Systematic registration of vital and civil events - including birth, death, causes of death, marriage, and divorce - is critical for improving maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. Integrated into existing health information systems, these statistics become valuable evidence, giving policymakers and practitioners the knowledge they need to review the circumstances leading to each maternal and child death, identify preventable factors, and take action where needed. However, such crucial information systems are lacking in many countries. It is estimated that one-third of the world's births and two-thirds of the world's deaths are not registered or are incorrectly certified. Although global norms, standards, tools, and promising practices exist, they are not readily accessible to, and useable by, those who need them most. Funded by Global Affairs Canada and IDRC, and housed at IDRC, the Centre of Excellence for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems will link knowledge seekers with information, tools, and expertise to facilitate the development and implementation of integrated CRVS systems. The Centre of Excellence will coordinate with existing expert groups to generate, consolidate, and disseminate information by developing an open-access, electronic platform to make key resources readily accessible. It will facilitate the exchange of good practices and capacity strengthening, and will play an important role in brokering technical assistance for countries needing more direct support. The Centre of Excellence will work closely with the Global Financing Facility in support of the Every Woman Every Child initiative to enable the development and implementation of CRVS systems plans as part of country-led investment cases for financing by the Global Financing Facility. The communications component of the project will allow the Centre of Excellence to carry out strategic communications and knowledge sharing activities that will help support its vision to be a globally recognized go-to place for resources and expertise for the development of evidence-based, effective, and integrated CRVS systems and operations. Communication activities will ensure broad dissemination and use of products collected, supported, and produced by the Centre of Excellence. Details will be elaborated in a Communications Strategy.