NAMING THE INVISIBLE BY DIGITAL BIRTH REGISTRATION

Short List
TitleNAMING THE INVISIBLE BY DIGITAL BIRTH REGISTRATION
BrandTELENOR PAKISTAN
Product / ServiceINTERNET & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CategoryC01. Corporate Image & Communication
EntrantOGILVY PAKISTAN Islamabad, PAKISTAN
Idea Creation OGILVY PAKISTAN Islamabad, PAKISTAN
Idea Creation 2 TELENOR PAKISTAN Islamabad, PAKISTAN
PR TELENOR PAKISTAN Islamabad, PAKISTAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Yasir Yasin Telenor Pakistan Head of Marketing
Asim Naqvi Ogilvy Pakistan Chief Executive Officer
Naved Qureshi Ogilvy Pakistan Senior Executive Director
Sarah Tariq Hassan Telenor Pakistan Manager Digital Content & Brands
Gohar Abbas Ogilvy Pakistan General Manager
Hamza Amjad Ogilvy Pakistan Senior Creative Director
Hamza Iftikhar Ogilvy Pakistan Account Director
Shan Haque Ogilvy Pakistan Associate Creative Director
Huma Shahid Ogilvy Pakistan Creative Manager

Background

SITUATION UNCRC states that “every child in this world has a right to a name & nationality” and one’s national identity is crucial to social, political and economic inclusion. It’s a child’s passport to protection against underage labor, child marriages & trafficking. Despite this 60M Pakistanis lack an official identity and are devoid of basic rights because of inaccessibility and complexity of the registration process. BRIEF Telenor aims to empower societies by connecting customers to what matters most, and to further this ambition of digital inclusion under United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG #10: ‘Reduce Inequalities’ it wanted Pakistan to become a safer place for children by naming invisible Pakistanis. OBJECTIVE Expand DBR to 36 villages in Pakistan and register 500K unregistered children Reduce overall application time to 240 mins from 4230 mins (72 hrs ≈ 3 days) Ensure 100% registrations in all villages where DBR is implemented.

Describe the creative idea

This transformative digital intervention was executed via an easy to use, android based mobile solution. It was put in the hands of authorized personnel, including health workers, marriage registrars who moved from house-to-house collecting key information and documents using a phone camera. Each application reached the authorities via the DBR app and the subject received a certificate on their phone upon approval from the government. Leveraging Telenor’s mobile financial services platform (Easypaisa), digital payments were made to facilitate the monthly distribution of incentives to over 10,200 community-based gatekeepers. Lady health workers partnered with local clerics to build credibility and a door-to-door drive was used to build word of mouth. Elaborate tutorials adapted to regional languages were used as training syllabus for end users; health workers, local administration employees and marriage registrars. Project messaging and campaign narratives were centered around the themes of civil rights, human rights and patriotism.

Describe the strategy

• Almost 1/4th of the country’s workforce is made up of child labor • 1 in 4 girls are married before the age of 18 • 22.6 million children between 5-16 years are currently out of school • 3.2 million children do not receive vaccinations All such marginalised, unregistered children and their parents from rural Sindh and Punjab remained our core demographic. These families have low digital literacy but have a low-end smart phone which they primarily use for social connection. These daily wagers contribute to the economy but remain devoid of any government benefits in return, so we anchored DBR’s call to action on a nationalistic rhetoric. Evoked passion for inclusion by using straight-to-the point communications messages, like, ‘Your SIM is your ID’; ‘You are from Pakistan – be proud of your identity’. This ensured that the issue became one of national importance and of interest to every Pakistani.

Describe the execution

This transformative digital intervention was executed via an easy to use, android based mobile solution in two of Pakistan’s most populous provinces: Sindh & Punjab that contribute the maximum caseload of unregistered births. The target audience was primarily rural with low literacy rates, lower TV viewership, access to electricity and digital exclusion. A door-to-door drive was used to build word of mouth. This direct activation drive was active all year however household visits peaked during months of high birth rate. A multi-sector partnership was essential to deliver DBR services and it was effective because each partner’s strategic objectives were aligned. In this case, DBR contributes to the government’s national development strategy, the development partner’s wider goal to strengthen and protect the rights of children while working towards sustainable development goals (SDG), and Telenor’s ambitions to use mobile technology to reduce inequalities and improve living standards in local communities.

List the results

• Today, 426 villages in Pakistan are DBR enabled (1083% more than planned). • 1.2+ million children are no longer invisible; 50% out of those are girls (140% Target vs. Achievement) • Registration time is now 10 mins (43,100% time reduction) • Less than 1% of the applications have been rejected by government (9% better acceptance rate than planned) • Pakistan ranks among top 6 countries by UNESCAP to increase CRVS indicators and to realise the shared vision of "Getting-Every One-in-the-Picture" • The Government plans to scale DBR to 36 more districts • One district will soon reach universal birth registration a first in Pakistan’s history • Due to the subsequent uplift of these provinces Telenor also earned data revenue of PKR 15.8 million in 2020 & avg. revenue per user in DBR enabled districts has increased by 100% • DBR has also successfully piloted in Myanmar

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