Commemoration of the First Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day- August 10, 2018

The first Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration held in 2010, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marked the beginning of a coordinated and an integrated effort towards CRVS improvement in Africa. Since then, successive Conferences of Ministers have been held every two years, signifying the high-level political commitment by African countries. The fourth Conference of Ministers declared August 10 to be African Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day, and advised African Union member States to observe the day. The AU Executive Council, during their 32nd Ordinary Session, 25-26 January 2018, endorsed the recommendations set out in the Ministerial Declaration. The First CRVS Day will therefore be commemorated in 2018 under the theme, “Promoting Innovative Universal Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System for Good Governance and Better Lives”

Why CRVS Day?

Most countries in Africa had a civil registration system for decades, yet the system was not well-functioning due to the fact that it was not compulsory, universal and complete. The use of modern Information Technology (IT) for CRVS system is minimal or non-existent, and where it exists, it is not interoperable with various government functions, such as national statistics, health care, identification management and electoral services. Awareness about the multi-sectoral importance of CRVS system for legal, administrative and statistical purposes is not adequate among the policy makers, service providers and the public at large.

African CRVS day will be celebrated every year on the 10th of August to increase public awareness of the importance of making everyone visible in Africa through a well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics system covering the entire population and all vital events occurring in a country. It is important to have in place appropriate national legal framework, IT infrastructure and innovative business process improvement to make the CRVS system responsive to public demands by improving accessibility and quality of civil registration and related services.

For more information, please contact:
Mrs. Selamawit Mussie
Policy Officer
Economic Affairs Department
Email: SelamawitMU@africa-union.org

For Media enquiries, please contact:
Ms. Djeinaba Kane
Economic Affairs Department
Email: KaneD@africa-union.org