1. SELECTED NATIONAL CRVS FOCAL POINTS
CRVS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA LUCAS APINGWA MANAGER OPERATIONS PAPUA NEW GUINEA CIVIL & IDENTITY REGISTRY
SELECTED NATIONAL CRVS FOCAL POINTS
12 – 14 DECEMBER,2017
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA/PACIFIC (ESCAP) REGIONAL CONFERENCE
BANGKOK,THAILAND

3. 1. BACK GROUND INFORMATION
Statutory Authority: PNG Civil & Identity Registry
Governing Law – Civil Registration Act (Amended) 2014
Mandatory/Statutory functions is to Register:
Births & NID & Adoption
Deaths (Natural Death, DOA,Missing person)
Marriages (Civil & Customary)
Divorce

4. 4. Certificate of Birth (CoB) & NID Card: Identity Verification Tools to access education,banking,Incorporated land group registration, job employment, travel and etc… 4. CoB : years –verified by parents 5. NID card: 18 years & above 6: Birth Entry No: Key identity verifier links to NID card,death,marriage,adoption,divorce registrations as well links and connects the child to the parents 7. Particulars on CoB: a) Child details includes Birth Entry Number b) Mother’s Details c) Fathers Details 8. Registrar-General is the custodian Note: During registration certificates & registers are printed. Certificates = applicant. Register = Official Record kept and archived by PNG CIR. Registrations come with relevant supporting documents( Reliable, accurate & true in every particular)

5. 2. National Statistical Agencies
PNG CIR: National Register /National Database (Population Information Management System)
National Department of Health (NDoH): D4H,VA,CoD,ICD 10 – Rides on health institutions (Discussion/meetings in progress for standardised coding between various NSA)
National Statistical Office (NSO): Manages & Reports on vital statistics – conducts own surveys including population census
Department of National Planning & Monitoring (DNPM): More on policy matters, major user –relies on other agencies such as PNG CIR,NSO & NDoH
PNG Electoral Commission: Conduct elections – Conducts own survey on voter eligibility and residence
Department of Provincial & Local Government Affairs(DPLGA): Infrastructure development in provinces and at district levels

6. 3. Governing Laws(Acts) of each NSA in relation to CRVS
PNG CIR: CRA,Deaths,Marriages,Adoption,Divorce
NDoH: NHIA
NSO : National Statistical Act
PNG EC: Voter Registration Act
DPLGA : Organic Law on Provincial & Local Level Government
DNPM : National Planning Act
Note: Duplication of data collection is an issue/result here as shown in slides 2 & 3 thus costing state a lot of money.

7. 4: Issues and Constraints faced by GoPNG
Disintegrated, fragmented, uncoordinated & or managed in silos
Data gap challenges
Need for effective resource allocation, programme targeting & evidenced-based decision making
Need for accurate, Timely and readily available statistics/indicators to analyse and track development progress of the country
Huge ocean full of scattered Island of Information by NSA
No centralised information bank to draw statistical information/data for planning purposes
98% of population was unregistered (Guestimates from both NDoH through e-HIS & PNG CIR through CIRS)

8. 5: Primary Solution
2012 : NEC Decision (National Identification System)
2013: NEC Decision - Legislative Amendment to Civil Registration Act for NID & NID as part of Birth Registration process as additional function of PNG CIR
CRO Institutional Capacity Building:
#Decentralisation of registration functions to provinces
# Creation of PNG CIR from CRO- Increase manpower capacity & resources to gather for organizational needs & demands
Establish centralised National Database: National Register (Populations Information Management System: Computerised registration system)
Establish Civil & Identity Registration System

9. 6.Goal of GoPNG Account for all its citizens : Free Registration
Legal proof of identity : Free CoB & Free NID card
Vital Statistics : Inter-government agency collaboration and ICT linkages to CIRS for ease of access to (not of but to) information

10. 7: CIRS Process Births Registration = CoB/Register (At birth)
B & NID = CoB & NID Card (Late registration)
NID Card Registration = NID Card (18 years old)
Death Registration = CoD/Register
Marriage Registration = CoM/Register
Adoption Registration = CoB (Amendment to register of birth) or NID Card or both
Divorce Registration – CoD & Register
Note: All registration forms are scanned and saved
NID Card is renewed after 10 years and is free. Certificates issued to clients and register kept and archived as official record.

11. 8: Benefits of CIRS Live data management
Population information management
Statistical summary reporting
Information readily available and easily accessible

12. 9: Way forward
Review various NSA Acts: Ensure there is harmony amongst various Acts to implement SDS
Elevate the CRVS committee to a national level (Ministerial level) and TWG to a subnational level to manage and implement the SDS.

13. 10. CRVS Committee & TWG PNG Civil & Identity Registry : C&TWG (Chair)
National Department of Health : C&TWG (Co-chair)
Department of National Planning & Monitoring (C&TWG)
National Statistical Office: C&TWG
Department of Provincial & Local Level Government Affairs: C&TWG
PNG Electoral Commission: C&TWG
Department for Community Development & Religion: TWG
Constitutional and Law Reform Commission : TWG
Other government Departments will also be included as TWG may include:
Department of Lands & Physical Planning
Department of Education
Office of Immigrations
Department of Labour & Industrial Relations
Office of the Coroner
Department of Personnel Management
Department of Prime Minister & NEC

14. International Development Partners
Data for Health (D4H) Initiative – Bloomberg Philanthropies: TWG
DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Australia) : TWG ( VA,CoD & ICD 10)
WHO: TWG
UNICEF: C&TWG
UNFPA:TWG

15. 11. Current Registration Rates
Guesstimated at 3% of the population births & deaths. Source: e-HIS & CIRS
No data for marriages, divorce & adoption
Most births and deaths in PNG happen outside of health institutions which makes it difficult or impossible to record the exact number of births and deaths and issue certificates. These births and deaths rarely get notified for registration.Simmilarly to divorce & adoption (Civil & customary adoption)
In PNG same sex marriage is not recognised.

16. 12. Sources of Vital Statistics
NHIS: National Health Information System
NDoH – NHIS publishes annually : Assessment of Sector Performance Annual Report (SPAR) Review Health institutions: hospitals & health centres are major sources (go to google and type DoHPNG and search)
Verbal autopsy & ICD 10 is not used in PNG but trainings are being done to pilot in one province – Alotau, Milne Bay Province.
CoD: Discussion is progressing to differentiate between Fact of Death & Cause of Death to improve death registration.
Discussions and meetings are in progress

17. 13. Implementation Steps National Targets of the RAF
Status of National Improvement Plan
Sustainable Development of Statistics (SDS) platform to coordinate data collection
Extend collection agents to the distric, LLG and at ward/village level including churches
Maintain and extend membership of NCRVSC & TWG
Mechanism
Increase powers & extend functions of National CRVS Committee
Technical Working Group
Review of the various NSA Acts
Inter-government agency linkages/access to the National Data Base
National Targets of the RAF
Discussed in recent workshop in October,2017 to ensure programmes compliment the timeframe (Rapid Assessment : May,2014) .

18. 12. Current major challenges
Commitment & Dedication by NCRVSC & TWG
Conflicting Legislations by NSA & review of these acts
Maintaining the ongoing Planned Activities such as meetings and etc
Trainings for Verbal Autopsy (VA) & ICD 10 Coding and MCCoD
PNG CIR to get its organizational structure established and operationalized to effectively and efficiently implement CRVS plans on registrations of BDM and others such as NID,Adoption & Divorce (Note that the Birth Registration form is the product of wider inter-governmental consultation & focus group discussion).
Something I forgot:
In PNG registration of NID,Deaths,Marriages,adoption & divorce ride on Birth Registration.These registrations are linked to birth registration by the unique identification number on the CoB.Naturalsed citizens only apply for NID card.

19. 6. Opportunities for Advancing CRVS Work
National Statistical Agencies (NSA) collaboration & partnership
SDS – Frame work
Legislative Review of all the NSA
PNG CIR & NDoH embarking on a nation wide registration of BDM
Partnership with International Development Partners
UNICEF – Children Registration
D4H Initiative – VA & ICD & MCCoD Trainings,eNHIS,CRVS
DFTA – Partnership with D4H Initiative
UNFPA – Population issues for development

20. THANK YOU ALL