AFRICA PROGRAMME ON
ACCELERATED IMPROVEMENT OF
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL
STATISTICS (APAI-CRVS)
ORGANIZATION, MANAGEMENT
OPERATIONS
AND
7th Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD)
Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
18-23 January 2012
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
Civil Registration Systems
 A national civil registration system can be centralized
or decentralized. It depends on the judicial, political
and administrative structures of a country, as well as
its tradition.
 For the purposes of supervision and administration,
there may be subnational civil registration offices
established between the national (or
state/province/region) and the local offices.
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
Centralized (National) Civil Registration Systems
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A centralized administration of civil registration usually has
an agency for directing, coordinating and monitoring the
nationwide civil registration work.
The national registration agency plays not only an
administrative role but also a technical one over the network
of subnational and local civil registration offices
(establishment of all local registration offices; provision of
written materials to local registrars to guide their daily work;
coordination of the registration procedures throughout the
system; supervision and evaluation of the registration work of
the local offices).
The central office is responsible for coordinating with other
governmental agencies that support the civil registration
system, including the health services that certify the
occurrence of vital events, the courts that deal with marriages
and divorces, and the statistical service that compiles the
registration data and publishes vital statistics.
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
Centralized CR Systems & Administration of VS Systems
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There are 2 main options for the administration of the VS
system in a centralized administration of the CR system.
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The responsibility for both activities is within a single government
organization (ministry of health, the interior, home affairs or
justice, or an independent agency.
The two functions are separated. CR system might be under the
responsibility of the ministry of interior or health and the VS
system under the responsibility of another agency, such as the
national statistical office.
In turn, the VS system itself can be administered in a
centralized or decentralized manner.
The organizational structure, management role, operational
functions and maintenance requirements differ for each of
these options.
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
Decentralized CR Systems & Administration of VS
Systems
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Civil registration can be administered at the level of the
major civil divisions, such as the state, province or
department.
In the capital city of each major division, an authority for
civil registration is established to direct and monitor the
civil registration work of the major division.
Many countries with a federated political system, a large
territory or a large population may adopt a decentralized
administration for civil registration.
Within a decentralized administrative structure for civil
registration, the organizational options for the vital
statistics system may be centralized or decentralized.
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
What are the limitations and problems of the current
organization, management and operations of CRVS in the
countries?
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Organizational aspect (administrative structures): centralized/
decentralized administration; programme units administration;
programme interaction and integration; reporting; resource
allocation; standards and policies for administration; interagency liaison and communication…
Management aspect: intra-agency coordination; inter-agency
collaboration; procedures for programme planning and policy
formulation (policy committee, working groups for planning and
development purposes); capacity development (plans for
training); management control functions (confidentiality,
security of the records, archiving); protocols for the system’s legal
structure; logistics for record management including timing;
management audits of records within CR system; methods for
system functions assessment and review, public relations…
Operational aspect: registration of vital events (births, deaths);
internal monitoring tasks for recording processing; visits to the
field by programme staff; coordination…
ORGANIZATION OF CR&VS SYSTEMS
What are the challenges regarding…?
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Collaboration between different government agencies and
departments responsible for CRVS systems
Institutional and technical capacities in the VS systems in
countries to generate statistics on births, deaths and cause of
death disaggregated by sex and age each year at both national
and for all subnational levels. Completeness of such records
Data storage and transmission
Compliance with ICD practices and certification within and
outside hospitals
Data access, dissemination and use (evidence-based advocacy on
the importance and usefulness of CRVS)
THANK YOU
IMPROVING CRVS FUNCTIONS &
SERVICES
IMPROVING CRVS
SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
Improving CRVS
FUNCTIONS
Improving Legal Framework
•Civil registration legislation
•Vital statistics legislation
Improving Organization,
Management and
Operations of CRVS
Improving Institutional and
Human Infrastructure
Improving Service Delivery
of CRVS
BENEFICIARIES
INDIVIDUALS AND
COMMUNITIES
- CHILDREN AND WOMEN
- POPULATION GROUPS
- MINORITIES
- REFUGIES
- DISPLACED PERSONS
- ADULTS …
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
- PARLIAMENTS, JUDICIAL
BODIES, …
- SECTOR MINISTRIES AND
AGENCIES
- LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND
LOCALITIES
NON-GOVERNMENTS
- NATIONAL, SUB-REGIONAL,
REGIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL
Improving CRVS
SERVICES
Improving operations of health,
education, social security, …
services
Improving operations of national,
regional and international human
rights instruments
Improving operations of justice
system administrations
Improving operations of public
administration services
Improving operations of
national statistics system
CRVS SYSTEMS & THEIR MULTISECTORAL SERVICES AND LINKAGES
CRVS Operational Framework
National Statistics
Office
Civil Registration
Authority
Vital statistics, including
causes of death
Birth, death and foetal
death at home
Birth, death and foetal
death in health facilities
or attended by a health
worker
Marriage and divorce
Processing
complementary vital
events
Civil Register
Civil Status
Database
Migration
Population
Register
Establishing identity,
safeguarding rights and
privileges
Health, education, grant and
other social and economic
services
National ID database
(ID from a certain age)
Passport, election database,
driving license, …