SENEGAL/To digitize 15 million civil status records

The Directorate of Civil Status is in the process of digitizing 15 million records in preparation for the establishment of a National Registry of Civil Status which will be housed in the Data Center of Diamniadio, its director said Wednesday.

"We are currently digitizing 15 million records in all civil status centers in Senegal," said Aliou Ousmane Sall.

He was speaking at the ceremony of the African Day of Civil Status on the theme "Importance and challenges of civil status facts", organized in Kaffrine.

According to him, it will be "to index a sum of 30 million to make the information dynamic and establish a national registry of civil status that will be housed at the data center of Diamniadio for the security of the heritage of the civil status.

He added that these actions are part of the Nekkal program, with the training of 33,500 officers and 600 archivists to intensify awareness on the registration of civil status facts throughout the country.

Mr. Sall also recalled the recent validation of the national strategy of civil status recently valued at 68 billion CFA francs.

"These are the issues of accessibility that will be taken into account, 34 centers of civil status will be built and 100 others will be rehabilitated'' under the Nekkal program, he said.
In terms of communication and mobilization for the registration of civil status facts, Aliou Ousmane Sall noted the importance of communicating in French as well as in the national language.

According to him, it is especially in the rural world that the rate is low for the registration of births, deaths and marriages.

"It is important to rely on the community relays who are key players beyond that play an extremely important role," he explained.

This is why the celebration of the Civil Status Day has been deThis is why the celebration of Civil Status Day has been de-centralized in Kaffrine to speed up the registration of birth certificates," he said.

Kaffrine is one of the regions with the lowest rate of civil registration with 61% against 78% of the national rate, he said, hence the importance of intensifying awareness.

The Director of Civil Status also assured that as part of their intervention, cultural realities will be taken into account in each area.

Source: aps.sn/