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7th Africa Symposium on Statistical Development (7th ASSD)

18 – 20 January 201218 – 20 January 2012

Genene BizunehAfrican Development Bank

Lagoon Beach HotelLagoon Beach HotelCape Town, South AfricaCape Town, South Africa

Systemic, Institutional and Infrastructural Challenges in CRVS in the African Region:

Institutional and Human Infrastructure Challenges

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Content of the Content of the PresentationPresentation

Provide background to the breakout

session

Share some facts from the

assessment study

Highlight infrastructural challenges

Proposed strategies

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Institutional infrastructure National and sub-national offices (national,

regional/state and district level offices)

Offices and service points at local

administrations (below district level)

Human infrastructure Policy makers, coordinators and managers

Experts

Other staff

CRVS institutional and human infrastructure

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Universality – all areas and population

groups

Permanence – legally established

institutional structures

Continuity – avoid interruption

Timeliness – record and compile data

immediately after the occurrence of the event

Guiding principles in addressing CRVS institutional and human infrastructure challenges

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Permanent local registration offices and/or

service points

Accessible registration service to all

informants

Ensuring minimum human resource and

logistics requirements

Basic considerations in civil registration infrastructure development – in the African context

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Linkages between government administrative structure and civil registration – in the African context

At the local level civil registration structures and services need to be hosted, preferably in public administration offices.

In large parts of Africa it appears that there are no properly established and equipped administrative or sectoral offices below the province/region levels.

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Linkages between government … Cont’dEstablishing standalone civil registration offices may not be economical and sustainable.

Various public service institutions should be available that facilitate the utilization of the records and certificates.

To move to a sustainable civil registration system, availability of properly established local administrative institutions is a requirement

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National

Region/state/ province

District or equivalent

Local public administration and/or sectoral offices or service points in

all urban and rural areas

UrbanMunicipalities

Rural – local public offices

Sub-administrative offices or service points for medium

and big cities

Sub- administrative

offices or service points for medium and big localities

National

Region/state/ province

District or equivalent??

Typical Government Administrative Structures in Africa

Case 1 Case 2

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Some Facts from the Assessment Study

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Civil registration administering institutions

Out of the 32 countries, in 9 countries all the four vital

event registrations are structured in the same

institution;

In 14 countries birth and death registrations are

structured under the public administration offices and

in 4 countries under the Ministry of Health

11 countries did not respond to the institutional

arrangement for marriage and/ or divorce

registrations

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National civil registration administering offices

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Scenarios of civil registration administering offices in Africa

Case 1 – All vital event registration under the same Ministry or department

Case 2 – Birth, death and marriage registration under Ministry of Interior/ Home Affairs and divorce under Ministry of Justice

Case 3 – Birth and death registration under Ministry of Health, marriage and divorce under Ministry of Justice

Case 4 – other arrangement

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Case 1: All vital event registration under the same Ministry or department

National civil registration in the ministry/ department structure

District civil registration offices??

Ministry/ Department …

Region/state/ province Civil registration offices

Families and communities

Civil registration service points in Urban and rural areas and localities

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Case 2:Birth, death and marriage registration under Ministry of Interior/ Home Affairs and divorce under Ministry of Justice

Birth, death and marriage registration

Birth, death and marriage registration

District interior …??

Birth, death and marriage registration

Ministry of Interior/ Home Affairs

Region/state/ province

Urban and rural administrations/ services

Divorce registration

Divorce registration

District justice offices ??

Divorce registration

Ministry of Justice

Region/state/ province

Urban and rural administrations/ services

Families and communities

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Birth and death registration

Birth and death registration

Ministry of Health

Region/state/ province

Health offices and/or facilities in urban and rural areas??

Marriage and divorce registration

Marriage and divorce registration

Marriage and divorce registration?? and/or courts

Ministry of Justice

Region/state/ province

Local public administration and/or sectoral offices or service points

in urban and rural areas??

District justice offices??District health offices??

Birth, and death registration

Case 3: Birth and death registration under Ministry of Health, marriage and divorce under Ministry of Justice

Families and communities

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Vital statistics administering offices in Africa

Out of the 32 countries, in the 14 countries all the

four vital event statistics are structured in the

same institution;

In 13 countries all the four vital statistics are

structured under the NSO;

Sudan had its four vital statistics under the civil

registration department;

7 countries did not respond about vital statistics

structure for any of the vital events;

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Vital statistics administering offices

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Scenarios of vital statistics administering offices and their interface with civil registration structure

Case 1 – All vital event statistics under the National Statistics Office

Case 2 – Birth and death statistics under the Ministry of Health

Case 3 – Other arrangement

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Branch of the National Statistics Office

District branch NSO??

National Statistics Office

Region/state/ province

District civil registration offices

Ministry responsible for civil registration

Region/state/ province civil registration offices

Local civil registration arrangements

Civil registration office

The institutional linkages

between the civil registration

and the NSO should be

established in the civil

registration law. In addition, coordination and support mechanisms need to be

established.In most instances

NSOs do not

have structure

below

region/state??

Case 1: All vital event statistics under the National Statistics Office (NSO) interfaced with the civil registration structure

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Birth and death statistics branch

Ministry of Health

Region/state/ province health offices

Interface with the National

Statistics System (NSS)

Ministry / department

responsible for civil registration

National Civil registration office

Birth and death statistics branch

Birth and death statistics in district

health offices

NSO

Case 2: Birth and death statistics under the Ministry of Health interfaced with the National Statistics System (NSS) and civil registration structure

Birth and Death statistics under MoH

Interface with NSS and civil registration structure

The interface should be

reflected in the

legislations of all the

respective offices

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Multiple civil registration institutions

Uncoordinated operations and non-standard

techniques and procedures

Lack of public institutions to host civil

registration services at the local level

Lack of public institutions to use the records

and certificates at the local level -

disincentive for informants

Civil registration: Institutional infrastructure challenges

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Lack of regular training for registration and

related functionaries

Law, demography and public health

trainings lack courses on CRVS

Limited expertise in CRVS at national and

regional levels

No regional training institution providing

CRVS courses

Civil registration: Human infrastructure challenges

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Technically and institutionally not interfaced

with civil registration

Lack appropriate place and position in the

NSO structure

Lack proper institutional linkage with health

statistics – example, causes of death

statistics

Vital statistics: Institutional infrastructure challenges

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Demographic and public health trainings

biased to ad-hoc methods

Statisticians in large part of Africa: Limited

expertise in registration method and

compilation of flow statistics

Demographers and statisticians in large part

of Africa lack orientation about CRVS

operations

Vital statistics: Human infrastructure challenges

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Promoting activity integration and resource

sharing

Identification and travel documents

production services

Health and education services

Justice and human rights services

Statistics services

Strategies for improving CRVS institutional and human infrastructure

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Minimizing late and delayed registration

by keeping current registration high

Generating authentic certificates and

extracts

Ensuring availability of public service

institutions at the local level that utilize

civil registration records and certificates

Strategies … Cont’d

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Thank you

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Way forward

Expected from breakout sessions