International Consultant - Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Strategy and Implementation Roadmap, Sri Lanka

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Purpose of consultancy: The consultant will develop a national Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) strategy and an implementation roadmap for Sri Lanka, with the engagement of all relevant stakeholders.

Background:

Sri Lanka has a long-established paper-based civil registration system and high levels of completeness in vital event registration. Recent data indicate birth registration coverage of 98.1% in 2023 and death registration coverage of 98.4% in 2024. The country is now moving into digital systems, which are expected to improve the timeliness and the quality of data. However, a comprehensive national CRVS strategy is needed to guide these transformations in a coordinated manner, define shared priorities across institutions, strengthen the quality and use of mortality and cause-of-death data, and ensure that vital statistics effectively inform policy, planning and public health decision-making.

Accordingly, Registrar General’s Department, with technical collaboration from WHO, intends to develop a national CRVS strategy for the period of 2027-2031 (5 years) to

Job Description - Deliverables

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Public Administration, the Registrar General’s Department, the Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Health and other relevant national stakeholders, with technical support from WHO to undertake the following activities:

1. Assessment, analysis and review of the CRVS system

· Conduct an overall assessment of the existing CRVS system (“as-is”) business processes to understand how events (births, deaths, marriages) are currently registered and where the performance bottlenecks occur. This will also include the legal, institutional and operational frameworks governing CRVS. WHO/ Registrar General’s Department will provide all the existing documents related to the system.

• Review previous CRVS assessments, studies and initiatives to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the system.

• Map and engage all the key stakeholders and entities involved in CRVS including the Registrar General’s Department, Ministry of Health, Department of Census and Statistics, and other relevant institutions.

• Consolidate potential redesign ideas with particular focus on improving the coordination mechanisms between the health sector and civil registration authorities.

2. Assessment of mortality and cause-of-death data systems

• Review processes for medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) for institutional and non-institutional deaths via verbal autopsy methods.

• Assess current practices for cause-of-death coding using international classifications, including ICD-10 and readiness for the implementation of ICD-11 where relevant.

• Review data workflows between health facilities, civil registration authorities and statistical systems.

• Identify gaps affecting the quality, completeness, timeliness and use of mortality data.

· Identify capacity building needs for the implementation of mortality and cause of death reporting standards and regular data quality assessments.

3. Review of digital systems and interoperability

• Assess digital CRVS systems including the e-Population Registry and e-BMD system focusing on 3 key aspects:

o Interoperability and data exchange: by evaluating whether systems adhere to internationally recognized standards to prevent vendor lock-in and enable smooth API exchanges between the health and national identity databases, amongst others.

o Functional requirements: by assessing core functionalities such as capacity to register all vital events, inclusivity, linkage of related records (person centricity), records management, certificate management, activity logging capacity, role-based user permission, storage and backup, disaster mitigation, security information and event management capability, and analytics.

o Non-functional requirements: by assessing usability, reliability, scalability, auditability, documentation, security, testing optimal performance, relevance to local digital transformation context, online and offline access options, mobile device capabilities and user alerts.

• Review linkages between CRVS systems and health information systems.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen interoperability and data integration under the OneRegistry initiative.

4. Stakeholder consultations and prioritization

• Conduct consultations with relevant national stakeholders to identify priority areas for strengthening the CRVS system.

• Facilitate discussions to review findings, validate gaps and identify strategic actions.

• Support prioritization of interventions based on national needs, available resources and institutional capacities.

5. Development of the national CRVS strategy (2027-2031)

• Background and introduction, including an overview of CRVS, its importance, the national CRVS system, and linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), national development priorities, the UNESCAP Regional Action Framework (RAF) on CRVS, and WHO Regional Committee Resolution SEA/RC78/R7 on bolstering the critical role of CRVS systems in advancing UHC and evidence-based governance.

• Vision and mission for the CRVS system.

• Strategic approach, including stakeholders, findings from system assessments and prioritization of action areas.

• National targets, goals and outputs, aligned with RAF targets and national priorities.

• Key challenges and issues, including resource constraints and inequalities in access to registration services.

• Strategic actions, including identification of issues, proposed actions, responsible institutions, timelines and indicators to measure progress.