Our community newsletter puts a spotlight on people who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to support CRVS programmes in Asia and the Pacific, raise awareness of CRVS issues or lead CRVS improvement efforts in their home country or in the region.  This month, we would like to dedicate this issue of Insight to Meli Nadakuca.

What is your current title and role?

Presently, I am the Senior Statistician, Vital Statistics, Demography & GIS section of the Social Statistics Division at the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBoS). My key role is to manage the production of demographic indicators and its dissemination and provide support to socio-economic policy formulation.

I have been a member of the Fiji CRVS Committee since 2018, which is when the National CRVS Action Plan was developed to outline priority actions that need to be achieved in order to address the CRVS system weaknesses in Fiji.  The development of this action plan, highlighted to me, the importance of improving the CRVS system in Fiji, especially to achieve the goals and targets outlined in the Regional Action Framework for CRVS Asia and the Pacific.

Can you please share with us a particular experience which highlighted the importance of CRVS to you?

A particular experience which underscored the importance of CRVS to me was when Fiji conducted an inequality assessment of civil registration which shed light on the completeness of civil registration in Fiji. The assessment highlighted particular population groups in Fiji who were less likely to have their births or deaths registered. To be more specific, the inequality assessment highlighted that ethnicity had the largest impact on both birth and death registration in Fiji and provided evidence to inform policy specific recommendations, to ensure that every Fijian is registered.    

I would like to thank God Almighty for bringing me this far, “Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Secondly, I would like to thank the FBoS management for the opportunity and support given to represent the department in various CRVS activities at national and regional level.

How are you currently involved in CRVS improvements?

As a Senior Statistician at FBoS, I have been involved in various projects which aim to improve CRVS in Fiji, supported by ESCAP and other development partners.  I was the project manager for the CRVS Inequality assessment, the assessment analysis and redesign of CRVS business processes in Fiji and the project on putting data and evidence into action. 

Which advice would you give to others trying to improve CRVS systems?

As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work, and similarly, to improve the CRVS system, it is important to have close collaboration with core stakeholders, via forming an active CRVS committee to oversee the implementation and smooth running of all activities. Given our experience in conducting a civil registration inequality assessment and the assessment, analysis and redesign of CRVS business processes, we would encourage other countries to undertake other such activities, to ensure that we can truly ‘Get Every One in the Picture’.