Mobile birth registration in Liberia: CMI project mid-term review

This mid-term review (MTR) has been undertaken in order to review how CMI has conducted the project, to evaluate it against the MFA Evaluation Guidelines (2007) and other international criteria, as well as to provide perspectives and development suggestions for CMI and other stakeholders for the continuation of the MBR project. The Mobile Birth Registration (MBR) project should be commended and its actual expansion from the pilot county to other Liberian counties should follow as planned. The evaluation team has identified a number of issues or concerns, the consideration of which may be helpful in planning and implementing future activities. Regarding the ambitions of MBR to facilitate the broader Liberian government process to build a modern population information system, the evaluation team recommends CMI to look into the issue of bringing together the relevant governmental actors to discuss a broader civil registry, and advocating the MBR solution as one possible data gathering and registration model. Finally, the success and importance of MBR to its intended beneficiaries, Liberian families and civil society, raises the broader question of ICT4D's status and place in CMI strategy. CMI is currently reviewing its ICT4D experiences, and the process should lead also to reconsideration of ICT's role as enabler of CMI objectives.