Summary of main takeaways from the high-level panel and technical consultations on Making the Invisible Visible: CRVS as a basis to Meeting the 2030 Gender Agenda - Ottawa, 26 February 2018.

1. Summary of the Gender Dimensions of CRVS
 Women and girls benefit greatly from well-functioning CRVS systems, particularly those who are underserved. Proper birth
registration provide the foundation for empowerment, the exercise of civil, political and socioeconomic rights, and a gateway to
accessing social and financial services.
 Together birth and marriage registration can combat early child marriage and child labor. Marriage/Divorce registration allows
custody of property/children in the event of a divorce and allows for rightful inheritance in the event of a spouse’s death.
 Accurately death registration provides insight into infant and maternal mortality and can inform design of policies.
 Lack of high-quality sex-disaggregated death registration data is a major challenge to understanding. More research and
knowledge is needed around incentives (what works and why) as well as success and failure case studies.
 However, women still face many financial, cultural and legal barriers to reaping the benefits of CRVS. For example, cost to
registration; requirements of the husband’s presence; failure to capture customary marriages by the system; burial practices.
Questions to keep in mind…..
 To what extent has this innovation considered the point of view of women in its design?
 To what extent do our global tools or guidance on CRVS include modules on gender?
 To what extent did this tool consider the possible gender biases in statistical collection?
The aim of yesterday’s meeting was to make CRVS systems less gender blind and more gender transformative. 1

2. Making the Invisible Visible: CRVS as a basis to meeting the 2030 Gender agenda
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What we discussed What we accomplished What’s next
• Prioritization: The importance of CRVS has been recognized
but it needs to be prioritized under national development
plans, statistical plans, and global agendas (Cape Town
Global Action Plan, High Level Political Forum, HLG-PCCB,
etc.)
• Funding and finances: There is a need to strengthen and
better communicate the economic, political social value for
CRVS, leverage current initiatives and ongoing efforts, and
find low-hanging fruits.
• Partnership and collaboration: Strong CRVS systems
require participation from all parts of government (Civil
registry; health ministries; ministries of justice; statistical
office) as well as private sector.
• Knowledge and research: More knowledge is needed on
what works, why it works, and how it works in regard to
incentivizing registration and understanding the barriers
women face.
• Balance: There is a need to strike a balance between
investing in ID systems and CRVS system as well as a
balance between birth, marriage/divorce, and death.
 We convened statisticians,
researchers, gender experts etc. to
discuss a critical subject for the
2030 Agenda – Gender and CRVS.
 We recognized the critical role
CRVS plays in the SDGs, in the
lives of women and girls, and within
human right and legal frameworks.
 We heard commitments and action
plans from national governments,
UN and international agencies, and
civil society organizations.
 We reviewed challenges and
opportunities to make progress on
CRVS and gender.
 We will ensure the results of the
CRVS-Gender meetings are brought
to the global agenda. (i.e. CRVS
Innovations Conference, UN World
Data Forum)
 CoE will continue to offer
opportunities for discussions on the
subject and convene stakeholders to
shape the future of the agenda.
 We will share an outcome document
from today’s meeting highlighting
main discussion points, findings and
recommendations.