Commonwealth expert Fiona Bolt is helping preserve vital records of Tonga’s births, deaths, marriages and medical information.
Commonwealth expert Fiona Bolt, an Archivist from the United Kingdom, is helping to preserve vital records of Tonga’s births, deaths, marriages and medical information. Previously written on paper registers, these records are being digitised and stored on a database. It will make information about Tonga’s population reliable, accessible and preserve its integrity for future use.
“The quality of some paper records is poor. Daily handling of registers impacts heavily on their fragile condition. Tonga’s climate too can affect them adversely,” explained Ms Bolt. “Also, reproducing written information in a database needs additional quality-checking to ensure total accuracy. It’s painstaking work. Records go back as far as 1867. ”
Seventy-five per cent of the most fragile paper registers have so far been digitised using cameras and large scanners. Information from the registers has been transferred to the Tonga Ministry of Justice Registration System (MOJRS) and the images are then uploaded. MOJRS was originally created by a Commonwealth Youth Ambassadors programme based in Australia. Since 2011, births, deaths and marriages have been registered directly onto MOJRS.
Funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC), this two-year project is jointly managed by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development Division and Tonga’s Ministry of Justice. The CFTC is financed voluntarily by Commonwealth member countries.
On completion in December 2013, the project expects to have digitised all birth and death registers on the islands of Tongatapu, Ha’apai, Vava’u and Eua.
Ms Bolt is also establishing archiving policies and procedures. She is training Tonga Registrar General staff in archiving, scanning and tagging documents. In the future, Tonga plans to employ a full-time Archivist.
“Continuing rigorous checks, as part of the new system, will leave reliable and robust data that can be used for electoral reform and improved medical record-keeping,” said Ms Bolt. “It will also help with passport applications where date and place of birth verification is crucial.”
“It’s deeply rewarding to work on a project that helps everyone,” she added.
