ISLAMABAD (PRESS RELEASE)
The Digital Birth Registration (DBR) project from Telenor Pakistan has been nominated for the prestigious GSMA Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) 2018 in the ‘Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs’ category. DBR aims to provide the fundamental right to identity and to millions of children across Pakistan, lack of which is a critical impediment in provision of basic services to citizens by the governments.
Often dubbed as the ‘Oscars’ of worldwide telecommunications industry, GSMA Global Mobile Awards recognize and celebrate the phenomenal successes and contributions registered by mobile operators across the world. Telenor Pakistan’s Digital Birth Registration initiative, launched in partnership with provincial governments and UNICEF Pakistan, has proved to be a ground-breaking effort towards mediating child’s right to identity by augmenting birth registration process in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, the process of birth registration has been marred by a host of socioeconomic and cultural hindrances including time, cost, travel, processing complexities, and a general lack of awareness among the masses limiting registrations to only one-third of all children in the country. However, the ubiquitious prevalance of telecommunication services in Pakistan opened up new ways to address the issue in an effective manner.
DBR was designed to create an enabling environment by making the process of birth registration user-friendly, efficient and transparent and providing facilitation to citizens and other stakeholders through not only infrastructure and capacity building but also through innovative use of digital technologies. The availability of timely and accurate data will also enable better planning and decision making at policy level. Besides giving the Pakistani children the right to identity and thus access to basic amenities, the initiative also sensitized the masses about the efficacy of mobile technology as a means to access public services. Since its inception, the service has registered impressive impacts in rural and urban areas of the country.
“I am very proud that Telenor Pakistan’s DBR project has been nominated for the prestigious award”, said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan. “The initiative is an extension of Telenor Pakistan’s commitment to empowering societies and this nomination is a recognition of the robust partnerships that we have developed with the government and social sector in Pakistan in order to help reduce inequalities. I am positive that the platform we have established through DBR will continue to evolve and contribute towards sustainable development of our society.”
Telenor Pakistan runs comprehensive sustainability portfolio including a vast array of programs ranging from education, health, emergency relief and environment and climate.