THE SCOPE AND REACH OF THE CESF When the CESF was launched in June 2020, Funds totalling USD 155,000 had been pledged by the Oak Foundation, Dunn Family Charitable Foundation and the American Jewish World Service. Through concerted fundraising, a total of EUR 445,000 was raised. Additionally, ISI contributed EUR 55,000 of its institutional funds to administer the CESF. As a crisis response instrument, the Fund was set up as a time-bound operation. It was initially envisaged to operate until the end of 2021, with an interim review in early 2021. As it became evident that the pandemic would continue to have an ongoing impact, the operational period of the Fund was extended until December 2022, with a rigorous evaluation and lessons learnt process built into the wrap-up process. 18 groups received EUR 356,000 to implement projects in 17 countries, addressing the COVID-19 impact on stateless people’s right to nationality, documentation and legal status, right to health, equality and non-discrimination, civil and political rights and socio-economic rights through various strategies including: • • • • • • Community outreach in the form of awareness raising through interviews, focus groups, podcasts, radio programmes, documentaries etc. Paralegal support to navigate access to documentation and COVID-19 relief measures. Research and mapping to collect data on stateless communities, human rights abuses and the impact of COVID-19. Advocacy for inclusion of stateless people in COVID-19 relief efforts and other services. Advocacy for law and policy change to address structural discrimination and exclusion. Emergency humanitarian support as an interim relief measure. Bangladesh Dominican Republic India Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lebanon Malaysia Montenegro Myanmar Nepal North Macedonia Pakistan Tajikistan United States Uzbekistan The collective work of the CESF Consortium delivered invaluable comparative insights into the way COVID-19 disproportionately impacted stateless communities and those whose nationality is at risk. CESF members documented how existing structural discrimination heightened and came to light as a result of the pandemic, how state responses either directly or indirectly discriminated against the stateless and how the every-day deprivations that stateless people face, now had life and death implications. 10