Transforming Civil Registration: Policy Implications in the Americas

1. INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

2. Civil Registration: Policy and Administrative Implications Juan Cruz Vieyra (based on an IDB paper being drafted by Guy Peters)

3. Key questions • What information agencies  in the public sector want from civil registration and how they will use the information? • What role can improved civil registration and identity play in the coordination of public policies? • What is the role of coordination in improving levels of registration? • What are the key normative issues that may arise in developing registration systems in LAC as these systems become more digitized?

4. Three Basics to make CRVS work

5. Population Coverage • In order to be effective for planning, civil registries need to cover entire population • Less expensive than census or household surveys

6. Data Coverage • Need to have relatively complete information • Parental information as well as child in birth registration • Emphasis has been on Birth Registration but needs to be equal for all Life Changes, for example: • Death and causes of death • Civil status (married, divorced, etc) • Gender changes

7. Timeliness • Encourage the collection of data in hospitals and schools • Take into account the effects of decentralization in federal states • Infrastructure needs greatly vary among countries

8. Transforming CRVS into a powerful public policy tool

9. 1. Understanding key linkages • How can CRVS information be linked to other data bases? • How can CRVS systems facilitate achieving social policy objectives?

10. Uses of CRVS information

11. 2. Legal Simplification • Not always straight forward how to move towards less requirements and simplified procedures • Key challenges: • Data management for accuracy • Data privacy (what’s confidential vs. what’s public)

12. 3. Digitalization • Paperless procedures • Cost savings and reduced physical infrastructure • Automatic release of information • Enhanced analytical-statistical capacity

13. 4.1 Estimating Costs • Identifying and registering remote or isolated populations • Investments in technology • Civil service cost

14. 4.2 Estimating Benefits • Reducing costs of census or household surveys—tends to be less than half of other methods. • Increased accuracy and timeliness. • Enhanced accuracy of benefits, like taxation. • Reducing fraud and abuse. • Reducing multiple registration systems.

15. Summary • Civil Registration is not just a right, it is also a powerful tool to achieve policy goals. • However, it requires certain levels of institutional capacity and data quality (coverage + timeless). • The region has an opportunity to leverage the importance of CRVS systems. • Benefits hugely outweigh costs, but we need to get better at analyzing and communicating.

16. For more information: • UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG Guy Peters, bgpeters@pitt.edu INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Juan Cruz Vieyra, juancr@iadb.org Estefania Calderon, estefanac@iadb.org THANK YOU!