OpenCRVS within a government systems architecture
How to think about the use of OpenCRVS as an interoperable system within a government's digital landscape
Last updated
How to think about the use of OpenCRVS as an interoperable system within a government's digital landscape
Last updated
OpenCRVS has been designed to be interoperable with other systems so that it can receive and share data in an efficient and secure way. You can find more detailed technical information in the section on . It is important to consider how OpenCRVS will fit within the current digital landscape so that the benefits from interoperability can be fully realised.
In the diagram below you can see a generic view of potential integration points for OpenCRVS with other systems.
At OpenCRVS, we are reimagining the way that civil registration systems work. We see the registration of life events as a foundational component of DPI, contributing to inclusive and equitable service delivery in both the public and private sectors. The Civil Registry acts as a building block of DPI as it provides a country’s single source of legal and trusted life events data. This trusted data underpins the ability of other systems to function effectively, enabling both individual rights and national development.
The DPI landscape distinguishes between two types of infrastructure:
Foundational DPI includes identity, data exchange, and payments systems. These provide common digital rails across all sectors of society, enabling digital inclusion, accountability, and interoperability.
Sectoral DPI refers to digital systems tailored to meet the needs of specific sectors, such as health, education, or—crucially—civil registration. These systems rely on foundational DPI to work at scale, while also generating data and services specific to their domain.
The civil registration system plays a crucial role in enabling foundational DPI by:
Providing Foundational Identity: Civil registration forms the basis for creating unique digital identities for life. Birth registration, for example, typically triggers the creation of a unique identifier within the national ID system, supplying essential biographical data such as name, sex, and date of birth.
Creating Digitally Signed Credentials: Registration processes can produce verifiable credentials, allowing individuals to prove their identity or life events to public and private institutions without relying on physical certificates.
Enabling Access to Government Services: As the legal and trusted source of life events data, civil registration represents a universal data set for delivering essential public services. It helps answer questions such as:
Which families are entitled to a welfare grant? (social protection)
Who should be coming to school this year? (education)
Which children need to be vaccinated? (healthcare)
Generating Population Statistics and Enabling Planning: The system provides a continuous source of accurate and disaggregated demographic data, essential for policymaking, resource allocation, and future planning.
OpenCRVS has the potential to become a true DPI. Realising this potential means adhering to key architectural principles to unlock societal value:
Interoperability: Open standards and specifications are essential to enable secure, efficient data sharing across systems, avoiding fragmentation and silos.
Security and Privacy by Design: Consent management protocols must ensure that personal data is shared safely and only with permission. In a digital context, this enables individuals to control access to their personal data.
Modularity: Maintaining loosely coupled components ensures flexibility and scalability. OpenCRVS can be deployed as a comprehensive civil registration system or as standalone modules (e.g. data validation, certificate generation) integrated into existing ecosystems through open APIs.
As countries strengthen their DPI foundations, a well-architected civil registration system is not only sectorally significant—it becomes foundational in itself, enabling rights, services, and participation for every person, from the moment of birth.
Further examples of potential integration points are available , including interoperability with other DPGs like MOSIP and OpenSPP.
Similar to the way that physical infrastructure like railways and roads drives economic development and innovation, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) provides the open technology standards and systems required to catalyse and enable countries to safely and efficiently deliver economic opportunities and social services in the digital world. We recommend the for further guidance, definitions, and practical resources on this important topic.
