Bangladesh embarks on modernising its birth and death registration services

Bangladesh has taken another important step towards more citizen-centred digital public services by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to modernise the country’s birth and death registration system.

The Memorandum was signed by Dr Abu Nasar Mohammad Abdullah, Registrar General of Birth and Death Registration, Md Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Registrar General; Piret Kuhlbars, Team Leader at the e-Governance Academy; and Arsen Stepanyan, Team Leader at the British Council.

The Memorandum brings together the Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration (BDRIS) under the Local Government Division, the e-Governance Academy (eGA) and the British Council as the implementers of the European Union-funded project “E-ffecive e-governance”, to improve how citizens register births and deaths and access these essential public services.

The cooperation will begin with reviewing and improving the existing business processes, followed by the development of a renewed digital system, supporting its procurement and implementation, and conducting awareness-raising activities among officials and citizens. Throughout the process, eGA and the British Council will work closely with the ICT Division.

“The signing of this MoU marks a major milestone in promoting inclusive and efficient birth and death registration as part of digital public services aligned with national and EU development priorities,” said Nahid Sultana Mallik, Executive Director and Project Director at the Bangladesh Computer Council of the ICT Division, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology.

Making essential public services easier for citizens

Birth and death registration is one of the most fundamental public services. It provides people with legal identity, enables access to education, healthcare, and social protection, and supports effective public administration.

Through this partnership, the registration service will be redesigned to become simpler, more efficient, and more accessible for more than 170 million citizens while strengthening the institutions responsible for delivering it.

As part of the cooperation, the e-Governance Academy will:

• assess the current registration system and identify practical digital improvements;
• define the functional and technical requirements for a renewed digital solution;
• support procurement preparation and phased testing of the new system; and
• provide technical assistance, service design expertise, and strategic advisory support.

The British Council will focus on improving the user experience by:

• making the BDRIS website and online services simpler and mobile-friendly;
• supporting registrars, authorised users and Union Digital Centres with practical guidance; and
• raising citizen awareness and digital skills in three pilot districts.

Funded by the European Union under the Global Gateway initiative, the project “E-ffective e-governance” supports Bangladesh in building a more transparent, efficient, and inclusive digital government by strengthening interoperability, institutional capacity, and citizen-centred public services. The project is implemented by the e-Governance Academy and the British Council in close collaboration with the ICT Division and the Cabinet Division of the Government of Bangladesh from 2024 to 2028.