At the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific held in November 2014, governments in Asia and the Pacific adopted the Ministerial Declaration to “Get Every One in the Picture”, as well as the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, and declared the Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistic Decade, 2015-2024 (CRVS Decade).
The Regional Action Framework outlines goals and targets to support the achievement of the shared vision outlined in the Ministerial Declaration that, by 2024, all people in Asia and the Pacific will benefit from universal and responsive CRVS systems facilitating the realization of their rights and supporting good governance, health and development.
According to the midterm reports submitted by countries in 2019/2020 (halfway through the CRVS Decade), many still need to invest significantly to accomplish the vision of universal and responsive CRVS systems, including by improving CRVS business processes, producing civil registration-based vital statistics and assessing inequalities related to CRVS experienced by subgroups of the population.
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) collaborates with development partners to provide coordinated support to member States in strengthening their national CRVS systems through the development of technical and operational resources, carrying out regional research and analysis, delivering technical advisory services, providing training and facilitating the sharing of experiences.
At present, ESCAP is collaborating with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative (D4H) to support improvements to CRVS systems in Asia and the Pacific. More specifically, the project aims to develop statistical capacity and demographic skills within national statistics offices (NSOs) and other line ministries/organizations responsible for the production of statistics. This includes various activities at national, subregional and regional levels such as capacity building workshops, technical advisory services, knowledge sharing activities as well as development of knowledge products.
UNICEF supports CRVS system strengthening efforts focused on improving birth registration, a fundamental right under Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. In India, UNICEF supports governments at the national level as well as select lagging states to strengthen data and governance, systems and financing and access to improved birth registration services.
One in five children under five years of age is neither registered nor have a birth certificate in four states (Nagaland, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh), making these states a clear priority for accelerated action. Jharkhand is among few states in India where universal registration of births and deaths is yet to be achieved, as per the mandated timeline and completeness provisioned by the RBD Act, due to challenges related to IT infrastructure, duplicate applications and limited public awareness of the importance of civil registration. In Jharkhand, UNICEF is supporting community-facing campaigns jointly with the Government of Jharkhand to catch-up progress to expand coverage of registration services of vital events online.
ESCAP and UNICEF India have developed a joint proposal for CRVS strengthening activities with the Department of Planning and Development, Government of Jharkhand. The proposed activities aim to strengthen the civil registration and vital statistics system in Jharkhand, in addition to building the capacity of CRVS stakeholders to undertake business process improvement as part of routine system performance monitoring.
The joint programme of work includes two main elements:
- Business Process Improvement (Assessment, Analysis and Redesign of CRVS Business Processes);
- Comprehensive data mapping (as a pre-requisite for the production of civil registration-based vital statistics)
A Core Team of CRVS stakeholders for the State of Jharkhand will be established who will participate in project activities. ESCAP seeks to hire a local consultant based in the UNICEF Field Office in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India to work with stakeholders from the Government of Jharkhand for implementation of this project. The work of the consultant will be guided by the Senior Advisor who is responsible for providing remote technical recommendations and inputs. The consultant will work closely with the Department of Planning, Government of Jharkhand under the overall supervision of ESCAP and UNICEF India.