II. Context and justification Fulfilling human rights and dealing with inequalities and discrimination is a basic function of the civil registration system. Individual identity records and documents generated from the system help to fulfil the first fundamental human right that every child is entitled to upon birth, that is, the right to a name and an identity, from which other human and civil rights are found. The recognition of the existence of persons by their Governments and the ability of individuals to transact with each other and with the State through legal identity documents are fundamental attributes of good governance. (Only States that have complete civil registration systems are aware of this.) Civil registrations are the basis for establishing valid electoral rolls, secure national identification systems and secure cross-border movements, all of which constitute the pillars of constructing peaceful and secure societies. The Millennium Development Goals framework led to a global acknowledgement of the need for data and information that would allow the monitoring and reporting of progress against various goals and indicators at short-term frequencies and at the lowest administrative levels of Government. The Millennium Development Goals era brought a global awakening of the value of strong statistical systems, which was reiterated in the subsequent 2030 Agenda and, for the African continent, the common African position on the 2030 Agenda and the continental umbrella development, Agenda 2063. In Africa, the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa, jointly developed by African heads of national statistics offices, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and ECA,6 provides the African statistics system with a robust framework for providing harmonized and quality statistics for the design and implementation and monitoring and evaluation of Africa’s development programmes. This instrument provides clear definitions of what, when and how to measure in the context of advancing the continent’s development priorities. The Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa identifies a minimum statistical programme that every country has to carry out in order to meet data needs for informing Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda. The four identified fundamental data sources for each statistical dimension are the following: (a) Censuses, which mainly include population and housing censuses, an agriculture census and an economic census: (b) surveys; Surveys, which mainly include household-based surveys and establishment-based (c) ministries; Administrative records, primarily civil registrations, maintained in government (d) Secondary data sources, which mainly exist in the private sector and other domains needed to supplement official statistics. 6 The African Union Commission and ECA adopted the Strategy at their third Joint Conference of Ministers in 2010. The Strategy was subsequently adopted by the Assembly of the African Union. 3