Strategies for Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital 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 2

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 • Creating public awareness • Improving service delivery • Making special efforts for death registration • Developing human resources • Conducting studies and evaluations • Mobilizing funds • Securing political commitment • Developing and implementing of action plans • Establishing coordination mechanisms • Fostering advocacy and partnerships • Creating demand

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 tocreate 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 sub-activities 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 pro-active 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 e-governance, health programmes

Thank you!

Strategies for Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics