of those who were born there did not have their births registered and lost all traces of their ancestry since they never returned, hence rendering them stateless (UNHCR Kenya 2017).15 10.  The Shona preregistration and Socioeconomic Survey (SES) serve the continued efforts to resolve statelessness in Kenya, while adding new evidence on the socioeconomic conditions of stateless persons that is key for evidence-based policy planning and programming.16 While two previous studies on the Makonde and Pemba communities provide information on the number and characteristics of stateless communities, little information is available on the Shona.17 The Makonde study led to the registration of the Makonde as Kenyans in 2016; however, it provided few insights on their socioeconomic conditions. This left a knowledge gap on the relationship between statelessness and well-being, which is essential for evidence-based policy interventions.18 With the aim of contributing to filling this gap, in collaboration with the Department of Immigration Services (DIS) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) of the GoK, UNHCR Kenya, with technical support from the World Bank, conducted a preregistration exercise and socioeconomic survey for the Shona community living in Nairobi and Kiambu counties between May and July 2019. While the objective of the registration was for the GoK to prepare the application for citizenship of qualifying members,19 the SES was carried out to understand the socioeconomic conditions of the Shona community compared to those of nationals. 11. The Shona SES provides comparable socioeconomic profiles for the Shona community and nationals while contributing toward informing a targeted response to address the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.20 As part of the socioeconomic household survey series to understand the living conditions of refugees and persons of concern to the UNHCR in Kenya, the Shona SES provides a comprehensive snapshot of the economic lives of the Shona community and the broader national population. The SES presented here compares the living conditions of the Shona community residing in Nairobi and Kiambu counties to the conditions of Kenyan nationals in such counties, as well as to the national urban average (Box 1). Thus, by providing one of the first comparative socioeconomic profiles of nationals and stateless persons, it enables the design of evidence-­informed programming and development policy. The SES links its findings to the results of the first wave of the Kenya COVID-19 Rapid Response Phone Surveys (RRPS) (Box 2). 15 UNHCR became aware of the Shona community in 2016 through several news reports and meetings with the Shona community leaders. 16 https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/makonde-in-kenya/ 17 UNHCR (2016a, 2016b). 18 Limited information is available on planned socioeconomic surveys with representative samples. Nevertheless, thanks to the #IBelong Campaign and to the collaborative work of diverse stakeholders, further quantitative research is expected to be carried out. 19 This included documenting migration history, residence in Kenya, family circumstances, and available documentation. 20 The UNHCR carried out a preregistration. 4  Understanding the Socioeconomic Conditions of the Stateless Shona Community in Kenya 10183_Shona Report.indd 4 12/14/20 2:56 PM