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Knowledge Briefs on Gender and CRVS

The Centre of Excellence for CRVS Systems has launched a knowledge brief series that aims to uncover gender bias and barriers, share case studies and emerging findings, and recommend priority areas and solutions.

This series provides crucial support to CRVS stakeholders – helping inspire action and promote adoption of good practices. It builds on the outcomes of an event we held in early 2018 (Making the Invisible Visible: CRVS as a Basis to Meeting the 2030 Gender Agenda) and a side event at the United Nations World Data Forum in October 2018 (Civil Registration as a Tool for Women’s Empowerment).

Knowledge Brief 1: Why CRVS systems matter for women and girls

The first knowledge briefin the series, containing four papers, sets the stage for a series of discussions within the topic of CRVS for women. The first paper provides an overview of the motivations and objectives of the Knowledge Brief Series. The other three papers serve to then provide a detailed introduction to CRVS for women and its role in the sustainable development agenda specifically, before delving into more detailed topics within the space such as financing, gender related SDGs and capacity-building.

Here are the four papers of the first knowledge brief (full download) :

Knowledge Brief 2: Strengthening CRVS Systems, Overcoming Barriers and Empowering Women and Children

The second knowledge brief contains an introductory editorial and four papers authored by experts in the field. It moves beyond the case for strengthening CRVS systems to support gender equality, to discussing specific barriers, solutions and actions. The first paper uses case studies in China, Syria and Morocco to highlight the need for a life-course approach. This involves registering vital events from birth to death, including marriage and divorce, so women and children can be included, protected and provided for. The remaining three papers unpack the structural, political and social factors affecting the registration of women and children. They also propose ways to address these issues, such as: linking national ID registers with CRVS systems, engaging communities to increase registration rates, and coordinating with the health sector to strengthen CRVS systems. 

Here is the introductory editorial and the four papers of the second knowledge brief (full download):

Knowledge Brief 3: Moving Beyond Making the Case: Actions Needed to Support CRVS Systems for Women and Children

The third and final brief in the series takes a deep dive into best practices and key challenges for national governments and the international community to improve CRVS systems. A case study from the Philippines offers an example of a strong CRVS system and spells out the key actions that need to be taken to develop something similar in other contexts. Two fictional examples from Kenya and the Philippines highlight the struggles marginalized populations face in navigating CRVS systems due to their unique circumstances.Another explores the gender data gap in mortality reporting systems through CRVS systems worldwide. In each case, authors recommend concrete solutions to the challenges discussed. The final paper concludes the full knowledge brief series by offering summaries of all three briefs and their individual papers (12 in all).

Here are the four papers of the third knowledge brief (full download):

Woman filling out a registration form

Read more about the aims, motivations and objectives of the knowledge brief series on gender and CRVS in our introductory brochure.