The Malawi government requires K17.8 billion to register about 4.6 million children who remain without birth certificates and legal identity, Minister of Homeland Security Peter Mukhito has announced.
Mukhito said the National Birth Registration Campaign, to be implemented by the National Registration Bureau (NRB), is aimed at children under 16 who were born before birth registration became mandatory or were missed in earlier exercises.
“This campaign will transform the lives of millions of children who currently have no legal identity,” he said.
He noted that lack of registration exposes children to exploitation, early marriage, child labour, trafficking and exclusion from basic services, while also leaving gaps in the national population register.
“We cannot allow a whole generation to grow up without protection and recognition,” Mukhito said.
The minister explained that birth registration became mandatory with the National Registration Act, which came into force in 2015, replacing a 1904 law that did not compel registration.
Since then, NRB has registered about 3.8 million children and issued over 12.8 million national IDs to citizens aged 16 and above.
According to Mukhito, the new campaign will close the remaining gap by targeting the estimated 4.6 million unregistered children nationwide.
“Registering every child will also end age manipulation that affects recruitment into security services,” he said, citing frequent requests to alter dates of birth.
He said the campaign will be conducted in seven phases across 25 districts, using government primary schools as registration centres, with trained teachers and NRB staff handling the process.
Birth certificates will be distributed at the same schools to reduce travel costs for parents.
Mukhito disclosed that K5.4 billion has already been allocated in the 2025/26 financial year to fund the first two phases, while the remaining five phases will require K12.4 billion.
“We are engaging Treasury and cooperating partners to ensure full financing of this national exercise,” he said.
He thanked President Arthur Peter Mutharika, development partners and organisations such as UNICEF, UNDP and CDC for supporting the initiative, stressing that “4.6 million children are waiting, for their certificates, their identity and their future.”
