EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I growing dialogue on statelessness and more political will to act, with notable successes in particular countries and regions, as well as at the global level. The GAP has been a useful framework for guiding States, UNHCR and other partners, and its broad scope allows for application in a range of different contexts. Global diplomatic events, such as the 2011 Ministerial Intergovernmental Event and the 2019 HLS have inspired momentum and pledges for future action. Within UNHCR, in the absence of a strong theory of change for ending statelessness, the GSIP has provided a foundation for setting organizational direction. Despite successes, the ambitions of the campaign and targets set within the GAP have proven to be highly aspirational and are unlikely to be achieved by 2024. The challenges of statelessness will continue to remain beyond the lifetime of the Campaign. The most significant progress on granting nationality and mainstreaming and institutionalizing actions to end statelessness was seen in the period leading up to the launch of the campaign. Since then, statelessness tools and resources to support planning have continued to increase and improve, while overall resourcing has not grown. Experience has proved that ending statelessness is a longterm and complex undertaking, which is highly dependent on political will and susceptible to set-backs – including other crises, such as COVID-19 – that can divert attention and either slow or reverse progress. The invisibility of stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness in many places has hampered progress. Gaps in reliable data on stateless persons and the effect that statelessness has on their lives have made it more difficult to communicate and prompt action. More progress has been made to strengthen statelessness data in contexts where there is already political will to address the issue and some degree of public awareness. However, it is precisely in the places where the least is known about statelessness, and where political appetite to discuss and tackle statelessness is lacking, that data is most needed to support UNHCR and partner efforts to communicate and lobby on behalf of stateless persons. The JDC funded effort to develop the IROSS provides a critical opportunity to systematically improve the quality and comparability of national statelessness data. Internal leadership on statelessness has been crucial to successes so far. Country Representatives play the most critical roles of all – as the face of UNHCR with national governments and the most influential decisionmakers when it comes to prioritization of statelessness work. However, the ambitions of the campaign and the organization’s clear mandate for statelessness have not been met with commensurate UNHCR statelessness budgets nor efforts to systematically mainstream statelessness within UNHCR. Leadership on the prioritization for statelessness has been inconsistent, with much greater attention to other priorities such as the GCR. Hesitancy to lobby on behalf of stateless persons in some sensitive contexts has been a risk to UNHCR’s credibility. A short-term, emergency mindset has further relegated statelessness down the list of priorities within a culture that emphasizes quick impact over the long-term nature and results of statelessness work. Overall, the institutional culture of UNHCR has not adequately evolved to match the needs and challenges of the objective of the campaign and the organization’s mandate for statelessness. UNHCR’s financial investments in statelessness have been critical to the progress made so far, providing opportunities to prevent and end statelessness for both the organization and its partners. However, UNHCR has not adequately prioritized statelessness in its resource mobilization efforts. Additional, sustained and carefully prioritized funding (and fundraising) is required, however, particularly for specific countries and regions where progress has been slow and for GAP actions that have been relatively neglected. Investment in UNHCR’s workforce is crucial, as work on statelessness relies primarily on knowledgeable and skilled personnel. Dedicated staffing has been a critical success factor in a number of operations. Conversely, where staff are stretched too thin and/or lack the necessary confidence to lobby on the topic, statelessness is often one of the first areas to be deprioritized. More dedicated statelessness staff and communications capacity are needed in key operations, including additional short-term surge capacity, and increased responsibility for statelessness is required across UNHCR staff functions. This implies a greater and more targeted effort to build knowledge and skills at all levels – allowing UNHCR to achieve more on statelessness with the limited resources available. Ongoing changes within UNHCR – such as decentralization and multi-year planning and budgeting – are both opportunities and challenges for the work on statelessness. As responsibilities and authorities shift within the organization, and as ways of working evolve, a continued corporate prioritization of statelessness is required. Better configuration and use of systems for reporting on statelessness-related results would help UNHCR monitor its own performance during this period of transition and allow for greater transparency and accountability. Aspects of UNHCR’s institutional culture including the perceived primacy of the refugee mandate, concerns about jeopardizing access and relationships in politically sensitive situations, and a short-term emergency UNHCR / May, 2021 vii