ADVANCING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AND WOMEN THROUGH IMPROVED AND INNOVATIVE CIVIL REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS IN RWANDA

Authors: Francisca MUJAWASE and Didas KAYITARE

The government of Rwanda (GoR) through the National institute of statistics (NISR) has worked towards improving its national statistical systems by enhancing the capacity of local government institutions to establish functional systems that collects timely and quality data which feeds the national statistical system. Harmonization and linkages plus innovations of new techniques and approaches have been adapted to build reliable vital registration systems. Rwanda’s vision defined in the Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) strategic plan is to build a modern time, complete and integrated CRVS systems to ensure legal identity for all, good governance and evidence-based decision making for sustainable development. The country aims to achieve the three outcomes of the CRVS strategy that is achieving legal identity and rights for all, good governance and accountability and reliable statistics by 2022.

Rwanda like many African countries was defined by paper based systems for CRVS for many years. In order for the GoR to change the approach, it designed project scale programme with a quick-fix, where a holistic and integration of 27 national systems were merged to have a central data point for easy sharing of information and dissemination. The new approaches facilitated the process of providing legal identification with most easily and quickest means through decentralization of the services incorporating new developments of E-governance and application of ICT. This new trend created an opportunity to enhance service delivery at the benefit of the ordinary citizen and ensure increased efficient utilization of public resources.

Integration of CVRS systems across sectors has been done and data sharing across ministries has been launched. Examples of effective operation systems include harmonization of the health information systems and the local administrative databases at sector level. The merging of these two systems has significantly impacted on the cost and time taken to secure documents such as birth, death and marriage certificates. Ten years ago, it could take someone to secure a birth certificate in a weeks’ time. Today, any citizen can apply or send a request through Irembo online services and collect the birth certificate in less than 24 hours. Another challenge the system has addressed is that an ordinary citizen is able to collect their documents from anywhere in the country which was not the case before. Initially, one had to collect their birth certificate from the hospital they were born and could only collect a marriage certificate from the sector where the civil marriage took place.

The vital events recorded in Rwanda are birth, death and cause of death, marriage and divorce cases and adoptions. Over the last decade, the government of Rwanda has worked on setting standard systems of civil registration and vital statistics to ensure improved coverage and completeness of all vital events to fulfill the rights to legal identification as stipulated in the national constitution of the Republic of Rwanda. The existing governance and legal frameworks on civil registration defines the country’s ownership and political will towards enhancing access to legal identification to facilitate people who need population registration related services such as social protection, education, health and exercise democratic rights to election for both male and females, inheritance and ownership of property, free movement and access to financial services among others. CRVS in Rwanda has also empowered women and girls in the sense that they have full rights to Legal identity and benefit from all public services provided by the access to property and inheritance protects them from gender based violence and early marriages. From the point of Rwandan context, women are the ones who collect birth certificates; they are the ones in most cases who register children to receive health insurance and first time schooling. Women also mostly care for the sick in their families and the community. The system therefore supports their ease to carry out their family and societal responsibilities. 

Improving civil registration and strengthening production and use of vital statistics has been presented as crucial for achieving inclusive in development but also an important reference for national planning and evidence based policy decision making. CRVS also support the efforts towards achieving the national development agenda the national strategy for transformation, the vision 2030, the sustainable development goals and the Africa Union agenda for 2063.

Despite all these opportunities and the call to compulsory CRVS, Rwanda hasn’t yet achieved universal coverage. The current state of civil registration system in Rwanda shows that the country hasn’t fully subscribed to web-based CRVS systems. There remains an unconventional data collection method at the sector level where the registrar still records vital events in books. In 2007, the introduction of the national population registry facilitated issuance of national identity card to all Rwandan citizens. The health information systems estimates 90% of birth in Rwanda take place in a health facility but only 53% of all births are registered each year. Records on death statistics shows that only 40% of the deaths occur in hospitals. All civil marriage engagements take place at the sector level witnessed by the executive secretary and the civil registrar.

The 2016 report on the status of civil registration and vital statistics in Africa shows that only four countries (Egypt, Seychelles, Mauritius and South Africa) have maintained compulsory and universal registration systems that match international standards. In the same report, Rwanda scores 50-64% under the indicator on existing legal framework on CRVS, 35-49% on infrastructure and resources for CRVS, the same score 35-49% was recorded for planning, monitoring and coordination of CRVS. On the civil registration processes, Rwanda scores 50-64%, while vital statistics quality checks and dissemination, Rwanda scores 35-49% below average and on the use if vital registration documents verses data similarly scores <35%. Data suggests that Rwanda’s overall score on the coverage and complete rates are far below the 90% UN recommended standards.

Denied, delayed or complex civil registration is a burden to the ordinary citizen and denial for human rights mostly for children. In addressing the gaps, Rwanda remains visionary and committed towards modernizing civil registration and vital events with the overall goal of enhancing services to its citizens at the same time fulfilling rights of both men and women as obliged by the national constitution of the Republic of Rwanda. CRVS has been integrated in the district performance contracts which is a strategic fit for achieving increased coverage. Districts have a clear mandate to assist the government in recording and reporting on vital events on a timely basis and raising awareness among the population on the importance of civil registration.