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Jamaican Registrar General

The Jamaican Registrar Generals Department or the Jamaican RGD supports national planning and provides evidence of every birth, stillbirth and death of every Jamaican citizen. The y monitor every Jamaican adoption and Jamaican marriage and provides a secure repository for Jamaican public records. The Jamaican RGD seeks to become one of the most efficient and effective Jamaican agencies. The Jamaican RGD maintains an island wide network of Local District Jamaican Registrar and Jamaican Marriage Officers to ensure accurate and timely registration of all vital events. They also ensure that the Jamaican public is fully informed of registration procedures to enable them to promptly and accurately give notice of all vital events to effect registration. The Jamaican RGD provides a central national facility for effective authentication and safekeeping of public records so that there is a secure repository for all data, concerning the registration and recording of vital events (including adoptions, naturalizations and deed polls).

The Jamaican RGD provides access to certified copies of Jamaican public documents to customers, in a timely fashion, on the payment of the appropriate fees with timely statistics and analyses, categorized according to international standards, to demographic planning by Jamaican Government. The Jamaican

RGD plays a key role in national development as it is the only organization in Jamaica which is responsible for registering Jamaican births, still births, Jamaican marriages and Jamaican deaths, also known as vital events. The Jamaican RGD also classifies diseases as indicated on the Medical Certificate of the cause of death (MCCD). In addition the Jamaican RGD keeps safe important Jamaican historical and Jamaican public documents.

Its corporate office and main operating locations is at Twickenham Park, St. Catherine. On July 15, 1998 The Jamaican RGD regionalized its customer service operations by establishing a Western Office at 20 Market Street, Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica. Later that same year, on December 15, RGD open office. It is located in Mandeville, Jamaica on the First Floor of the Mandeville Post Office Building, South Race Course Road, Mandeville. A third regional office was established on July 15, 1999 in St. Ann, Jamaica at the St. Ann’s Bay Post Office Building, 9 Main Street. The Jamaican RGD was accorded Executive Agency status on April 1, 1999. The Jamaican Agency is among the four pilot entities which became Executive Agencies under the Public Sector Modernization Project (PSMP).

Compulsory registration in Jamaica began in 1878. Prior to this all registers containing transcripts of Jamaica birth, baptisms, marriages and deaths were kept by the Church of England and these dated back to 1664. The building which housed the Jamaican Registrar General’s Department in Spanish Town, was built in the 17^th century. The Rodney Memorial Buildings and Colonnade in Jamaica was erected to commemorate the victory of British Admiral Lory Rodney over the French at the Battle of the Saints in 1782. The Jamaican RGD does not register divorces. The Jamaican RGDc relocated in July 1996, began operations from the new location  as an Executive Agency since April 1, 1999

A Jamaican Executive Agency is a Jamaican government entity which focuses primarily on the delivery of services with a results-oriented approach. Financial and Human Resources Management Authority are delegated to the Chief Executive Officer and he/she is held accountable for achieving stated results economically, and effectively. The CEO is required to meet performance target which are agreed with the respective portfolio Jamaican Minister. The Jamaican Executive Agency concept was introduced in Britain in the 1980’s under the Thatcher regime. Similar models have been established in New Zealand and Canada. RGD is among the first four entities in Jamaica and the English speaking Caribbean to be accorded this status.

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