Report to the Statistical Commission - Africa on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System (CRVS) in Africa United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Secretariat – Africa Programme on Accelerated Progamme on CRVS Fourth Session of Statistical Commission Africa and Meeting of Committee of DGs December 2014 Tunis, Tunisia

Important Milestones Meeting of Experts in Dar-Es-Salam - June 2009 First Conference responsible for Civil Registration - August 2010 Expert Group Meeting on CRVS – January 2011 First meeting of the Regional Core Group – April th ASSD, the first one on the theme of CRVS – January 2012 Prior to Third Session of the StatCom – Africa held in January 2012

Important Milestones (contd.) After the Third Session of the StatCom – Africa Comprehensive review of CRVS in Africa completed – April 2012 Heads of State and Government endorse the institutionalization of Ministers Conference as a biennial Conference – July 2012 Second Conference responsible for Civil Registration – September 2012 Training of pool of experts on CRVS – May th and 9 th ASSD with CRVS focus – January 2013 and February 2014

Key Achievements Conference of Ministers institutionalized as permanent conference under the AUC Regional CRVS Core Group established and fully functional Guidelines and tools for assessment and planning developed by Regional Core Group A Regional pool of CRVS African Experts developed which is now supporting countries 21 countries have completed assessment, in 7 countries the assessment is in progress and 3 countries are preparing for one Almost all countries have constituted High level Committees and Technical level committees to support the CRVS improvement process

Key Achievements (contd.) High level political commitment in most countries National Statistics Offices fully engaged and even leading the process in some countries A large number of persons in countries trained on CRVS – champions emerging at country and regional level The African initiative has resulted in global momentum – - Global CRVS group constituted - World Bank working on Global Financing Mechanism for CRVS - Global call for linkage with National Identity Management (Seoul Conference – September 2014) - Clinton Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and UN Foundation announcing partnership with APAI-CRVS on gender December 2014) UN Country team supporting the country effort

Challenges No predictable financing for implementing CRVS improvement programme at country and regional levels The Secretariat is not adequately staffed – posing a risk to the programme Not adequate experts available for providing technical assistance to countries –for example in causes of death No systematic process of sharing of experiences between countries No systematic measurement of level of completeness of registration in place Some countries are yet to assess their CRVS systems

Points for consideration Predictable financing needed for implementing CRVS improvement programme at country and regional levels Countries should be ready to fund the day to day functions of the CRVS systems The pool of experts need to be expanded for providing technical support to countries – much in line with the PHC programme Need for more sustainable capacity development measures The Secretariat should create a mechanism for experience sharing Countries should set up mechanisms for measuring completeness of registration as a part of performance management Countries who are yet to initiate assessment should do so