Centre of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems

 

Registration of events, such as birth, death, causes of death, marriage, and divorce, is critical for improving maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. These statistics provide policymakers and practitioners with the necessary evidence to design interventions and enact appropriate policies on maternal and child health. Many low- and middle-income countries, however, do not systematically collect such crucial information. It is estimated that one-third of the world's births and two-thirds of the world's deaths are not registered or are incorrectly certified. In many cases, global norms, standards, tools, and good practices are not readily accessible and useable to those who need them most.

The project will establish the Centre of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems to provide information, tools, and expertise to facilitate the development and implementation of integrated CRVS systems. Funded by Global Affairs Canada and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and based at IDRC, the Centre of Excellence will coordinate with existing expert groups to generate, consolidate, and share information and resources in an open and collaborative electronic platform. It will also assist countries needing more direct support by facilitating the exchange of good practices and capacity strengthening, and will play an important role brokering technical assistance for countries needing more direct support.

The Centre of Excellence will work closely with the Global Financing Facility in support of the Every Woman Every Child initiative to enable the development and implementation of CRVS systems plans as part of country-led investment cases for financing by the Global Financing Facility.