ADDRESSING STATELESSNESS THROUGH THE RULE OF LAW Box 5: Community paralegals and stateless communities in Kenya In implementing its pilot Securing Citizenship Rights programme, the global civil society organization Namati has pioneered a model of mobilising community paralegals from historically stateless communities to help people acquire and use identity documents and monitor implementation of relevant laws. Paralegals are not lawyers but receive training and support, enabling them to assist people in understanding documentation requirements and navigating bureaucracy. In Kenya, for example, the programme supported members of the Nubian community to assert their right to Kenyan citizenship. Paralegals from the Nubian community helped other members of their group to obtain birth certificates, national ID cards, and passports in accordance with legal procedures.31 © Wanja Munaita, UNHCR, 2014: Thomas Nguli, spokesperson for the Makonde community, has his fingerprints taken during the launch of the naturalisation and registration process that saw the once stateless ethnic group finally given Kenyan nationality and rights. 10