A FRICA P ROGRAMME ON A CCELERATED I MPROVEMENT OF C IVIL R EGISTRATION AND V ITAL S TATISTICS (APAI-CRVS) O RGANIZATION, M ANAGEMENT AND O PERATIONS 7 th Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD) Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa January 2012

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS 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.

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS Centralized (National) Civil Registration Systems 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.

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS Centralized CR Systems & Administration of VS Systems There are 2 main options for the administration of the VS system in a centralized administration of the CR system. 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.

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS Decentralized CR Systems & Administration of VS Systems 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.

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS What are the limitations and problems of the current organization, management and operations of CRVS in the countries? Organizational aspect ( administrative structures): centralized/ decentralized administration; programme units administration; programme interaction and integration; reporting; resource allocation; standards and policies for administration; inter- agency 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…

O RGANIZATION OF CR&VS S YSTEMS What are the challenges regarding…? 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)

T HANK Y OU

I MPROVING CRVS F UNCTIONS & S ERVICES

CRVS S YSTEMS & THEIR M ULTI - S ECTORAL S ERVICES AND L INKAGES