OpenCRVS

Digital registration for birth certificates in low-resource settings.

Past and Current Partners

Digital Public Goods Alliance, Digital Impact Alliance, DIAL Catalog of Digital Solutions, Digital Square (member of the Global Goods community).

Active Countries
Bangladesh
Thematic area(s)
Health, Crisis
Technology
Open Source, Digital Public Good
Organisation Name
OpenCRVS.org
READ MORE ON THEIR WEBSITE

The Problem

OpenCRVS have conducted technical analysis of CRVS systems in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malawi, Uganda and understand the challenges experienced by parents when trying to register their children: - They need to travel long distances to register and often need to make several trips before receiving the birth certificate - They are faced with bureaucratic civil registration process with long delays, requests for unofficial payments and are not kept informed about the status of their application - Systems are not integrated so birth registration does not lead to automatic access to other rights e.g. vaccination programmes, enrolment in social protection schemes etc.

The Solution

OpenCRVS is an open-source digital solution for civil registration designed for low resource settings and is available as a Digital Public Good

How it works?

  • Step 1: The village leaders visit the home of a family with a newborn baby and collect details of the birth on the OpenCRVS app on their phones
  • Step 2: The data syncs with the National Database and the Registrar at the District Registration Office reviews the birth record in OpenCRVS on their laptop
  • Step 3: The Registrar validates the birth data against supporting documentation provided and registers the birth
  • Step 4: The parents of the newborn child are informed by SMS that the birth has been registered and that the birth certificate is ready for collection
  • Step 5: The parents visit the District Registration Office and collect the birth certificate which is digitally signed by the Registrar
Digital X Solution OpenCRVS

Bridging the digital divide

OpenCRVS is specifically designed to respond to the challenges of low-resource settings and those who are marginalized. Offline functionality allows that civil registration services to be provided in the remotest of communities. Multi-language support for minorities to access functionalities.

Impact and highlights

In Bangladesh, OpenCRVS enabled Community Health Assistants to send digital notifications of birth and death, leading to large increases in the birth and death registration completeness rates (from 14% to 63% and from 2% to 47% respectively).

Plans for expansion

In Nigeria, Phase 1 of eCRVS digital transformation using OpenCRVS commenced in April 2022. In Niue, a successful proof of concept was concluded (2021). Ethiopia and Somalia have both expressed interest in exploring OpenCRVS implementation.

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