GETTING STARTED Who is Neha and what is this teaching guide about? This teaching guide was created to accompany the carefully crafted children’s story The Girl Who Lost Her Country, which tells the story of Neha, a girl without a nationality1, who travels the world to learn about the lives of different children and how they are impacted by statelessness. Neha is now a young woman with Nepalese citizenship, but she previously was a girl without a country. As a child, Neha did not have Nepalese citizenship since her mother, under Nepalese law, was not able to pass on her Nepalese citizenship to her daughter. The Girl Who Lost Her Country is inspired by Neha’s real story and the story of other children who are stateless. With a mix of multi-disciplinary, interactive, enjoyable, memorable, and creative activities, this teaching guide is designed to teach children about Borders & Belonging (Theme 1) and about Citizenship & Rights (Theme 2), by exploring the causes and impact of statelessness, looking at real-life examples from around the world. Why teach about statelessness? When having a nationality is taken for granted, it is difficult to picture what its absence looks like. But in a globalised world, identity and belonging can be complex. Millions of people around the world today are denied a nationality: they are stateless. As a result, they may have difficulty accessing basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. By teaching about statelessness, we are raising awareness for the issue, giving learners the opportunity to understand the concept and take action to support those who are stateless by applying what they learn beyond the classroom. We also urge learners to explore their own identity, contribute responsibly to their community and think critically about the world and their place in it. Using global contexts, learners become internationally minded and aware of our interconnectedness. We also hope to encourage and promote empathy and understanding for all people, regardless of their nationality status or formal belonging. Let's learn about statelessness so we can act together to help stateless people! We are grateful that you are joining us and working with us to achieve these goals. Learning goals The overall goal of this guide is to strengthen learners’ understanding of the world around them, their identity and relationships with others, the rights they hold and what can be done to claim them. This is done by exploring the concepts of borders, identity, belonging, citizenship, and statelessness. After completing the activities in this guide, learners will also: 1. Gain knowledge and be in a position to discuss the issue of statelessness and describe its causes and impact in human rights terms. 2. Understand the meaning and importance of the right of every child to a nationality and be able to evaluate their own position in the world and in their community. 3. Gain knowledge about actions against statelessness being taken today and be able to join in advocating for the right to nationality for everyone. 1 The terms nationality and citizenship are used interchangeably. See also: Appendix I: Glossary of Key Terms. 4