Namibia has achieved less than half of the targets outlined in its previous Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Strategic Plan.
This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer of Stratex Consulting, Dr Anton Olivier, at the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics plan validation workshop for 2027/28 to 2031/32.
Civil registrations include births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and changes of names; they also include vital statistics such as causes of death, population growth, and life expectancy.
Dr. Olivier says factors such as unrealistic project designs, poor project management, inadequate staffing, financial constraints, and a non-functional steering committee contribute to the low implementation rate.
This review has also found that Namibia's overall capacity to execute the strategy stands at approximately 60%.
"So 45% successful; then we also did, through a questionnaire, determine the purpose, strategy, and execution capacity, and then based on nine key initiatives, like strategy and execution components, based on that, we determined we actually had about 60% capacity to execute successfully."
The Namibia Statistics Agency's Executive for Demographic and Social Statistics, Pauline Enkono, revealed that birth certificate coverage among children aged zero to eight years declined from 65% in 2016 to 54% in 2023.
Enkono pointed out that in the ||Kharas, Hardap and Erongo regions, higher birth registration rates were recorded, while in the Kavango West Region, the lowest number of births were registered, and it remains among the lowest-performing regions.
"For 2023, the national figure is 53 for children with birth certificates, and when you go to the regions, you find that ||Kharas and Erongo were the regions where more children from ages 0 years had birth certificates."
She also highlighted that the registration of deaths was better executed, increasing from 93% to 94%, while timely death registrations remained above 93%.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security's Executive Director said civil registration is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone for national development, governance and effective service delivery.
Daniel Nghidinua stressed that the validation workshop aims to address challenges such as unregistered births and deaths, limited access to services in remote areas, public awareness gaps, infrastructure constraints and data quality issues.
"An effective civil registration and vital statistics system supports the government in making informed decisions, allocating resources efficiently and monitoring population trends as well as strengthening governance and service delivery."
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics systems are critical for national development, and effective CRVS systems provide reliable and timely statistics to support planning, policy formulation, service delivery, and the protection of fundamental human rights.
The workshop brought together key stakeholders, including government, development partners, and civil society organisations, to review and validate the strategic plan.