EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I productive relationship-building with government and non-governmental partners in particular; and spotting opportunities for public and policy advocacy on ending statelessness. 70. The vast majority of Operations cover statelessness within the wider remit of a Protection Officer. However, there is no clear corporate data on the amount of staff time dedicated to working on statelessness at the country level. Data from the evaluation survey shown in Figures 7 and 8, shows substantial majorities of Protection Officers and External Relations staff reported spending less than 25 percent of their time on statelessness and around 80 percent of Country Representatives and Heads of Sub Offices spent less than 15 percent of their time on statelessness. Survey data did not differ significantly by region, except for the MENA region where the proportion of Country Representatives, Protection Officers and External Relations Staff who stated that they spent no time at all on statelessness was higher than in other regions. Survey data was broadly in line with comments from internal key informants. A number of staff said they found it difficult to dedicate time to statelessness given other priorities and a general scarcity of resources. There was also a lack of confidence about knowing who to engage with and how to communicate effectively on statelessness in the case of External Relations staff. “The lack of human resources has limited the possibility to expand our work on statelessness.” “It’s good to have dedicated statelessness staff. You have that here and it really helps to remind us to keep a focus on statelessness. We’re reminded of annual events coming up and opportunities to follow-up on. Without that, statelessness often gets lost” - Key informant interviews “We have dedicated staff members who, among their duties related to refugee protection, also work on statelessness matters. However, the current capacity (human resources, skills, knowledge) has to be strengthened to ensure availability of a ‘full-time statelessness’ team.” - Survey respondent Figure 7 – Estimated time spent on statelessness by external relations and protection staff 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No time sp ent Less tha n 25% 25% to 50 % 50% to 75 % External Relations Officers (n=18) 75% to 10 0% 100% Protection Officers (n=340) Figure 8 – Estimated time spent on statelessness by Country Representatives and Heads of Sub-Offices 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No time spent Less than 5% 5 to 1 5% Country Repre sentat ive s (n=65) 15 to 25% More than 25% Head of Sub Office (n=31) 71. While it is not realistic in the current resource environment to envisage dedicated Statelessness Officers in all Country Operations, nor is it necessarily desirable in contexts where there are few stateless persons and a low risk of increasing statelessness, there are clear benefits to ring-fencing adequate 20 UNHCR / May, 2021