United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
African Centre for
Statistics
Strategies for Improvement of
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Standards
for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems
27 – 30 June 2011
New York
Raj Gautam Mitra
African Centre for Statistics
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Principles and Recommendations: version 2
Recommended strategies for improving civil registration and vital statistics
system - Chapter IV
Improvement in vital statistics system is contingent on establishment of a
reliable vital statistics system –
only discusses steps that the governments can take to improve civil
registration systems in their respective countries
Strategies
•Training, seminars and workshops, feedback from users, civil registration
committees, development and implementation of action plans
•Information, Education and Communication
•Evaluation studies – external and internal
•Use of information technology and automation
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Strategies for improvement of civil
registration system
No single pathway – can vary depending on the situation existing in the
country in terms of infrastructure, administrative structure, legal framework
and technical capacity
More countries are now realizing the intrinsic nature of of linkages of CRS
with social and economic development, governance and human rights
Varied actors taking interest - opening up opportunities not only in
strengthening registration per se but also in leveraging resources for its
development
Countries need to look for strategic positioning of CRS
so that it not only remains everyone's concern but
becomes everyone’s responsibility
Strategies for improvement of civil
registration system
Securing political
commitment
Developing and
implementing of action
plans
Creating public awareness
Improving service delivery
Making special efforts for
death registration
Establishing coordination
mechanisms
Developing human resources
Fostering advocacy and
partnerships
Conducting studies and
evaluations
Creating demand
Mobilizing funds
Securing political commitment
The first step
Secure funding and getting support of various other departments and
stakeholders
Declaration by African Ministers – August 2010
Conference of African Ministers now permanent forum – to meet
every two years to review progress
ESCAP mandated to create a high level political commitment
Developing and Implementing Action Plan
A time-bound action plan to address the existing gaps and challenges – will
vary in accordance with the progress made by individual countries
A comprehensive assessment preceding the development of the plan –a
consultative process involving all stakeholders and jointly prepared
Plans should have measurable targets, clear set of activities and subactivities with timelines
Plans should be costed and identified source of funding
Lead department/agency leading the implementation of an activity should be
identified
Performance monitoring to be put in place
Monitoring through a joint working level committee
Establishing coordination committees
High level coordination committee to provide leadership and policy direction
– ideally to be led by the Minister in charge of Civil Registration
This committee should include the highest level functionaries form various
ministries/departments, experts, representatives of international agencies
and leading NGOs
A committee at the working level for implementation of the plan and frequent
monitoring of the plan should be put in place
Fostering advocacy
Politicians and highest level executives at the highest echelons of the
government are not fully aware of the value of civil registration and vital
statistics system
CRS is often perceived to be an instrument for providing birth, death,
marriage certificates and nothing beyond
Statistical office perceive it as a non-performing statistical system and hence
disengage themselves
Advocacy efforts are needed to garner the support of the decision makers
National conferences, seminars , workshops can be organized –participation
of all stakeholders
High-pitched media advocacy – drop in articles, special debates, brochures
etc.
Creating demand
Three tangible outputs of the civil registration system- registration records.
the extract of the register (certificates), statistics
Demand can be created for use of each of these outputs
- for governments for administrative, policy planning and programme
implementation
-for individuals to obtain social and economic benefits
Birth records – to identify beneficiaries for child related services (health
care) and post-partum care of mothers
Death records- identification of women who died in their reproductive ages
and ascertain through follow up services if the same was due to maternal
causes
Registration authorities have to work with concerned ministry to make it
operational – a jointly implemented pilot project to demonstrate this and also
fine tune the operations and methods
Creating demand (contd.)
With increased security threat perceptions more and more governments
developing national identity registration systems
ICT is playing a catalytic role
Providing immense opportunity in promoting e-governance including service
delivery of various government programmes
However sophisticated these systems are made to be, the primacy of a
complete and fool-proof CRS in ensuring the national identity is complete
and fool-proof is yet to be fully understood and recognized
Need to organically link the CRS records and national identity register
Creating demand (contd.)
Births, deaths, marriage certificates are of use to individuals
Making production of certificates mandatory should be cautiously and
selectively done.
For example – birth certificates for school admission may run counter to the
universal education programme – can be limited to urban areas
It can be made compulsory for entry in the national identity register
Governments should gradually phase out the acceptance of alternative
documents
The courts should increasingly and relay on civil registration documents for
settling matters that require the reference to such documents
Creating demand (contd.)
Statistical agencies can continuously compile civil registration based vital
statistics even if they are incomplete and publish annual reports
There will be regions in the country which may have reached the
recommended threshold of 90 % completeness – complete tabulations
should be made for these regions and widely disseminated in various
forums demonstrating the importance of CRS
Countries should every year compile the level of registration of different vital
events for different regions nd sub-regions
Creating public awareness
General public occupies the centre-stage in a CRS – they are informants
and also the benefit from the crucial piece of documents provided to them
legally recognizing such events
Countries who have compulsory registration also provide for penalty
Despite the incentives and disincentives people do not come forward for
registration
Two reasons can be cited
- Inadequacy of registration infrastructure and convoluted processes
-Lack of knowledge on a) the need and importance of registration b) the
place and processes of
Well planned public awareness programme on a sustained basis is required
Creating public awareness (contd)
Nature, scope and content of awareness programme will vary from country
to country and even within the country depending on the level of progress
and cultural and social norms
A more targeted approach is needed – in terms of location and messaging
- In distant rural areas it is pointless to inform people about the importance
of birth registration in obtaining passport – more stress on local incentives
Careful choice of media should be made depending on the level of literacy,
the network reach etc.
Local communication channels are also important, such as community level
announcements through mikes and interpersonal communications through
health workers or NGOS working in the local areas on various governments
programmes
Improving service delivery
Primary responsibility of government to ensure efficient service delivery of
registration services – this will make CRS more efficient and improve
completeness
Can be mainly achieved though – amendment of laws and regulations,
improved management, training of registration functionaries and use of ICT
Countries should review the existing laws identify existing provisions that
hinder smooth delivery of services and discourage public with interacting
with the system.
For example, if the law provides for payment of fees for registration it should
be amended to make it free
The accessibility of registration should be improved – it may not be practical
to open registration offices in large numbers, linkages with the outreach of
the health services should be put in place with appropriate processes and
protocols for reporting
- Mobile registration units
Improving service delivery (contd)
Certificates are issued only on demand - countries should attempt proactive methods for delivery of certificates immediately after the regsitration
of events
-Can be attempted in big hospitals
Development of strong customer service culture
ICT can play a crucial role in improving service delivery in several fronts –
can range from delivery of computerized certificate at the registration
centres to issuance of certificates through kiosks or through internet
Making special efforts to improve death registration
Death registration requires special attention as in most countries with a large
number of non-institutional deaths , the death registration of young age
population is highly deficient
-there is no incentive to report an infant death
The registration of child immediately after death has not been given the
prominence as the right of the child to be registered at birth
-Advocacy argument should highlight the rights aspects of recording the
death of a child
Non –registration of young population can create false identities
No easy quick fix solution – can community be involved? Only a empowered
and well informed community may take interest
Countries where burial and cremation are regulated can use these sites to
notify the deaths
Developing human resources
Training of staff is one the most crucial for efficient functioning of civil
registration system
Training has to be a regular programme and not ad-hoc – well designed
training modules and tools
Training on legal aspects, registration processes, record keeping,
preparation of reports – and also module on customer service
Registration functionaries should also appreciate the importance of vital
statistics – a separate module
Frequency of training will depend on the type of staff
Training should also include other related staff, such as health workers if
involved
When major changes are made in the Act/regulations and processes special
training programme should be implemented
Developing human resources (contd)
Registration functionaries should be adequately equipped with reference
documents such as copies of the Act and Regulations, Registrar’s Manual,
which may contain duties and responsibilities, dos and don'ts, FAQs
Civil registration as a source of vital statistics should be included as special
modules in the courses on demography and vital statistics, public health
may be introduced in the colleges
Medical courses should include modules to train budding doctors about the
importance of certification of cause of death and the method of recording
them
Creating a pool of civil registration and vital statistics experts
Studies and evaluations
Detailed assessment is a pre-requisite for developing a plan
Evaluation of the programme at a pre-decided intervals is important to make
adjustments – normally external
Special studies for in-depth elicit information on public perception and
understanding on importance of registration, procedures and quality of
services – through household surveys or Focused Group Discussions
Mobilizing resources
The development and maintenance of CRVS is the primary responsibility of
the government as any other normal programme – it is therefore, its
responsibility to provide sufficient budget to meet the core needs
-Salary of registration staff, printing of forms, maintenance of infrastructure,
public awareness programme and training
A special time-bound action plan for improvement will require funds
This would require efforts to garner support from the main stakeholders
within the government, Un agencies and international donors
Leveraging funds from other programmes which benefit form an improved
registration and vital statistics system – for example governance including egovernance, health programmes
Thank you!
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