Background:
Statistics on marriage and divorce at the national level are crucial for better understanding patterns of marriage and divorce as well as for creating family welfare and promoting women's and children's rights protection. Legal protection against child marriage can be obtained through marriage registration when combined with appropriate birth registration. Thus, marriage and divorce registration and certification contribute in important ways to gender equality and to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through the protection of the rights of women and children. Many developing countries do not prioritize marriage and divorce registration in their civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. Some countries analyze the data and produce tables incorporated into vital statistics reports while others produce dedicated statistical releases on marriage and divorce registration. There is no global and continental data on the completeness of marriage and divorce registration. This makes marriage and divorce registration more challenging than the registration of vital events that are biological processes, such as births and deaths.
UNFPA recently produced the, “Technical Report on Marriage, Divorce Registration, and Vital Statistics: Where are we? And where do we go from here?”. It highlights the importance of marriage registration, divorce registration and marriage statistics as a part of a whole-government and whole-of-society approach to civil registration, vital statistics and legal identity. It provides an overview of the current state of marriage and divorce registration data around the world, highlights available methods to measure the completeness, quality and determinants of marriage and divorce registration, and documents promising practices by national statistics offices in the production and dissemination of marriage and divorce statistics. The report also notes the lack of common guidelines on marriage registration and vital statistics production.
To reform and improve CRVS systems on the continent, the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS) was established in 2012 following the political commitment and policy directives of the ministers in charge of civil registration. The programme is guided by a Regional CRVS Core Group led by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), Secretariat of African Symposium on Statistical Development
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), INDEPTH Network, Plan International and PARIS21.
In 2022, the Experts Group Meeting (EGM) for the 6th Conference of African Ministers responsible for civil registration marked a decade into the APAI-CRVS. The meeting, whose theme was, “reflecting on progress and accelerating efforts towards 2030 through transformed systems”, made significant resolutions for CRVS improvement in the continent, especially recognizing the fast-approaching timeline for meeting the targets of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. The meeting identified common and cross-cutting challenges impeding CRVS systems development among African countries and called upon the APAI-CRVS Secretariat and partners of the Regional CRVS Core Group to support African countries in adapting existing global CRVS guidelines to the African context, including through development of technical implementation guides on specific topics, which can be used to provide operational guidance to countries.
The Africa Regional Workshop on Development of Implementation Guidelines for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems was organized in Nairobi in February 2024 to follow-up on the recommendations of the 6th Conference of African Ministers responsible for civil registration. The workshop reviewed the availability and adequacy of existing global CRVS guidelines for implementation in the African context and developed a framework for development of new guidelines where needed. In particular, the workshop recommended the development of guidelines for marriage and divorce registration and vital statistics production under the leadership of the CRVS Centre of Excellence hosted by UNFPA, in collaboration with UNICEF and UNECA.
The three UNFPA regional offices in Africa - Arab States (ASRO), East and Southern Africa (ESARO) and Western and Central Africa (WCARO) - are partnering with UNECA and UNICEF to develop a common guideline on marriage and divorce registration and vital statistics production under the APAI-CRVS initiative. An in-depth assessment of existing practices in marriage and divorce registration is to be undertaken to inform the development of the guideline. This assessment is to be conducted in selected countries reflecting linguistic and socio-cultural diversity in the continent in terms of Arabic, French, English and Portuguese speaking countries. Each of the UNFPA regions is to hire and manage the consultancy for their selected countries. A lead consultant based at UNFPA ESARO will coordinate the work of the regional consultants.
How you can make a difference:
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.
UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire and deliver high-impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, and exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.
Purpose of consultancy:
UNFPA ASRO requires a consultant to conduct an assessment of existing practices in marriage and divorce registration and vital statistics in selected countries in the Arab region as part of a collaborative initiative
among the three UNFPA regional offices in Africa - Arab States (ASRO), East and Southern Africa (ESARO) and Western and Central Africa (WCARO) - to develop guidelines for marriage and divorce registration
and vital statistics in the continent. The Arab region’s consultant will liaise with other regional consultants and the team lead for the exercise based at UNFPA ESARO.
Scope of work:
The Arab region’s consultant will conduct the assessment in the following countries that fall in the Africa continent - Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Djibouti and Somalia. To facilitate the eventual adaptation of the resulting guideline to the larger Arab States region, the consultant will undertake similar assessments in the following additional countries in the Middle East - Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Yemen.
The consultant will conduct a comprehensive mapping and assessment of the registration of marriages and divorces and production of vital statistics in the region through desk review, document review, expert interviews, and field observations in the selected countries. The specific tasks are to:
Duration and working schedule:
The consultancy is for a period of 60 working days, spread from 27 February 2025 to 31 June 2025. Payment will be made against successful completion of deliverables as follows:
Place where services are to be delivered:
Home-based, with possible travel to some of the identified countries as determined by UNFPA. It is expected that travel will be made to Algeria and Jordan.
Expected travel:
Algeria and Jordan
Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:
UNFPA Work Environment:
UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.
Disclaimer:
Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.
UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.