Preparatory Meeting of Experts for the First Conference of African Ministers responsible for

1. Partnership Building and Resource Requirements and Mobilization Preparatory Meeting of Experts for the First Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration 10- 14 August 2010 UNCC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia M. Mubila Statistics Department African Development Bank

2. Outline of Presentation • Background - Areas of Interventions • Partners of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems in Africa • CRVS Partners Working at Country, Regional & International Levels • Modalities and Instruments for Partnership and Collaboration • Resource Requirements at National Level • Resource Mobilization • Way Forward

3. Background - Areas of Interventions • A. Civil registration • Area of intervention that provides data and information for: • Justice system administration • Public administration • Rights, protection and benefits • B. Vital Statistics • Another area of intervention which provides • Data for informed decision making & MDG measurement and monitoring • Demographic & social statistics • Provision of epidemiological and other research data requirements • .

4. Partners of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems in Africa • These are: • National institutions • Regional organizations/SROs • International organizations • Bilateral organizations • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

5. CRVS Partners Working at Country Level • National institutions • Ministries responsible for civil registration • Ministries responsible for national statistics • Civil registration authorities • National Statistics Offices (NSOs) • Other relevant ministries, departments and local administrations

6. CRVS Partners Working at Country Level (cont… • Issues of concern • Problems of coordination of the activities of these various institutions • Hence difficult to attain the required level of performance without the appropriate integration and coordination within and between these institutions • For international partners the problem is how to coordinate their interventions.

7. CRVS Partners Working at Regional & International Level • Issues of concern: • The need to create a common platform for the different actors in order to avoid duplication and even sending mixed signals to countries by introducing conflicting approaches and methods • The institutions that operarte at different levels intervene in CRVS, but no forum to harmonize and coordinate their interventions and activities; • Need to have a system that helps to integrate and coordinate interventions

8. Modalities and Instruments for Partnership and Collaboration • Need for harmonized CRVS plans and programmes at the national, regional & international to address the issues of concerns that have led to drawbacks in the past & recent times • At national level – based on national circumstances; • Regional level – (regional medium-term plan for CRVS reform and improvement, 2010-2012) • International level - International Programme for Accelerating the Improvement of Vital Statistics and Civil Registration Systems - already in place – but may need specific plans or programmes for Africa

9. Modalities and Instruments … Cont’d • Need for establishing advocacy fora • National – e.g. CRVS Stakeholders Forum or declare a “CRVS Day” for advocacy purposes • Regional: • Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration – a good example for the Africa Region • African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD) • International – may need a forum for Africa as a region??

10. Modalities and Instruments … Cont’d • Need for using existing fora • At national level – depending on what already exists in countries • At regional level – Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom-Africa) for vital statistics and MCCR for CR • International level – UN Statistics Commission primarily for vital statistics but for CR

11. Resource Requirements at National Level • Resource requirements for civil registration • (based on major areas of interventions that require significant resources) • Financial resources (Salaries & allowances) • Capacity building • Training • Development of registration instruments and tools • IT solutions and tools • Monitoring and evaluation • Stationary (office, registration, certification, etc) • Infrastructure development • Office building, furniture & transport

12. Resource Requirements at National Level … Cont’d • B. Resource requirements for vital statistics • For the majority of countries, could be reflected as integral part of National Statistics Systems (NSSs) through National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) • Special provision can be designed for those countries whose vital statistics is outside the NSO

13. Resource Mobilization • Difficulties in mobilizing resources in many cases due to absence of structured national plans and programs. Future interventions should depend on plan & program availability • At national level – countries need to develop and share national CRVS plans and programs • Countries to have clear Road Map on how CRVS systems are to be developed • At regional level – a regional draft medium-term plan already prepared and being shared

14. Resource Mobilization-SCB II • The Bank is implementing a SCB Progarm Phase II 2009-2010 mainly to improve Social Statistics • Program supports activities that lead to improvement of data quality and availability of data required for MDGs monitoring, such as: • PHC, Household surveys activities • strengthen and revitalize civil registration and vital statistics systems • However, lack of systematic plans and programs is resulting to low utilization rates of financial resources provided to countries (NSOs)

15. Way Forward • Proposed measures to be taken: • Collaboration through integrated intervention frameworks • Avoid parallel systems and hence duplication • Need for resource planning - assessment of requirements, availability and gaps • Ensure responsiveness and accountability • Ensure availability of national plans and programmes – pre-requisite and measure of commitment • Create some funding mechanism at regional level

16. Thank you