Forewords Around the world, millions of people are stateless, as they do not hold the nationality of any country. Their precise number is not known due to lack of official data, but UNHCR estimates that there are 4.2 million or more globally. In Kenya, there are about 18,500 stateless people. While the likely negative impact of statelessness on the socioeconomic status of affected populations can be intuitively understood, there is an urgent need to address the existing data gap in order to measure the disparities between those with and those without a nationality. High-quality disaggregated socioeconomic data will inform government policy making and monitoring in this area. Development actors also need better information about the impact of statelessness in order to prioritize it appropriately. This new study on the stateless Shona population, an ethnic group with origins in present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia that has been present in Kenya for multiple generations, is a groundbreaking first step in this regard. The study was conducted by UNHCR and the World Bank, in collaboration with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and is aligned with the broader efforts of the World BankUNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement to expand the collection of socioeconomic data on affected populations and host communities. It reveals disparities in terms of the Shona community’s household characteristics, housing conditions, education, employment, and consumption and expenditure, in comparison with Kenyan nationals living in the same areas. Some of the disparities include: • The poverty rate among the Shona is 24 percent higher than in the urban Kenyan population. • Access to education is lower for the Shona than for Kenyan nationals, a situation that threatens human capital development and economic growth. • The lack of citizenship and identity documents hinders the Shona from securing formal jobs and leaves them with no option other than to engage in informal employment to survive. Kenya has taken important steps toward resolving the issue of statelessness in the country. In 2019, at a high-level event on statelessness co-organized by the Government of Kenya, the Executive Secretariat of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, and UNHCR, the government pledged to recognize the Shona as Kenyan citizens. The data in this study, prior to citizenship, are thus timely, as development gains due to acquisition of nationality may be observed in the near future. Sustainable development can only be achieved if all people have a chance to fulfil their potential without any barriers. It is therefore crucial that the international community steps up collective efforts to promote inclusive economic growth, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), that meets the needs of both stateless people and nationals and ensures that no one will be left behind. Fathiaa Abdalla Representative, UNHCR Kenya viii 10183_Shona Report.indd 8 12/14/20 2:56 PM