In November 2019, the results of a survey that tracked progress across 40 countries were tabled at the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS)’s fifth ministerial conference (see Table 1).^[1] The results showed that:

• 73% of countries have developed costed plans to improve their systems
• 65% have begun implementing these plans
• 45% have allocated budget for the improvement plans
• 60% have a national civil registration database
• 65% have begun to capture birth and death records electronically at local registry offices.^[2]

Much of the survey reflected good intentions rather than achieved results. New systems for the most part do not seamlessly connect registry offices to national databases and are currently not capable of automatically generating vital statistics. There is little interoperability between health systems, and mobile technology is surprisingly under-utilised.

Nevertheless, the underlying trend in some of the world’s most challenged economies is towards digital data capture at the point of registration and the production of vital statistics from national databases that are dynamically fed from local registry offices.

Converting CRVS systems from paper to digital format is no trivial task (see Figure 9). The challenge of implementing the technological part of the solution nationally is surpassed by the large volume of historical paper-based records that require digitisation.

Advances in optical character recognition technologies are making the task of scanning historical records easier. These technologies are also enabling the development of solutions such as Plan International’s OpenCRVS, which combines industry-level standards with open source code and inexpensive mobile data capture (see Figure 10).

One obstacle to digitising CRVS is a lack of short-term incentive for decision-makers. Taking such an action will not provide a government treasury or donor a three- to five-year return on their investment, nor will it benefit a policymaker seeking equivalent political mileage. The key to securing sustainable investment in CRVS systems is a stronger business case built on the long-term benefits of digital infrastructure. This business case is now starting to happen through a joined-up approach between birth registration and legal identity.

Over the past decade, there has been increasing recognition that for civil registration to have the required impact it needs to be integrated with national identity systems that deliver the link between foundational and functional (passport, banking, health, education, social welfare, etc) identities.

For example, according to a World Bank programme review, “robust CRVS systems linked to identity management (IDM) systems and tailored to local contexts form the foundation of all sectors and pillars of the economy and contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to end poverty, and ensure prosperity for all.”^[3]

However, the World Bank’s Identity for Development Global Dataset^[4] reveals that while 51 African countries have some form of national ID, only five require ID below the age of 10 and the vast majority only allow the issuance of an ID number at the age of 16 or 18.

SDG 16.9 aims for “legal identity for all, including birth registration”, but refers to the registration of children at birth as only “the first step in securing their recognition before the law”.^[5]

On 4 March 2020, the UN Statistical Commission endorsed a new UN Legal Identity Agenda which, significantly, “builds on the existing methodological framework for civil registration and vital statistics … and expands it to ensure a holistic and interoperable approach between civil registration, vital statistics production and identity management.”^[6]

This reframing of legal identity means that interoperability between civil registration and national identity systems can no longer be regarded as the preferable option; it becomes essential.