Jharkhand’s Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), together with UNICEF and ESCAP, organized a 2-day inception workshop to launch the CRVS Business Process Improvement (BPI) project in Ranchi, India from 7 to 8 January 2025. Over 40 CRVS stakeholders covering many of the 24 districts in the State of Jharkhand participated in the workshop including representatives from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Planning and Development, Directorate of Census Operations, Department of Women, Child Development and Social Welfare, government and private hospitals and Urban Local Bodies. The workshop was opened by Mr. Mast Ram Meena, IAS, Principal Secretary, Planning and Development and Mr. Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, Director, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Dr. Kaninika Mitra, Chief, UNICEF Jharkhand Field Office and Dr. Petra Nahmias, Chief, Population and Social Statistics Section, ESCAP.

During this participatory workshop, stakeholders documented and mapped out current birth and death registration processes for vital events occurring at home/in the community, in government hospitals and at private hospitals, including the sub-processes that occur at different facilities.  This was followed by in-depth discussions to identify the bottlenecks and performance issues affecting the current functioning of the CRVS system in Jharkhand, with the aim of strengthening the system and improving the quality of data collected and the use of this information for evidence-based decision-making. Over the next two months, stakeholders will be consulted to validate the outcomes from the workshop, before convening for a consultation and capacity building workshop in early 2025 to develop improvement policies and redesigned processes.  

Read more about this project here.