Zambia sees civil registration as bedrock of inclusive digital transformation

Zambia’s Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Jack Mwiimbu, has explained why the government of the Southern African nation is taking civil registration seriously. He says it is essential for the country’s ongoing digital transformation pursuits.

Mwiimbu was speaking ahead of the 8^th Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day, which was observed across the continent on August 10.

This year, activities to mark the event took place under the theme “Civil Registration as the Foundation for Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Legal Identity Systems in Africa.”

Speaking while launching the event in Lusaka, the minister emphasized that civil registration is not just a matter of paperwork, but it is the bedrock of legal identity which doesn’t only confirm citizenship but enables access to social protection services.

He noted that as part of the push by Zambia to meet the SDG 16.9 target of legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030, the government has three aspects within the lens of its strategic focus as underscored in this year’s commemoration theme.

The first of them, Mwiimbu said, is integration which aims to ensure that the country’s CRVS system is linked with health, education, identity management, and social protection systems.

The government, he added, is also aiming at full modernization which entails digitization and an upgrade of the system in order to expand coverage across the nation and ensure efficiency of service delivery, while the third aspect is to decentralize the process and bring it close to remote communities such that no single citizen is left out.

The minister noted that CRVS is good for Zambia as it is for other African countries because without inclusive CRVS, countries on the continent cannot build trustworthy digital identity systems for good governance and socio-economic development.

Mwiimbu used the opportunity to call on Zambian citizens to register all births, marriages, and deaths in order to support inclusive development and better service delivery.

At the same time, he pledged the government’s commitment to strengthening its CRVS efforts through a number of measures including digitization, community outreach, legal reforms and the development of relevant infrastructure.

Zambia has one of the lowest birth registration rates in Africa, but the government is multiplying efforts to reach a 50 percent target by the close of next year.

Cameroon, Somalia…also hold CRVS Day events

Africa CRVS Day, observed since 2018, is an opportunity for African countries to reflect on ways of improving national civil registration frameworks and integrating them with modern digital systems not only to facilitate access to services, but as a gateway to enjoying many human rights.

Other African countries including Cameroon and Somalia also held commemorative events this year with pledges from their respective governments to improve civil registration efforts, and make legal identity more inclusive.

On the occasion of this year’s commemoration, UNICEF equally issued a statement highlighting the importance of birth registration as a vital step towards achieving the SDG 16.9 target.

Article Topics

Africa  |  birth registration  |  civil registration  |  CRVS  |  digital identity  |  SDG 16.9  |  Zambia