CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.0 Introduction The following were the major findings of the research in Bindura and Hurungwe Districts: 4.1 Attitudes and reasons and for non-registration The major causes for non-registration included what respondents referred to as RGs office’s strict and rigid requirements. The long investment in time through travelling and queues emerged as a major discouraging element to birth registration for many rural folk. It was reported by both the RGs office and some respondents that generally some people did not perceive the significance of birth certificates. However, when there is an urgent requirement for it, such as school examinations, parents desperately and earnestly seek birth registration. In Hurungwe 26 (70%) of boy respondents between did not have birth certificates whilst the percentage was 19 (73%) for girls. 231 (75%) of the adult respondents in Bindura and 195 (82%) in Hurungwe Districts had no birth registration. For this group, in Hurungwe birth non-registration was more among women (80%) as compared to men (76%). Apparently, general some parents do not enthusiastically seek the registration of the children soon after birth, but do so as the children mature or grow up and the birth certificate becomes a vital document in the children’s lives. However, the RGs office in Bindura also noted that often there is an apparent lack of interest by parents or guardians to register minors. This is caused by limited awareness on the significance of birth registration. Such limited understanding can be linked to poor civic education or legal literacy on the relevance and necessity of these papers. Some of the problems associated with non-registration include poverty, logistical problems of accessing registry offices and suspicions around the whole essence of registering birth, especially among non-Zimbabwean populations. Some people had problems of not having the correct supporting documents to obtain child’s birth certificate. From JCT’s case files yet another problem that they encounter is when people give false information for purposes of obtaining birth certificates for their relatives (refer to case File 2 in the appendices). Apparently, some people lost documents such as birth notices. Some never acquired the basic documents needed such as IDs to support the registration for birth certificates. Low literacy leads some people not remembering the actual dates of birth of minors, thus leading to their failure to register them. There is general low public awareness of the need to acquire birth certification. Many, it was said, were Birth Registration Research Report/2007 34