ABSTRACT
Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme (CT-OVC) is one of the major initiatives by the Government of Kenya to support vulnerable children. Birth and death registration are of a particular importance in promoting and protecting the rights of the child. Absence of care giver’s identity card, death certificates for the deceased parents and child’s birth certificate increase the chances of violation of a child’s basic rights. Acquisition of death and birth certificates remains low despite government intervention.
The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of cash transfer for orphans and vulnerable children programme on civil registration in Karaba Location of Mbeere South Subcounty. The study sought to determine how demographic characteristics of the caregivers, challenges faced by caregivers, household priorities of caregivers and household size affect civil registration.
The study was conducted in Karaba Location of Mbeere South Sub-county using descriptive study design. The target population was 399 respondents comprising of 377 Caregivers, 20 children, 1 Children Officer and 1 Civil Registrar. The sample size was 102 respondents. Systematic sampling was used since a complete list of caregivers was available. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire, interview guide and focus group discussion guide while secondary data was obtained from documents review. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences and presented in frequency tables and cross tabulations.
Study findings indicated that demographic characteristics of the caregiver such as age, gender occupation and education level affected decisions on acquisition of civil registration. It was also deduced that the prioritization of needs in the household affected acquisition of civil registration since food and education were given a higher priority. Challenges such as high transport costs, drunkenness of some caregivers, misplacement of documents and also the amount given to the OVC being inadequate were some of the challenges cited by the caregivers and civil registrar.
It was noted that the OVC were not involved in making decisions on use of the money despite the fact that they were the reason for the programme. It was concluded that demographic characteristics, challenges faced by caregivers, prioritization of needs and household size influenced civil registration in Karaba Location.The study recommends that civil education should be carried out from time to time to the registered caregivers and possibly to the affected families in order to ensure that civil registration is taken seriously.
