A/HRC/33/22 outlined above, has been crucial to strengthening global norms on the importance of the right to legal identity and to birth registration, as well as their eventual inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goal targets and indicators framework.36 C. Partnership activities 47. United Nations, regional and civil society partners have made important contributions to strengthen birth registration and vital statistics, taking into account human rights considerations, both in collaboration with and independently of OHCHR. The United Nations Statistics Division, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) undertake extensive activities related to the development of civil registration and vital statistics worldwide. These include a range of global, regional and national activities, for example, in the form of knowledge management, the development of standards and methods, monitoring and technical reports on the status of civil registration and vital statistics, and expert group meetings and workshops. UNICEF carries out comprehensive country programmes to support universal birth registration, with a focus on strengthening coverage of the most vulnerable and marginalized children. It works extensively with Governments in this regard to improve legal frameworks, enhance interministerial cooperation, build human capacity and infrastructure, and encourage innovation and development of information and communications technologies for improved civil registration and vital statistics. 48. Working in partnership with international and regional organizations through the Global Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Group, United Nations agencies seek to strengthen international cooperation and alliances for civil registration and vital statistics development in recognition of their value to human rights, good governance, and development planning, monitoring and evaluation. 37 Among various activities in this regard, United Nations agencies are working in collaboration with partner countries and stakeholders on the Global Financing Facility to accelerate progress in maternal and child health, which specifically addresses the implementation of civil registration, including through intersectoral and inter-agency contributions to regional initiatives. Key regional initiatives have included the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, and the Regional Strategic Plan for the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific. These initiatives have facilitated the engagement of a broad range of stakeholders in the development pf civil registration and vital statistics, in partnership with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Economic Commission for Africa. 49. Alongside OHCHR, UNICEF, UNFPA and other agencies have made important contributions to the work of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators in developing indicators for measuring progress on Sustainable Development Goal target 16.9, on legal identity through birth registration. Going forward, UNICEF will lead the compilation of data for monitoring the associated indicator 16.9.1,38 and will continue to maintain a global database on birth registration for children under 5, using both civil registration and vital statistics and household survey data. 50. A number of non-governmental organizations are also undertaking valuable initiatives as part of global efforts to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics. As one 36 37 38 16 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/crvs/globalcrvs.html. Proportion of children under the age of 5 whose births are reported as being registered with the relevant national civil authorities.