3rd Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration

Theme: Promoting the use of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in support of Good Governance in Africa

Introduction

The Third Ministerial Conference will be held in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire from 9-13 February 2015 under the theme “Promoting the use of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in support of Good Governance in Africa”. All African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration, Ministers of Health, Heads of Civil Registration Offices (CROs) and National Statistics Offices (NSOs), representatives of regional and international organizations, concerned UN agencies, and representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations are expected to participate.

The First Ministerial meeting that was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August 2010 recognized the importance of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) and identified it as one of the continent’s key development imperatives. Following the ministers’ resolutions, African Heads of State and Government in their 2012 African Union summit institutionalized the ministerial conference as statutory body of the African Union Commission (AUC) and directed the conference to report on progress and challenges to the summit every two years .

At the Second Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration held in Durban, South Africa in September 2012, ministers re-iterated the continuing importance of CRVS in advancing Africa’s development agenda, including accelerating regional integration, attaining the priorities of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD); an African Union strategic framework for pan-African socio-economic development, and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They noted in their Declaration at the end of the meeting:

(a) The central role that CRVS plays in governance and economic development;

(b) The role of CRVS in improving access to basic services at all levels, including meeting the MDGs; and

(c) The pervasive way in which CRVS impacts on individuals in their daily, social, political and economic lives.

Among the key outcomes of the Durban meeting was (a) the endorsement of the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS) that provided the policy and programmatic framework for implementation of CRVS on the continent; and (b) the decision that all countries will undertake comprehensive assessments of CRVS systems and prepare costed national plans irrespective of the state of development of their systems.

This Third Ministerial Conference will aim at contextualizing CRVS in the realm of governance and discuss ways in which a complete and efficient CRVS system can help countries to achieve ‘good governance’. The conference is expected to mobilize member States in envisioning this important linkage and guide them in developing and implementing specific strategies and operational plans that will facilitate the realization of good governance as well as help mainstream a good governance approach in CRVS.

This conference is for the first time is being organized under the auspices of AUC following the resolution of the Heads of State and Government in January 2012. This conference and all future conferences will therefore be conducted under the rules and procedures of business followed by AUC in such ministerial level meetings. The conference is being organized in collaboration with the Regional CRVS Core Group comprising of African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Health Organization (WHO), INDEPTH Network, Plan International, the Secretariat of the African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD) represented by Statistics South Africa, and UNECA (which serves as the secretariat of the APAI-CRVS). For more click here