Barriers to and facilitators of civil registration in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a qualitative study

Civil registration establishes legal identity for individuals and related government-issued identification document. Civil registration data are used to generate vital statistics which are an important source of data to policy-makers planning public policies and researchers studying population dynamics. However, many resource-poor countries lack a functioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system. Learning the factors that affect CRVS can help data users to better understand the context behind these data. The Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic is in the process of conducting a social and behavior change communication (SBCC) campaign to improve civil registration. In preparation, a qualitative study was conducted to understand the residents’ knowledge, attitudes, practices, facilitating factors, and barriers regarding civil registration. One hundred seven key-informant interviews and 22 focus group discussions were conducted with government and nongovernmental organization employees, development partners, and residents employing semi-structured guides during July-December 2018. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 23 applying the grounded theory and constant comparative analysis methods plus analytic memo writing. Findings show that barriers to civil registration include various costs involved in registering vital events, lack of awareness of civil registration, long distances to registration offices and poor road conditions, perceived lack of benefits, and long, complicated registration procedures. Respondents recommended the SBCC to inform the public about the legal mandate for and benefits of civil registration, and instruction on how to register vital events, using multiple channels, such as television, outreach visits to villages, posters, radio, village chiefs and loudspeakers, brochures, face-to-face meetings, social media, etc.