Africa, Asia and Eastern Mediterranean 2012 and 2013

provide leadership and guidance to African Member States in the realization of well functioning
CRVS systems.
APAI-CRVS attempts to provide management and programmatic guidance to African countries
in improving their CRVS systems. The regional programme is based on international standards,
principles, processes, tools and recommendations of CRVS. The CRVS systems strengthening
process adopts a comprehensive sector-wide approach, in line with the policy directives of
African ministers in charge of civil registration, that urged for a holistic and integrated approach
to reforming and improving CRVS systems.
The African regional programme is steered by UNECA as the Secretariat, with the support of a
CRVS core group composed of the AfDB, AUC, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the
World Health Organisation (WHO), the Health Metrics Network (HMN) and the Secretariat of
the African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD), representing Africa Member States.
The African Ministerial Recommendation on CRVS System Strengthening
The African ministers responsible for civil registration recommended that all African Member
States should conduct comprehensive assessments of their CRVS systems and develop national
plans to guide the improvement process in countries.
Linkages to the UN Commission for Information and Accountability
In 2011, the COIA convened by WHO at the request of the UN Secretary-General recommended
that countries, as a priority, increase their efforts to strengthen CRVS. iii . The COIA countries are
therefore strongly urged to utilize the COIA accountability workshops, as a means to prioritise
CRVS in their country road maps. APAI-CRVS and COIA Recommendation One are the same
agenda.
Country Support
The APAI-CRVS Secretariat urges countries to prioritise funding from the 250,000 USD country
road map allocation from the COIA for CRVS.
The package support offered by the regional Secretariat for countries that prioritize CRVS
consists of:
1. Technical support from CRVS experts to support countries in conducting the
assessments, developing national plans
2. Guidelines, manuals and tools to guide the assessment process
3. Resource mobilization assistance for countries for implementation of their plan.
Countries interested in accessing support should contact:
Raj Gautam Mitra, Chief
Demographic and Social Statistics Section,African Centre for Statistics
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 544 3144 Email: rmitra@uneca.org
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