UN Resident Coordinator Marc-André Franche has confirmed that Sri Lanka’s “Unified Civil Registry” project — led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) — is underway, with system mapping, capacity building and baseline surveys already completed.
The project aims to digitalise the country’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system, strengthen regional administration and local government institutions, and fast-track electoral reform. Franche said the project would be completed by November 2027.
He added that a mobile-clinics programme implemented by UNDP in support of the Registrar General’s Department had received international appreciation, including at UN Headquarters in New York.
The announcement followed a meeting between Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Professor Chandana Abayarathne and Franche, who, with UN officials, discussed ways to bring the project to a successful conclusion at the Ministry’s premises at Independence Square, Colombo.
A modern CRVS system underpins citizen identity, social-protection eligibility, electoral rolls and public-health planning. The Registrar General’s Department recently launched a trilingual 1930 call centre to handle public registration queries, while GovPay was rolled out to 130 local government bodies in mid-May as part of the wider digital-government push.
The CRVS overhaul also dovetails with several electoral-reform tracks — including the committee report on overseas voting handed to the Minister — by promising a single, authoritative source of truth on Sri Lanka’s resident and voter population.
Source: The Island.
