The African Union Commission, in collaboration with the ECA the AfDB as well as other partners, is organizing the Fourth Conference of Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration from 7 to 8 December 2017 in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on the theme: ‘Accelerating a coordinated improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) for implementation and monitoring development in Africa: Review of progress and the way forward’.  The meeting will be preceded by an Expert Group Meeting from 4 to 6 December 2017.

The overall objective of the conference is to deliberate on the possible ways of making strategic shifts to move the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS), to the next level of maturity through taking stock of the achievements and challenges.

The specific objectives include:

a)      To contextualize APAI-CRVS against the backdrop of Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063 in line with national development plans to build political momentum and international human rights instruments;

b)      To identify key challenges in implementation of APAI-CRVS at the regional level and in countries and propose solutions;

c)      To review the current tools and guidance under APAI-CRVS and discuss possible corrective measures for improved delivery of the programme;

The Ministerial Conference is expected to deliberate on the recommendations of the experts meeting, among others, and give policy directives to the APAI-CRVS Secretariat on:

a)       the CRVS improvement process focusing on implementation at country levels, and in particular  in the context of Agendas 2030 and 2063; 

b)      strategic direction to revitalize the APAI-CRVS through a systematic review and improved coordination, monitoring and reporting; and

c)      endorsement of the CRVS strategic plan (2017-2021) and approval of the establishment of “Africa CRVS Systems Improvement Fund”.