Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), the registration and counting of vital events in a country and the subsequent analysis of these data, is a critical component of the global development agenda, yet CRVS data are incomplete in many countries. Public awareness of the connection between registering vital events and access to essential services and basic rights, as well as their role in government planning, is lacking as well as recognition that CRVS data collection crosscuts the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Journalists and other development actors play a critical role in raising awareness about this gap.

To build skills around this issue, we will host an interactive capacity-building session for participants to gain insights on how to use available CRVS data in their work and advocate with their governments for the production and dissemination of these data.

This participatory session facilitated by a data journalist for The Guardian and Vital Strategies’ staff who have implemented our live, in-person global training on Effective Use of Data in CRVS Journalism will enable participants to learn about the value and richness of CRVS data for advocacy and public health media engagement, the connection to equity and a rights-based development agenda and the role that government plays in producing these data.

Specifically, the session will cover:

1. how to access and use available CRVS data from a variety of sources;
2. how to identify data gaps and analyze data sets;
3. how to frame CRVS-related topics for media and advocacy, including calling for government accountability to produce good data; and
4. how CRVS data can be used to measure progress against the SDGs and identify pressing equity issues.

This is a highly participatory session that will be facilitated in Spanish and English to encourage participant interaction and experience sharing throughout the technical exchange. It is a demonstration session and participants will be instructed how to engage with the data from their laptops.

For more in-depth engagement with the topic after the session participants can access Vital Strategies’ free, self-paced online e-learning course on Effective Use of CRVS Data in Public Health Journalism.