Result of Service
In this connection, ESCAP is seeking a consultant to support Rajasthan’s Directorate of Economics and Statistics and other relevant ministries/agencies engaged in the state-level CRVS system, to assess inequalities in CRVS Rajasthan, as well conduct an assessment, analysis and redesign of birth and death registration processes. This work will help identify population groups with lower registration rates and quantify the magnitude of gaps relative to the rest of the population. To provide an objective overview of the situation, triangulation across the best available data sources is required to estimate the completeness of birth and death registration, which may require several options to be explored. For example, civil registration and other national administrative data should be used in the first instance to assess completeness, complemented as needed by other data sources such as the National Family Health Survey, (NFHS), to provide additional insights into progress and remaining gaps in universal registration. However, irrespective of the data source used, the most marginalized groups are often still excluded, particularly those residing outside of conventional households or in geographic areas that are not fully enumerated. Analysis of multiple data sources, including through indirect demographic methods to estimate total births and deaths, will therefore be important to assess completeness and identify inequalities. CRVS Business Process Improvement (BPI), uses a structured and participatory approach, guided by the updated CRVS Systems Improvement Framework, to analyse and redesign CRVS workflows across institutions. A core tool is business process mapping, which documents the current (“as-is”) civil registration processes and helps stakeholders identify bottlenecks, duplication and service barriers, before designing streamlined “as-desired” processes. BPI focuses on simplifying and standardising end‑to‑end processes for the registration of births, deaths, and other life events. BPI aligns people, policies, processes, and digital solutions to reduce delays, duplication, and inefficiencies. It supports strengthened interoperability and improved data quality by clarifying institutional roles and responsibilities, strengthening governance arrangements and reinforcing accountability across the CRVS system. Ultimately, the assessment, analysis and redesign of CRVS business processes, aims to enable more timely and complete registration, and the production of accurate and reliable vital statistics to support service delivery and evidence‑based decision‑making. Under the joint supervision of ESCAP and UNICEF, and in close coordination with the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Rajasthan, the consultant will undertake the following tasks. Inception and scoping • Conduct a desk review of relevant legislation, strategies, standard operating procedures, previous assessments, global good practices, especially on actions for community uptake, improved community interface and CRVS-related documentation Including the documentation on human factors that influence the system- community interface, communities’ readiness for uptake of services, and decision making, • Support the establishment and functioning of a state-level CRVS Core Team, including coordination across institutions; • Contribute to the design and delivery of an inception workshop to confirm scope, methodology, roles, and workplan that includes perspectives/participation of marginalized groups and women; • Prepare a short inception note summarising priorities, data sources, and methodological approaches. CRVS inequality assessment • Identify and map available data sources relevant for assessing CRVS inequalities (CRVS administrative data, household surveys, other administrative sources) and complement these with qualitative insights through community consultations, frontline worker interviews and service delivery observations; • Conduct quantitative analysis of birth and death registration completeness and disparities by sex, age, location, and other characteristics where data permit, together with DES stakeholders, and triangulate findings with qualitative insights to better understand behavioural and other contextual factors influencing the completeness, timeliness and disparities in registration levels; • Apply indirect demographic methods, where appropriate, to assess under-registration and population coverage gaps, and use these findings to guide targeted qualitative inquiry into behavioural barriers, decision-making processes and service delivery constraints; • Investigate behavioural drivers impacting civil registration, using qualitative and participatory inquiry methods to identify structural, administrative and socio-cultural factors (including social norms, perceptions, incentives, opportunity costs and procedural issues, etc.) that contribute to observed inequalities; ‘mapping of the choice architecture especially of excluded and marginalised communities, behavioural barriers and community based intuitive solutions • Prepare draft analytical sections for the CRVS inequality assessment report, including gender-related dimensions. Business process mapping and improvement • Support consultations with CRVS stakeholders (including field visits where necessary) to document “as-is” CRVS business processes for birth and death registration, and vital statistics production; • Develop detailed process descriptions and maps, in line with the updated CRVS Systems Improvement Framework; • Support CRVS stakeholders to Identify bottlenecks, redundancies, delays, and coordination issues across institutions and administrative levels; • Support the organisation and facilitation of BPI consultation workshops to validate findings and discuss process redesign options; • Contribute to the development of redesigned (“as-desired”) business processes, enabled community interfaces, including descriptions and maps, and practical recommendations for CRVS system improvement, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, especially the most excluded communities themselves. Capacity building and stakeholder engagement • Support the design and delivery of workshops and training sessions on CRVS inequality analysis and business process improvement, in collaboration with ESCAP, UNICEF and other development partners; • Provide technical inputs during workshops and document discussions and outcomes; • Support ongoing engagement and communication among CRVS stakeholders throughout the project period. Reporting and synthesis • Contribute to the preparation of draft and final reports, integrating findings from the inequality assessment and business process mapping; • Support the organisation of a validation and dissemination workshop; • Assist in the development of a consolidated CRVS strengthening roadmap outlining short-, medium-, and long-term actions. The consultant will also be responsible for organizing: • Project inception workshop (1 day) The workshop will invite all relevant CRVS stakeholders and partner agencies. The DES will lead the brief on the project concept, outline roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and clarify the overall approach and modalities for implementation. Given the breadth of the project, this workshop may be divided into separate sessions for technical-level and high-level participants. • One state-level capacity building workshop to support the assessment of CRVS inequalities (3 days) Focus area for the workshop to be identified based on state capacity needs to support implementation of a CRVS inequality assessment. Potential topics include techniques to assess registration completeness by population subgroup; direct and indirect demographic estimation methods (e.g., death distribution methods, reverse survival methods, life table analysis, Brass and other indirect methods using survey/census data); and methodologies and tools to assess the completeness and quality of cause-of-death. Final topics will be determined in consultation with the Rajasthan’s DES, based on the agreed priorities and capacity needs. • Validation and dissemination workshop – CRVS inequality assessment (1 day and 0.5 day) o One-day validation workshop to validate the results of the inequality assessment o Half-day dissemination workshop to present findings of the inequality assessment and their policy implications, with active engagement of policymakers and other relevant stakeholders • ‘As-Is’ workshop for CRVS Business Process Improvement (2 days) o Documenting and validating current birth/death registration processes in Rajasthan o Analysis of business CRVS business processes, to identify performance issues, bottlenecks and their root causes • ‘As-desired’ workshop for CRVS Business Process Improvement (2 days) o Identifying redesign ideas (improvements) for ‘as-desired’ birth/death registration processes with a stronger User/community interface • Developing key recommendations and prioritization CRVS inequality assessments and business process improvement should be an iterative and collaborative process. Although the DES will take the lead in the implementation of the project at the state level, extensive support will be provided by the ESCAP Statistics Division, and UNICEF India with support from a Senior Advisor located in India.
Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been providing sustained technical assistance to its member States for the implementation of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific. This framework was adopted alongside the Ministerial Declaration to “Get Every One in the Picture” and the proclamation of the Asian and Pacific CRVS Decade (2015–2024) at the Ministerial Conference in 2014. During the Third Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific in June 2025, member States agreed to extend the CRVS Decade to 2030; recognizing the significant progress made to date, while emphasizing the need to address remaining gaps and the unfinished agenda of the Decade. This extension aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and reflects a renewed commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind and that every individual in the region is counted, protected, and visible through resilient and inclusive CRVS systems. This Conference culminated with the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration on a “Decade of Action for Inclusive and Resilient Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific”. According to the 2025 Report on “Progress Made on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific”, many countries in the region have made notable strides toward realizing universal and responsive CRVS systems. However, more needs to be done to ensure that every vital event is counted, particularly in hard-to-reach and remote areas, and among marginalized populations and people in vulnerable situations, who continue to face significant barriers to civil registration. Within this regional mandate, ESCAP is supporting countries to identify and address systemic gaps in CRVS through both inequality assessments and business process improvement initiatives. ESCAP has supported numerous member States to conduct disaggregated analyses of birth and death registration data to identify populations being left behind, informing targeted and cost-effective interventions. In parallel, ESCAP has led and supported several member States to implement comprehensive CRVS business process improvement activities, applying the CRVS Systems Improvement Framework to map existing processes, identify operational bottlenecks from both service-provider and client perspectives, and support national stakeholders to design streamlined (‘As-Desired’) processes aligned with legislative reform, digital transformation, and interoperability objectives. This combined analytical and process-driven approach enables countries to move beyond broad-based reforms toward evidence-based, inclusive, and sustainable CRVS system strengthening. Rajasthan has made significant advances in strengthening its Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system, with digital coverage of birth, death, and marriage registration. The strong Digital Public Infrastructure positions the state among the more advanced CRVS ecosystems in India. The backbone of the civil registration system in Rajasthan is a digital registration portal known as ‘Pehchan’ (meaning identity)’, which since its inception in 2014 has been instrumental in carrying out over 20 million birth registrations, 5 million death registrations and nearly 2 million marriage registrations in the State. However, despite technological progress, completeness, coverage, and quality of civil registration remain important challenges. For instance, despite registering over 90% of births over the last decade, timely birth registration (within 21 days) in Rajasthan continues to fluctuate between 50 and 80%. Certain birth and death events, especially home births, neonatal deaths, deaths among elderly women and marginalized communities, and events occurring in remote, rural and tribal blocks, continue to be under-reported. Evidence suggests that Lower uptake by Marginalised and excluded communities is a result of not just structural barriers such as distance, access, and cost etc; but also due to behavioural barriers such as low trust, avoidance, a scarcity mindset and often friction due to traditionally experienced stigma and discrimination, among other things. Delayed registration, inadequate reporting of causes of death, and variability in data quality between urban and rural areas further limit the potential of Rajasthan’s CRVS system to fully support rights-based entitlements, evidence-based planning, and lifecycle-based social protection. Against this backdrop, ESCAP and UNICEF will be jointly extending technical support to the Government of Rajasthan, India to strengthen its CRVS system through an integrated package of support combining: • CRVS inequality assessment (IA) to identify population groups that are under-registered or inconsistently captured; and • Business process Improvement (BPI) to map, analyse, and redesign CRVS workflows to improve system performance, efficiency, and inclusiveness ESCAP seeks to engage a national consultant to serve as the primary technical focal point in Rajasthan, supporting implementation of these activities in close collaboration with the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Government of Rajasthan. The consultant will be jointly reporting to ESCAP and UNICEF India.
Qualifications/special skills
Bachelor’s degree in Demography, Statistics, Social Sciences or related fields is required. Advanced degree in Demography, Statistics or related fields will be an advantage. - At least three years of experience in providing technical assistance to strengthen national data systems (such as CRVS systems), including support to statistical production, administrative systems, or related institutional frameworks - At least 2 years of experience in official statistics, preferably with demonstrated experience in demographic analysis is desirable - Understanding of official statistics in the Asia-Pacific region - Working experience with a national statistical office in the Asia-Pacific region is desirable - Strong understanding of civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems and other data sources for estimating vital statistics - Demographic modelling and estimation skills, specifically in indirect techniques for demographic estimation - Strong drafting skills, including the ability to summarize technical material, conceptualize ideas and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way - Excellent coordination, planning, communication and organizational skills
