration via household visits, community meetings and other mechanisms.
“Operation Certification is a programme that really aims to respond to the civil registration needs of persons within targeted communities.
We are in the process of distributing the final batches of birth certificates and handling any queries and concerns,” Senior Social Officer at JSIF, Shunelle Nevers, told JIS News.
The latest batch of 250 birth certificates was distributed on Thursday (July 9) to residents from the communities of Steer Town in St. Ann and Anchovy in St. James.
Other beneficiaries are expected to receive their birth certificates soon.
“We really want to reiterate that registration, particularly a birth certificate, is very critical to gain access to the formal society. We’ve recognised that one’s socio-economic status may create economic barriers and basic registration documents may not be affordable. So, it’s one of the projects that we are really proud of,” Miss Nevers explained, adding that the programme is usually implemented during the early phase of JSIF’s intervention in communities targeted under its Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP).
The ICDP aims to promote public safety and transformation through the delivery of basic infrastructure and social services within 18 communities across seven parishes in Jamaica.