BOUSSÉ — A technical team from the General Directorate for the Modernization of Civil Status at the Ministry of Territorial Administration visited Boussé from August 9 to 17, 2024, to support the digitization and conservation of the commune’s civil status documents.

According to Burkina Information Agency, the Secretary General of the Boussé Town Hall, the operation, financed by the municipal budget at a cost of 4 million CFA francs, successfully reconstructed and scanned a total of 1,906 civil status registers. This effort is a significant step towards modernizing the civil status services in the municipality.

Nébié highlighted the importance of securing civil status documents, citing poor archiving conditions, weather damage, and frequent handling as factors contributing to data degradation and loss. The digital archiving of these documents is expected to protect personal information related to vital events such as births, deaths, and marriages, by storing them digitally, thus reducing processing times and facilitating easier access.

Rodrigue Dembélé, head of the mission and the service in charge of securing civil status documents, explained that the operation was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved evaluating the environment and the volume of archives to be digitized, as well as assessing the infrastructure and equipment available. The second phase focused on organizing and restoring the contents of the registers before proceeding with the scanning process. Upon completion, a digital copy of the records was handed over to the municipal authorities, with another copy stored at the national level for future use.

For continued success, Dembélé emphasized the need for the municipal administration to acquire appropriate IT equipment to further enhance the digitization process and ensure optimal use of the digital archives.