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Across Francophone Africa and beyond, governments are redefining civil registration, not as a bureaucratic exercise, but as the digital foundation for inclusion, identity, and evidence-based policy.
This shift was clear at the World Health Organization (WHO) and Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) High-Level Roundtable on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), held on 3rd of November in Geneva. Ministers, experts, and partners gathered to discuss how to accelerate investment in CRVS through digital innovation and strategic partnerships. Their collective message: civil registration must evolve into an integrated data ecosystem linking people, services, and decisions.
Watch the full WHO–OIF High-Level Roundtable on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
From Records to Systems
Countries such as Rwanda, Switzerland, Benin, Senegal, and Madagascar are showing how leadership, institutional reform, and technology can converge to modernize CRVS.
Rwanda’s decentralized system now captures over 90% of births through integration with health and local administration structures.
Switzerland’s digital registry, presented by the Federal Statistical Office, uses real-time mortality data through its “MOMO” platform, improving responses to health crises such as COVID-19.
Benin and Senegal are embedding CRVS within national digital identity frameworks, making registration the gateway to e-services and social protection.
These examples highlight a fundamental transformation: civil registration is moving from recording events to building interoperable, trusted systems that make data visible and actionable across government.
The Power of Integration
For decades, CRVS, health, and national ID systems operated in silos. Now, countries are moving toward digital public infrastructure (DPI) models that link these systems in real time.
As UNICEF emphasized during the discussions, every birth recorded within the health system should automatically lead to civil registration. This principle underscores the importance of linking health and CRVS data to ensure that no birth, and, by extension, no person goes uncounted.
By connecting registration and health records, governments improve completeness and accuracy of vital data – essential for planning, immunization tracking, and mortality statistics. The WHO and OIF partnership reinforces this principle: CRVS is not a standalone reform but a pillar of digital governance.
Digital Trust and Data Sovereignty
As CRVS systems evolve, trust becomes the cornerstone of digital transformation.
Modernization must align with data protection and national ownership principles, ensuring that countries retain full control over vital data. The emerging consensus favors interoperable and open architectures that governments can host and manage independently, reinforcing both digital sovereignty and sustainability.
For registrars, the task ahead is as institutional as it is technical: building governance models that protect privacy while allowing secure data exchange.
True sustainability comes from governance, accountability, and citizen trust – not technology alone.
Lessons for Registrars and Practitioners
The Geneva discussions offered clear lessons for those leading CRVS transformation on the ground:
- Leadership and coordination matter most. Inter-ministerial collaboration, especially between health, interior, and justice determines long-term success.
- Invest in infrastructure, not isolated systems. Fiber networks, digital IDs, and interoperable databases are the foundation for sustainable CRVS.
- Prioritize completeness and cause-of-death data. Many countries still struggle to capture deaths accurately, leaving major gaps in public health data.
- Build local capacity. Digital systems are only as strong as the registrars, health workers, and community officers who operate them.
Ultimately, registrars and national authorities are at the heart of this transformation. Technology amplifies their work but does not replace it.
How NRD Companies Supports Digital CRVS Transformation
As global discussions focus on data integration and digital trust, countries also need partners who can translate these principles into practice.
NRD Companies shares this vision.
For over two decades, the company supported governments in building secure, digital, and interoperable CRVS ecosystems that connect civil registration with health, justice, and identity systems.
Our CRVS solution© is designed around sustainability, scalability, and local ownership, ensuring that modernization strengthens, not replaces, existing institutions.
NRD Companies helps governments:
- Design and implement integrated CRVS architecture that enables real-time data exchange and national data sovereignty.
- Digitize and secure civil registration records, including backlogs and legacy archives.
- Develop interoperability frameworks linking CRVS with health information systems, identity databases, and e-government services.
- Build institutional and human capacity through tailored training and digital governance models.
- Ensure compliance with data protection and privacy standards, fostering citizen trust in the registration system.
Our approach combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of regulatory and operational realities in emerging economies. From system design to national rollout, we work with ministries and development partners to ensure that every life event, from birth to death, is captured securely, accurately, and sustainably.
Looking Ahead
The WHO–OIF dialogue confirmed what CRVS professionals already know: the next phase of modernization will be about integration, governance, and trust.
NRD Companies stands ready to support governments and partners in this effort – helping to build the systems that make every life count, and be counted.
Interested in exploring how digital CRVS can work in your country?
Schedule a demo or consultation with our experts to learn how NRD Companies can help design and implement a secure, interoperable civil registration ecosystem.
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