Progress report on the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems

Abstract

The Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems is a continental initiative that began in 2010, with a view to helping Governments in Africa to fast-track improvements to their civil registration and vital statistics systems through the provision of a systematic and coordinated technical, advocacy and policy framework for country support, as needed. The present report provides an overview of the progress made in implementing the Programme in the period from October 2022 to October 2024, since the eighth session of the Statistical Commission for Africa, and, more broadly, over the past 10 years. Following the first, introductory section, the second section of the present report concerns the importance of civil registration and vital statistics systems in the current development context, highlighting the use of population registers and unique identifiers as critical and novel advances of the past decade that should be given attention. In section III, the progress of the implementation of the Programme over the past 10 years is reviewed, highlighting its various phases and the performance of Africa in broad terms. Section IV is focused on relevant interventions made in the period from October 2022 to October 2024. Section V concerns the investment that is needed for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In section VI, an update is provided on the preparation of the sixth session of the Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration. Recommendations for consideration by the Statistical Commission are included in the final section.