Africa CRVS Pulse
Tracking Progress and Development in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
Sixth Africa CRVS Day
“The potential to increase coverage, improve quality and timeliness of data through digitalization of civil registration systems.”
Volume 1 · Quarter 1 · 2023We are delighted to introduce the first CRVS newsletter “Africa CRVS Pulse” as the secretariat of the Africa Programme for Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS). The APAI-CRVS is a regional programme developed following the political commitment and policy directives of the ministers in charge of civil registration to reform and improve CRVS systems on the continent.
The aim of this CRVS newsletter is to track progress and development in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics efforts across the African continent. It will supplement the African Statistical newsletter and African Statistical Journal of the African Development Bank while giving deeper insights into CRVS. The newsletter will be consolidated every two months and published online to easy accessibility.
Economic Commission for Africa
As we commemorate the Sixth Africa CRVS Day, African countries are encouraged to advance the digitization of civil registration data as part of the critical digital public infrastructure to promote the interlinkage and use of data from civil registration and vital statistics and identification across government agencies.
On this day, 10 August 2023, all African Countries commit, as agreed during the fourth to sixth Conference of Ministers to actively pursue the digitalization of civil registration and vital statistics systems to harness their full potential, enhancing registration coverage and outreach.
The theme for this year is “The potential to increase coverage, improve quality and timeliness of data through digitalization of civil registration systems.” The fifth Africa CRVS day focused on “Harnessing coordination, country leadership and ownership to strengthen integrated CRVS systems.”
Digital identity, and training in Accra and Lomé
Improving Linkage Between Digital Identity and CRVS in Africa
ECA CRVS team joined technical experts in providing inputs into the Africa’s contribution towards Global digital compact on digital identity during the final continental review meeting.
Anglophone countries gather in Accra, Ghana for a training on data analysis and report writing for Civil Registration based Vital Statistics
Seventy-one (71) participants from mainly the National Statistical Offices and Civil Registration Offices of 26 English speaking countries in Africa attended the workshop. The goal of the training workshop was to strengthen the capacity of countries in analysis of administrative data generated from Civil Registration Systems with the aim of providing evidence on the performance of civil registration systems and making this data available for policy and planning (where it meets a sufficient level of quality and completeness).
The training also over-achingly aimed at supporting countries to identify their system weaknesses and develop strategies and practical solutions for systems improvement. Specifically, the training was designed to address four objectives:
The workshop was co-organized by partners of the APAI-CRVS core group namely ECA, UNFPA, UNICEF, and Vital Strategies. The workshop was hosted by the Ghana Birth and Death Registry and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative. The ONS- UK conducted training in the use of R software for analysis of CRVS data for selected countries.
A Replica of this training was conducted from 7th to 11th August 2023 in Lomé, Togo for the French speaking African countries.
Sixth Africa CRVS day commemoration
How Member States marked 10 August 2023, in their own words and photographs.
Celebration of the African Day of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, at the primary school of the dam, Maputo, Mozambique.
Birth certificates were issued to all who did not have. A radio talk show was held to discuss CRVS.
In Rwanda, the National Identification Agency marked the sixth Africa CRVS day by raising awareness on the benefits of CRVS.
Speaking at the Sixth Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day, H.E the Minister of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation of the Federal Republic of Somalia talked about the importance of an effective Civil Registration System that records the important life events of every citizen, events such as birth, marriage, divorce and death.
On this day 10 August 2023, Equatorial Guinea committed to actively pursue the digitization of civil registration and vital statistics systems to increase national coverage, improve the quality and availability of timely data.
Kenya celebrations included a breakfast media event and a launch of Athi-river Civil Registration Office in Kajiado county.
Benin scored the tradition and celebrated the sixth CRVS day.
As part of the sixth Africa CRVS day, Lesotho launched e-notifications of birth and death.
Liberia celebrates the sixth Africa CRVS day in Sanniquellie, Nimba county and held a media awareness campaign.
For the sixth Africa CRVS day, Ghana reflected on the need to invest in CRVS through digitalization, use of technology, system interoperability, leveraging on local structures and gender.
Niger congratulated all countries for commemorating this wonderful CRVS day.
Zambia kicked started the celebrations for the sixth Africa CRVS day with the minister giving a media brief. He applauded the progress made in modernizing CRVS systems and noted its contribution to establishing digital government.
Sixth Africa CRVS day activities in Namibia, a whole week was dedicated to community outreaches.
In Chad, another Civil Registration office was opened in commemoration of the sixth Africa CRVS day and signed an inter-ministerial order on interoperability of systems.
Cameroon celebrated the sixth Africa CRVS day through a week-long Civil Registration activities that culminated in the national celebrations graced by Minister of Decentralization and Local Development. It was noted that high level commitment by governments has contributed to CRVS being elevated in the list of national priorities.
Sierra Leone, through NCRA joined other African countries to commemorate the sixth CRVS day. In attendance were the Director General of NCRA, UNICEF country Representative, UNFPA country Representative, UNDP Representative, Plan International, World Vision, World Health Organization, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Minister of Internal Affairs and other prominent stakeholders whose work are related to Civil registration and Vital Statistics.
Upcoming events
Past events
Gender Equity in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Africa: Regional Stakeholders Consultative Meeting
The meeting brought together about 50 participants from across the Data for Health (D4H) focus countries in Africa. The overall purpose for the regional meeting was to facilitate gender and CRVS policy engagement across stakeholders within the D4H focus countries in Africa. The consultations focused on the role of the CRVS data in mainstreaming gender inclusion and in monitoring progress of the social programs toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Africa development Agenda 2063. Participants discussed technical and policy linkages in improving the availability, timeliness, and use of CRVS data for policy-relevant gender-inclusive interventions. The workshop also sought to document best practices and lessons from the focus countries and challenges in ensuring the use of gender statistics generated by CRVS system. ECA in collaboration with Vital Strategies as Data for Health Initiative regional partners identified a need to engage regional stakeholders on Gender mainstreaming in CRVS. This was done under the theme: Improving the availability and access to sex disaggregated birth and death data for analysis and dissemination to inform gender equity policy interventions.
Secretariat of the Africa Programme for Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics