Our story

OpenCRVS was first imagined seven years ago, by the Digital Birth Registration Team at Plan International.

Since then, we've evolved into a small but passionate team of people who care deeply about the quality of our product and its implementation, knowing that it will profoundly affect people’s lives.

Here's a brief summary of how we got to where we are now. With so much more to achieve, we're always looking forward in the continuation of our journey with you.

2015
Smart ICT Investment for CRVS A Global Business Case
A roadmap to achieving universal civil registration through the use of ICT is set out, including the development of an open-source solution for CRVS

2016
Digital Birth Registration Research & Programming at Plan International
Existing digital CRVS software is:

• Subject to vendor lock in
• Inaccessible in low resource settings
• Difficult to use and administer
• Rarely interoperable with wider eGov systems

2017
OpenCRVS Prototype developed & demonstrated globally
Proposed eCRVS functionality is widely validated by civil registration leaders

2018
Bangladesh Proof of Concept
Product enables community-based registration and receives excellent user feedback

2019
Zambia Proof of Concept & demo at COM5
Product configured for African context and Ministers responsible for CRVS in Africa call for a “common eCRVS solution” to support digitisation efforts on the continent

2020
Bangladesh Pilot
OpenCRVS proves considerable service improvement for birth registration services in rural and urban locations

June 2021
Niue Proof of Concept
OpenCRVS configured and tested in registration office and health facility

Nov 2021
Multi-year funding secured to establish permanent home for OpenCRVS
NORAD, Plan International Australia and Vital Strategies make commitment to the only Digital Public Good for CRVS

June 2022
Release 1 made publicly available
OpenCRVS can now be configured within just 1 week, making digital civil registration more accessible than ever before