EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I stateless, formerly stateless, and people at risk of statelessness by giving voice to their rights and working to ensure obstacles to their recognition as equal members of society are addressed. While laudable, UNHCR has struggled to meet statelessness targets for all but one key statelessness indicator within its Results Framework. There are serious limitations within the RBM system for measuring and reporting on UNHCR’s success in achieving planned statelessness results. In particular, lack of data on stateless populations automatically creates inaccuracies in estimating a number of indicators - for example, the percentage of stateless persons granted nationality. Despite challenges in estimating the total numbers of stateless, and the lack of systematic evidence on UNHCRs specific contribution to alleviating specific underlying causes of statelessness, key informants, survey respondents and documents reviewed suggest that most UNHCR-led statelessness initiatives have been highly relevant and appropriate, taking into account key drivers of statelessness and contextual factors. However, the evaluation found that there is scope for country-level strategies to shift to longer-term approaches and to move beyond legal and administrative causes of statelessness and to take other social, economic and cultural drivers and impacts of statelessness more systematically into account. Gaps in some of these areas suggest that other UN and non-UN organizations (including in particular civil society organizations who work in close proximity with stateless persons) could usefully play a more important role in preventing and ending statelessness. At the global level, UNHCR has effectively convened and mobilized States to increase commitment to ending statelessness through events such as the 2011 Ministerial Intergovernmental Event, the 2014 Global Forum on Statelessness at Tilburg University and the 2019 HLS and preparatory meetings. At a regional level UNHCR has worked to further operationalize government commitments to ending statelessness by contributing to, and in some cases facilitating, dialogues among States and other interested parties, largely based on the efforts of regional statelessness officers. In addition to increasing knowledge and awareness, such efforts have resulted in specific regional treaties, agreements and plans of action with obligations for Member States. The evaluation found that UNHCR has established a wide range of partnerships at various levels, which have been critical to the progress achieved. Some implementing partners shared the impression that UNHCR engagement has been opportunistic, time-limited and project based and that sustaining their involvement once partnership agreements and funding have expired is not easy. At the same time, CSOs and NGOs value the relationships UNHCR has with governments and the direct access this gives them, which allows UNHCR to link partners to key policy advocacy efforts. Numerous bilateral global partnerships have added value, with other UN agencies, academic institutions, and governments. The Geneva-based Friends of the Campaign to End Statelessness is a good example of engaging Member States to align and exert diplomatic influence to support the campaign. The longstanding partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was also viewed as particularly important in disseminating information to parliamentarians around the world and engaging them in discussions on promising practices. However, overarching coalition building and UN system-wide cooperation have not been fully maximized. Institutional Effectiveness Some internal and external key informants noted that UNHCR’s focus on statelessness has diminished as attention has shifted to refugee crises, the GRF, partnership with the World Bank and more recently COVID19. Key informants described a strongly siloed culture where protection and operations staff do not always interact and coordinate on a regular basis, with statelessness often seen as a technical and legal issue to be handled solely by protection staff. Between 2001 and 2014 UNHCR made significant strides towards institutionalizing and mainstreaming its statelessness mandate through the creation of the Statelessness Section, introduction of regional statelessness officer positions, addition of the statelessness surge capacity sub-roster, adoption of the 2010 Strategy on UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness, and the introduction of the dedicated budget and planning pillar for statelessness work. Since the launch of the campaign, statelessness tools and resources to support planning have continued to increase and improve, with the introduction of the GAP Map, the Global Strategy and Implementation Plan (GSIP), and Good Practice papers. Senior leadership attention to and support for work on statelessness, while somewhat inconsistent over time and geography, was frequently cited by key informants as playing a critical role in mainstreaming and integration at a global level, though with the recent regionalization / decentralization changes some iv UNHCR / May, 2021