Due to unforeseen circumstances, the 4th Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration has been postponed to October 2017. The new dates will be announced.
The Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (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. At the regional level, the programme is guided by a Regional CRVS Core Group led by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in partnership with African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), Secretariat of African Symposium on Statistical Development, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), INDEPTH Network, Plan International and PARIS21. The Secretariat of the Programme is based in African Center for Statistics (ACS) at ECA.
The comprehensive assessment of civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in Rwanda started in July 2016 and was successfully completed in October 2016. The assessment was conducted jointly by the National Institute of Statistics (NISR) and the National Identity Agency (NIDA) in partnership with UNICEF, AfDB and ECA among other multiple partners.
The comprehensive assessment of CRVS system in Madagascar has commenced on 21 June, 2016. This follows the the big pre-assessment mission that took place in March this year, under the leadership of Dimitri Sanga, Director of ECA Subregional Office for West Africa accompanied by representatives of UNICEF and AfDB. Firm commitments and promises of support were received directly during the mission from the President of the Republic of Madagascar, the Head of Government, the Minister of Interior, the President of the Senate and high-level representatives of the National Assembly.
Mr. Oliver Chinganya, Director, African Centre for Statistics, UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) led a team to Sierra Leone on a mission from 27 to 30 June 2016 to support the Government of Sierra Leone to prepare for the assessment of their civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) System. The team members joining the mission were from UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR, Plan International and Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
A workshop organized by Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative and Economic Commision for Africa on the use of business process mapping and enterprise architecture for strengthening of CRVS systems took place from 21 to 23 June 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. It included participants in the Data for Health initiative (D4H) from countries throughout the Africa region and was facilitated by experts from (among others) D4H implementing partners – Vital Strategies, the University of Melbourne and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.
An Inter-regional Seminar to Exchange and Discuss Best Practices in CRVS from Africa, Asia and the Pacific was organized on 2 and 3 June 2016 jointly by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
An Expert Group Meeting (EGM) to validate the draft Trainer’s Manual on the Production of Vital Statistics from Civil Registration Records was organized jointly by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was held from 30 May to 1 June in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The experts attending the meeting reviewed the Trainer’s Manual developed jointly by the two Commissions and the also the draft of the Template for developing a vital statistics report being developed by Statistics Norway.
The 11th African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD) was held in Libreville, Gabon from 23rd to 25th November 2015 under the theme “Promoting use of Information and Communication Technology solutions in improving CRVS in Africa”.
The Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Digitisation Guidebook (CRVS-DGB) is an online resource that provides step-by-step guidance for countries to plan, analyse, design and implement digitized systems and automated processes for CRVS. It has been developed by the African Regional Core Group on CRVS under the technical leadership of Plan International supported by Economic Commission for Africa and African Development Bank in collaboration with country experts across Africa. Jembi Health Systems, South Africa, provided the technical support as consultant organization.
Access the Guidebook online at: www.crvs-dgb.org
