Decision of the 1st Steering Committee Meeting (held on 28 September 2014)

  • Cabinet Division will take the coordinating role in creating a CRVS system and a dedicated secretariat will be set up in this Division for dealing with this issues. The A2i will provide technical assistance to the secretariat in efficiently carrying out its responsibilities.
  • The Steering Committee on CRVS will convene its meeting only when there will be specific matters on which the guidance and intervention of the committee will be felt necessary.
  • In order to make the Steering Committee more operational, the secretaries/representatives of Prime Minister's Office A2i; the Law and Justice Division; and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will be included.
  • A six month piloting project of CRVS will be taken from October 2014 to March 2015 for testing and analyzing diflerent aspects of implementing CRVS. Based on the results of the piloting a full-fledged model of CRVS will be developed.
  • Measures should be taken to select ttre appropriate biometric feature for incorporation in the CRVS to make it more useful.
  • The data field for causes of death should be incorporated in the CRVS for getting systematic information about the pattern of fatal diseases in various regions.
  • A full-fledged project plan for the comprehensive implementation of CRVS will be prepared by the CRVS Secretariat by January 2015 and that will be shared with the development partners including Canada which is spearheading the Trust Fund for CRVS.
  • The following table summarizes at, roles for each of the contributing ministries a high-level:
Sl. Organization Role
1 Cabinet Division: Chair Coordination and policy reform
2 a2i Programme, PMO Technical and process design
3 Local Government Division 1. The same unique number
2. All should follow CCDS
3. A single Civil Registry connected to BRIS, NID, GR, Poverty DB
4. Process Alignment
4 Election Commission
5 SID/BBS
6 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)
7 Ministry of Education (MoE) Integration with student DB
8 Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Integration with student DB
9 Law and Justice Division Marriage/Divorce/Adoption
10 ICT Division Infrastructure and Security

Decision of the 2nd Steering Committee Meeting (held on 27 August 2014)

  • For better implementation of the CRVS system in Bangladesh, Secretaries of the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Ministry of Home Affairs, Law and Justice Division, Post and Telecommunications Division; Head of the CRVS Secretariat; Director of the NID Wing and the Project Director Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services Project, Election Commission Secretariat; and the Project Director of the Access to Information Programme will be co-opted in the Steering Committee. A revised notification of the Steering Committee will be circulated immediately;
  • The Directorate of Primary Education and all other Education Boards will be instructed through concerned Ministries to complete technology integration between primary and secondary education databases;
  • The Directorate General of Health Services will be instructed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to notify the Birth and Death Registration Project about the cases of birth and death. The Birth and Death Registration Project, in turn, should notify the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services Project to update the National ID database for seamless integration across these three large citizens' databases. Necessary agreements/MoUs amongst Directorate General of Health Services, Birth and Death Registration Project and the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services Project may be signed in this regard;
  • The CRVS Secretariat will implement further piloting and test on several biometric options for selection of the most appropriate biometric, and full understanding of the future CRVS system. The pilot will incorporate madrassas including Qawmi Madrassas;
  • Agencies will continue data collection even in case of non-availability of the expected ID (e.g. National ID or Birth Registration Number) ascribing temporary ID till the expected Unique ID is assigned, in consultation with the Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services Project;
  • The Directorate General of Health Services will enhance capacity and capability for recording cause(s) of death in line with the CRVS;
  • The CRVS Secretariat will prepare a concept note or project proposal, as the case may be, through consultation and cooperation with the ministries and departments along with relevant stakeholders;
  • The CRVS Secretariat will be entrusted to work with Directorate of Primary Education, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education; all Education Boards, Ministry of Education; Directorate General of Health Services and Directorate General of Family Planning, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Birth and Death Registration Project, Local Govemment Division; Law and Justice Division; Directorate of Immigration and Passport, Ministry of Home Affairs; Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services Project, Election Commission Secretariat; and Access to Information Programme, Prime Minister's Office for realizing the objectives of the project;
  • The CRVS Secretariat will issue data interoperability standards to ensure information sharing amongst the above-mentioned government agencies in coherence with the National Enterprise Architecture of the Bangladesh Computer Council, Information Communication Technology Division;
  • The Election Commission Secretariat will waive fees for National ID verification and data sharing during the CRVS piloting period; and
  • The CRVS Secretariat will explore an organogram for the Secretariat including a permanent office space while working for registering a separate domain for instance crvs.gov.bd and develop a website.

CRVS Related Steering Committee

Sl. Formation Convener
1 Cabinet Secretary Member
2 Senior Secretary, Finance Division Member
3 Senior Secretary, Economic Relations Division Member
4 Secretary, Ministry of Education Member
5 Secretary, Information and Communication Technology Member
6 Secretary, Planning Division Member
7 Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Member
8 Secretary, Election Commission Secretariat Member
9 Secretary (Coordination and Reforms), Cabinet Division Member
10 Secretary, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division Member
11 Secretary, Local Government Division Member
12 Secretary in Charge, Statistics and Information Management Division Member
13 Director General, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Member
14 Director General, Department of Health Services Member
15 Project Director, Birth and Death Registration Project Member

Guest participants on special invitation:

  • Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Additional Director General (Development and Planning), DGHS; and
  • Mr. Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, Access to Information Programme, Prime Minister's Office.

Scope of work:

  • Coordinating activities of different ministries/divisions in order to ensure overall development of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system;
  • Providing necessary suggestions and guidance to relevant agencies in order to implement CRVS activities;
  • Evaluation and analysis of CRVS related strategies and work-plans; and
  • Other CRVS related necessary issues.