Governance and Policy Coordination: The case of birth registration in Ghana

Coordination is a significant issue for the study of governance. Policy and practice in even the most specialized area often have implications or involve relationships beyond the sector, let alone relationships between different units or tiers of administration within the policy area itself. Enhancing and strengthening coordination can seem to be the answer, or at least an answer, to improving the translation of policy into practice, strengthening service delivery and, ultimately, getting results for money spent. 

This research explores coordination through the lens of civil registration and vital statistics, with particular reference to birth registration. This particular case study is on coordination in birth registration in Ghana, a low to middle income country with a total population of 24.66 million, including 9.45 million under the age of 14 years at the time of the last census in 2010. 2 Since 2007 the annual birth registration rate has fluctuated slightly above 60% (63% in 2007, 61.4% in 2009, and 65% in 2010).3 These rates of registration mean that that one child in three is not being registered. Fewer than half of children (45%) are registered during their first year of life.4, 5A sister study of coordination in birth registration in Peru, a high middle-income country with much higher birth registration rates, is under preparation.