The Registrar General's Department (RGD) is undergoing a transformation with a number of initiatives that has helped to improve service delivery and reduce the number of customer complaints.

The entity, responsible for storing records of birth, marriage, stillbirth and death in Jamaica, began its service enhancement plan in 1999 when it became an executive agency of the government.

A recent survey undertaken by the agency indicates a 95 per cent customer service satisfaction. It also revealed that 87 per cent of the respondents agreed that customer service representatives gave accurate and clear information to the public, while 80 percent said that the RGD staff members were courteous and pleasant.

The increased use of technology has gone a far way in improving service delivery at its head office located at Twickenham Park, St Catherine, and nine regional offices across the island.

Persons are able to make online application and payment for services such as birth, death and marriage certificates as well as genealogical research, in the comfort of their homes and offices. This is a marked difference from 10 years ago when both local and international customers could only submit applications by visiting an RGD office or by mail.

Customers welcomed the move and statistics show that between 2008 and 2015, the RGD received a total of 514, 170 online applications.

The agency also introduced an Application Tracking System in April 2003, which allowed the client to track the status of an application from submission through production and delivery.

Today, certificates can be delivered within 24 hours or three days of application using the express service at the RGD, compared to previous years when there were crowds, long lines and touts promising quicker service.

Online services

Production manager at the RGD, Desmond Davis, is encouraging persons to use the online services.

"It would make it a lot easier for the other persons who we have to deal with, like those who are coming in with a late entry of name and a correction of error or a late registration," he said.

There is also the introduction of the 'Quick Print' application developed for repeat customers requesting birth, marriage and death certificates.

Davis explained that if the application was made for certificates that have been issued before and the information on the system is correct, these documents are easily retrievable and can be generated quickly within the stipulated delivery time.

Apart from the online access, the agency now has a Mobile Customer Service Unit aimed at taking the RGD's services to persons who are unable to visit its offices, especially those in rural Jamaica.

When the unit goes out, customers can apply for birth, death and marriage certificates and receive their particulars (status), correction of error and re-registration.

The RGD has also developed a weekly schedule for its outreach programme, which targets senior citizens and prenatal clinics.

In addition, it has instituted the Free First Birth Certificate, aimed at having all children named and fully registered, as another major initiative.

"If you register your child and name your child within the birthing institution, then you are given a free copy of the birth certificate," Davis explains. He added that this was implemented to ensure that registrations are done and the father's particulars added to the certificate

In 2007, the agency introduced bedside registration in 32 birthing centres islandwide. Prior to this, approximately 50 per cent of fathers attended the registration to add their particulars. As at March 2014, bedside registration reached 98 per cent for children born in birthing centres.