Modernising Cameroon’s civil registration system

Project description

Title: Support Programme for the Modernisation of the Civil Registration System
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Co-funded by: Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
Country: Cameroon
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development
Overall term: 2021 to 2024

Context

Since 2009, Cameroon has been modernising its civil registration and official statistics system and reforming the legal and institutional framework accordingly. This falls under the remit of the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL), and the national reforms are supported by the National Civil Status Registration Office (BUNEC).

Civil registration services are delivered at local level and books are kept manually. The documents, however, have significant quality deficiencies and are often poorly maintained or even misplaced or lost. As a result, almost 40 per cent of children's births and less than 10 per cent of deaths are registered.

This fails to meet the UN standards for civil registration systems, which recommend registration data be continuous, mandatory, permanent and universal. Another hurdle is the lack of digitalisation.

In the response to this situation, the second phase of the Program for the Modernisation of the Civil Registration System (PAMEC) is to be implemented from July 2021 to June 2024.

Objective

Citizen-oriented civil-registration services have improved in Cameroon and lead to better and more efficient documentation.

Approach

The programme works nationally and locally with relevant actors to improve their collaboration and the quality of civil registration services. It develops tools and guides to facilitate the implementation of reforms. Pilot digitalisation processes aim to gain knowledge from field experience with a view to scaling up best practices.

The programme intervention reflects this approach in three outputs:

  • Improving the ability of relevant actors and institutions to create the conditions for effective coordination of actions and initiatives related to civil registration
  • Digitising selected aspects of civil registration in pilot municipalities taking into account the local conditions.
  • Improving access to civil registration services for the population, in particular women and girls, by promoting the monitoring role of civil society

Last update: November 2022

Additional information