Gender and Development

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Gender and Legal RETAs

Establishing Legal Identity for Social Inclusion

Poverty is not always simply the result of a lack of resources. It can equally be the result of the lack of effective access to services opportunities, or a lack of protection against harmful or illegal practices. In many DMCs, significant portions of the population have no legal identity due to the absence of an inclusive and effective birth registration system.

The TA supports the overall ADB strategy of eliminating poverty by improving the understanding of the nexus between the absence of birth registration and poverty, and by identifying ways to facilitate access to existing resources, services, and opportunities as well as to protection. The TA seeks to support the elimination of inequalities in legal status and entitlements derived from legal identity issues by:

1. identifying barriers to establishing legal identity and recommending methods for their removal; and
2. pilot-testing methods to promote the establishment of legal identity.

The TA will have four major outputs:

1. a comprehensive survey in each participating DMCs of the requirements for establishing legal identity, and the direct and indirect legal identity requirements for participation in fundamental social, economic, and political activities, including an analysis of legal requirements as well as practicalities that impede access;
2. identification of practical solutions, best practices from other existing registration models, as well as appropriate law and policy reform dialogue to address legal identity issues in participating DMCs in the short, medium, and long term;
3. awareness-raising and training of ADB lawyers, mission leaders, and other relevant staff, as well as stakeholders in the countries on the importance of legal identity issues and solutions; and
4. identification of projects and programs in ADB's pipeline for participating DMCs where legal identity concerns may impact full participation by intended beneficiaries.

The TA will be covered out in three DMCs: Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal. The participating DMCs have been selected on the basis of statistics indicating limited birth registration, as well as of the spectrum of identity issues represented.

In light of the importance of establishing legal identity at birth, the TA will focus largely on issues related to birth registration. However, alternative systems of establishing legal identity may be identified as short-term solutions. Where applicable, birth registration will be considered in the context of overall vital registration. To the extent possible, the TA will synchronize activities with ongoing ADB-financed loans, especially in the area of governance reforms, rural development, and social sectors to pilot-test the synergetic effects.

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