The document summarizes Sudan's civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system. It describes Sudan's population and the government agencies responsible for registration and vital events. In the past, CRVS efforts lacked coordination and strategic planning, resulting in low registration rates. However, since 2012 the government has prioritized and invested in CRVS, establishing coordination mechanisms and assessing the system to inform a new strategy. Key lessons are the importance of stakeholder coordination, early involvement, and engaging communities to strengthen the CRVS system.

1. The Global Summit on CRVS
Stakeholders Engagement
The experience of Sudan
Bangkok, 18th -19th April – 2013
By: Dr. Zahir Ajab Alsiddieg

2. Sudan: Country Background
Location: North East Africa
Land area: 1.8 million KM2
Language: official is Arabic +
indigenous languages are
spoken in different states
Economy: Lower Middle Income
(Per capita GDP about 2,300
US$)
Federal country (18 states)
Population: 35 million (about
45% under 15 years)
Crude birth rate (37/1,000 = 1.3
million child are born annually)
Crude death rate (1.1% =
387,000 deaths annually)
Annual population growth rate
(2.65%)

3. Sudan: The Capital Khartoum

4. Which agency is responsible for CRVS?
• CR:
– Is the responsibility of the Ministry Of Interior
• VS:
– Used to be the responsibility of the CBS
– In the mid-90s moved to the MOH
– Recently it became the responsibility of the
Ministry of Interior (Civil Registration Authority)
(CR + VS!)

5. Main Stakeholders
• Government agencies/ministries
– Ministry of Interior (Civil Registration Authority) (Registration,
Issues a legal document of the event,)
– Ministry of Health MOH (registers birth and death and issues
certificate of these events)
– CBS (mandated to publish country data)
– National Council for Child Welfare “NCCW” (child rights &
welfare)
• UN Agencies: WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM, UNHCR
• Bilateral Agencies:
• NGOs: Plan Sudan/International, Other National and
International NGOS
• Communities and community leaders

6. Stakeholders Engagement
The missed opportunities Era: 90s-2011
• Many interventions were implemented
– Government (training, operational cost, etc..):
– Partners: Support birth registration (Advocacy & Awareness,
Material, Capacity building, piloting of Mobile technology for
registration, Training of staff, workshops, etc…)
• However! this era has been characterized by:
– Though there is a vision, but no strategic plan to guide the
efforts
– Each partner/stakeholder sees the CRVS from one angle
– Fragmentation & lack of coordination
– Duplication of interventions & inefficiencies

7. How the CRVS system is Performing?
• Birth Registration (less than 60%)
• Death Registration (less than 10%)
• A rapid assessment was conducted recently
affirmed the low performance in many
aspects

8. Stakeholders Engagement
• Revival/Renaissance: 2012-onwards:
– The government recognizes the CRVS as an strategic investment
– Acknowledging its pivotal role in public policies
– Appreciation of the need for coordination and working together
– Strong commitment & leadership from the government has
emerged: (MOI, MOH)
– Government (MOI, MOH, NCCW, Other Ministries): invested in
establishing IT infrastructure, training, etc…)
– High Steering committee was formed (2011)
– Coordination forum was established (2013)
– Rapid assessment of the CRVS
– Roadmap for developing CRVS strategy
– Comprehensives assessment of the CRVS

9. NCT tower Khartoum:
data warehouse of
government databases

10. Lessons learnt
• Stakeholders needs to talk to each other's and
coordinate their efforts
• Early involvement of partners/stakeholders is
important and can help in avoiding duplication
and support efficient utilization of resources
• The importance of engaging communities/
and community leaders at all stages
• The need to have sound strategy and plan our
interventions accordingly

11. Lessons learnt

12. The way forward
• Strengthening/developing the coordination
mechanism
• Make use of the outcomes of the comprehensive
CRVS to develop a sound strategy for
strengthening the CRVS
• Set-up/Institutionalize effective implementation
arrangements