conflict, considering its importance to the protection of the rights of civilians and to the prevention of statelessness. 23. It is recommended that States allocate sufficient resources to their civil status systems in order to ensure their adequate functioning. It is also recommended that the international community provide technical and financial support in the strengthening of the civil status system especially in the context of the post2015 development agenda. 24. It is recommended that States take advantage of available information and communication technologies, including through the computerization of civil status services, and create in every State a civil status database to simplify the process of birth declaration and the registration of vital events. 25. ECOWAS Member States should address nationality and statelessness issues through a systemic lens, with a view to put in place a coherent and unified system to manage identity documents giving access to nationality to all, both in theory and practice. Interventions related to the civil status, electoral registration, the management of national identity cards, border management and other related topics should be seen as part of the same system and should be coordinated in order to avoid duplication of efforts, the incompatibility of systems and contradictory approaches. 26. It is recommended that ECOWAS Member States simplify and harmonize their mechanisms allowing individuals who were not registered in time to obtain identity documents. C. Political commitments, partnership and information sharing   27. We recommend that each State develop a national action plan for the eradication of statelessness on the basis of the Global Action Plan developed by UNHCR. As statelessness affects several fields, be it statistics, sociology, law, etc., and that its eradication requires both a political change and changes in the population’s behavior, it is important to establish multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary teams, bringing together various government departments including Justice, Human Rights and Interior, as well as civil society, the National Human Right Institutions, universities and the media. In drafting action plans, States must consult traditional leaders and women’s groups. States should allocate funds for the implementation of national action plans, including support for civil society activities. 28. We urge each State to put a committee in place to follow up on the implementation of national action plans. 29. Each State should designate a focal point on statelessness to ECOWAS and UNHCR by note verbal. We urge civil society in each State to also designate a coordinator on statelessness. 6