HON. CHIKAWE AND DR. SEIF RASHID AT THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CIVIL REGISTRATION – DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

Hon. Mathias Chikawe (MP), Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Hon. Dr. Seif Rashid (MP) Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare have represented Tanzania in the 2nd Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration which is taking place in Durban from 6 – 7th September 2012 with the theme `Improving Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Institutional and Human Infrastructure’.

The conference brought together 54 Ministers responsible for Civil Registration and over 230 participants from member states, including Heads of National Civil Registration Authorities, National Statistical Offices, country experts responsible for civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) Representative of CRVS Core group namely UNECA, AUC, AfDB, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO, HMN, the private sector, statistical training centres and a group of young statisticians.

[ A group picture of Ministers responsible for Civil Registration and heads of delegation from various countries]

Tanzania delegation was also comprised with officials from Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) and National Bureau of Statistics.

[Mr Phillip Saliboko, CEO of RITA (with maroon tie) stressing a point to the Honorable Ministers during a health break]

The conference aimed at addressing some of the fundamental impediments to improving registration systems in Africa and the way forward to improve CRVS institution and human infrastructure. The conference was preceded by an expert group meeting that was held from 3rd to 5th September.

The conference appreciated the recommendation of the first CRVS conference held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, August 2010 of priotizing the CRVS as a regional agenda.

The benefits of CRVS to a country include availability of the country population as and when it is needed. This will enable formulation of development plans using the correct population as well as enables the Government to know the causes of death in a particular area and as a result steps to alleviate the problem can therefore be made accordingly.

At the Durban Conference 6th – 7th September 2012 it was decided that the CRVS be synchronized as per the country’s arrangement. In Tanzania it is coordinated under the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs and other players are Ministry of Health, Education, Home Affairs and National Bureau of Statistics.