Training of Experts From the Francophone Countries of Africa On the Improvement of the Quality of Civil Registration

15 January 2015
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

Training of experts from the Francophone countries of Africa on the improvement of the quality of civil registration

Niamey, January 9, 2015 (ECA). A training workshop on the African Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS) will be held in Abidjan on February 16-19, 2015.

Designed for experts from the Francophone countries of Africa, this workshop will host the participation of certain institutions of the United Nations such as UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, the NGO Plan International and intergovernmental organizations concerned with this theme.

This workshop, which takes place after that held in 2009 in Dar Es Salam in Tanzania and the first two Conferences of African Ministers in charge of Civil Registration held in 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and in 2012 in Durban, South Africa, show without a doubt that Africa increasingly recognizes the central role played by systems of registration of civil status events and statistics in governance, economic development and the improvement of access to basic services at all levels.

In spite of this clear recognition of their importance, civil registration systems remain largely under-developed in Africa. Most countries lack appropriate, evidence-based systems for the registration of vital events to identify the civil status of individuals. This constitutes an obstacle for the monitoring and implementation of continental and international instruments on human rights and especially of vulnerable groups.

The objective of the Abidjan workshop is to strengthen the capacities of a core group of experts with the tools, instructions and knowledge required to assist Francophone countries in conducting assessments of national civil registration systems. It should enable these countries to set up their own teams of experts who can help to strengthen capacities in the area of civil registration in order to establish complete and efficient systems. This will also make it possible to ensure that the process of strengthening civil registration systems is steered by the countries themselves for better appropriation and durability.

At the end of this workshop, the participants should be well equipped to conduct national assessments of civil registration systems in the framework of any reform process. These assessments should identify the different stages of development of civil registration systems in each country, the bottlenecks and challenges which countries must face, as well as the form of assistance required by each country in order to achieve complete coverage of registration of civil status events. Finally, the purpose of this training workshop is to help Francophone countries in Africa to establish as rapidly as possible a system of civil registration and vital statistics that is complete, viable and durable.

It should be noted that this workshop will be preceded on February 15, 2015 by a meeting of the expanded sub-regional group of key actors in civil registration in Francophone Africa which will discuss the modalities for establishing an expanded forum for stakeholders on civil registration in the framework of the African programme, APAI-CRVS. This forum will develop a regional operational guide on civil registration and vital statistics which will be regularly updated.

Contacts at the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa

The confirmation of participation and other communications should be addressed to:

Dr. Dimitri Sanga,

Director of the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

B.P. 744, Niamey, NIGER

Tel: +227-20722961

Fax: +227-20722894

Email: DSanga@uneca.org

Read the original article on UNECA.

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