A presentation from the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in Support of Every Woman Every Child Workshop, held in Nanyuki, Kenya.

1. CIVIL REGISTRATION IN KENYA
GFF WORKSHOP
18TH
NOVEMBER 2015
MT. KENYA SAFARI CLUB
NANYUKI
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2. ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT OF
CIVIL REGISTRATION IN KENYA
 REGISTRATION SYSTEM
 The government operates a national system of
registration with national offices and county/sub
county offices.
 CRS is the government agency in the Ministry of
Interior & Coordination of National Government
mandated to register all births and deaths occurring
in Kenya and those of Kenyan citizens occurring
abroad under CAP 149
 CRS has adopted a community-based system of CR
where communities have the responsibility of
notification and registration of births & deaths that
occur within their area.
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3. ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT CONT’D
 REGISTRATION AGENTS
 The Assistant Chiefs register home events while the health
institutions personnel register health facility events.
Vision
 To be a comprehensive and reliable source of civil
registration records and vital statistics
Goal
 To achieve 100% registration coverage for births and deaths
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4. IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL REGISTRATION
 Individual benefits births
i. Acquire birth certificate easily and cheaply
ii. Proof of age for certain privileges and rights
iii.school admission, examination registration
iv. age of majority- National Id, driving license and employment
v. retirement
vi. ownership of property
vii.Proof of place of birth- determination of citizenship
viii.Proof of parents- inheritance, insurance claims, dependent
rights, legitimate children, nationality
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5. IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL REGN CONT’D
 Benefits of birth regn to Government
i. Socio-economic planning and distribution of national
resources
ii. Provision of adequate infrastructure – schools, health
facilities etc
iii.Assess effectiveness of FP and health programmes
iv. Detect demographic change
v. Determine population growth rate
vi. Enhances security by easily identifying Kenyans
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6. IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL REGN CONT’D
 Individual benefits for deaths
 Legal proof of death
 Acquire burial permit and death certificates easily
 Next of kin to make claims e.g insurance, death gratuity, NSSF
 Identify widows and orphans for support, widows for remarriage
 Benefits of death registration to Government
 Deaths and their causes for improvement in:
 Immunization, nutrition, sanitation and general hygiene,
combating epidemics, detection and control of diseases
 Reduction in property fueds and Inheritance claims
 Cleansing of the voters register
 Monitoring and evaluating health programs & interventions6

7. CHALLENGES
 Low registration coverage for births and deaths
(62.2% births and 45.8% deaths in 2014)
 Low quality vital statistics (cause of death)
 Delayed submission of civil registration records by
registration agents
 Low demand and utilization of vital statistics
 Provision of late registration of births and deaths
 Inefficiency /delays in service delivery (manual
procedures)
 Weak stakeholder participation
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8. CRD STRATEGIC PLAN 2013-2017
 SP formulation highly consultative and participatory
(CRD and many stakeholders)
 In puts also obtained from two assessments: i) a
baseline assessment to understand and quantify
CRD’s M&E capacity II) a comprehensive assessment
of the CRVS system in Kenya.
 SP is prioritized and costed
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9. CRS STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
 Raise registration coverage for births & deaths to
100%
 Improve the quality of vital statistics
 Enhanced timeliness in provision of Vital Statistics
 Increased demand for and utilization of Vital
Statistics
 Complete registration of all unregistered persons
 Improved service delivery
 Enhance stakeholder participation in CRVS
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10. PRIORITY STRATEGIES
 Strengthen and roll out of the MCH strategy and increase the
use of immunization clinics
 Establish and strengthen the M&E system
 Build the capacity of registration agents to capture all
prescribed data in birth and death registers
 Enhance the capacity of civil registrars to monitor data
collection and submission
 Build the capacity to certify and code the cause of death
 Improve the reporting of causes of death that occur in the
community
 Scale-up registration services in all sub-counties
 Promote stakeholder participation in the sharing and use of
vital statistics
 Strengthen capacity in data verification, validation & analysis
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11. WHAT HAS WORKED TO IMPROVE
PROGRESS
 MCH strategy – increased birth registration through MCH
clinics
 Creating demand: birth certificates for KNEC examinations
 Formation of a CRVS Technical Working Group to provide
technical guidance on CRVS issues.
 Development of an M&E Plan to monitor progress in the
implementation of the CRVS Strategic Plan
 Establishment of National and County forums on CRVS
 Development of ICD-10 guidelines and revision of the death
registration form to comply with ICD-10 standards.
 Development of information products ( Annual Vital Statistics
Report and AVSR briefs) to accelerate use of vital statistics for
evidence based decision making at all levels.
 Training on ICD-10 in selected counties to improve data quality
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12. OPPORTUNITIES FOR CR
 The Constitution of Kenya 2010
i. Citizenship at birth
ii. Bill of rights- 1st
right of the child
iii.Right to health care
 Political good will
i. Jubilee manifesto: implement a single registration system
activated at birth
 The Kenya Vision 2030- MTPII
i. Flagship project: Integrated population registration
system establishing a national population register
 Strong collaboration with MOH
i. Creation of CRVS unit at MOH
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13. OPPORTUNITIES CONT..
 Global and Regional platforms
• African Ministers’ Responsible for CR Conference
• GFF for RMNCAH project
 Devolution
• Periodic data quality audits and review at county level
• Enhanced multi-sectoral coordination of CRVS
( Ministry of Health and National Administration)
• Enhanced demand and use of VS at county level
• Peculiar barriers to vital registration can be addressed
for each county
 Partnerships
i. National CRVS TWG
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14. WHAT AND HOW WILL RMNCAH
INTEGRATION SUPPORT IMPROVED
PROGRESS?
 Acceleration of registration of births and deaths will be
supported through home birth registration at the MCH
and verbal autopsy for community deaths. BCG
immunization coverage currently is 90%.
 Maternal and perinatal health will be improved with
ICD-10 certification on cause of death.
 Quality vital statistics will inform various interventions
that address infant, child and maternal mortality like
the “beyond zero” campaign
 CRVS data to inform periodic review of health
programmes and interventions
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15. END
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