EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I planning approach but could benefit from the intended introduction of context analysis as part of the new multi-year planning process. 151. A 2017 assessment of the #IBelong Campaign87 stressed the negative implications of UNHCR avoiding public engagement on statelessness in politically sensitive situations. It noted disparities in public communications on the campaign in some sensitive contexts and highlighted that this could lead to UNHCR being seen “negatively – or worse, complicit – in abstaining from the conversation”. It also noted that UNHCR silence could create a vacuum leading to a loss in credibility with negative implications for resource mobilization. “From an organizational level, it needs to be better acknowledged that most times, addressing statelessness requires long-term, multi-years interventions and a development – rather than humanitarian – approach.” – Survey respondent “The programme staff get very frustrated, they want to see quick and obvious results. But statelessness isn’t like that – the work takes time and the results are less obvious.” - Key informant interview 152. In many interviews, key informants noted that UNHCR’s culture is dominated by humanitarian emergency thinking and practices. These include prioritization of life-saving activities, one-year budget and planning cycles, and a tendency to emphasize areas where UNHCR has a dominant mandate, rather than long-term systems change, human rights and development approaches more suited for the type of advocacy and long-term initiatives and partnerships required to address the underlying causes of statelessness. The efforts to implement the GCR, specifically the whole of society approach, offer opportunities for UNCHR to better consider ways of developing longer-term, multistakeholder strategies for addressing statelessness over time. Institutionalizing and mainstreaming the statelessness mandate Finding 14: Between 2001 and 2014 UNHCR made significant strides towards institutionalizing and mainstreaming its statelessness mandate. Since the launch of the campaign, statelessness tools and resources to support planning have continued to increase and improve, but overall resourcing has faced more competition with other internal priorities in the face of massive increases in forced displacement around the world and COVID-19 pandemic. 153. As shown in the historical storyline (see figure 1) many of the most important milestones in UNHCR’s institutionalization of statelessness cited by key informants took place in the years prior to the launch of the #IBelong Campaign. The creation of the Statelessness Section, introduction of regional statelessness officer positions, addition of the statelessness surge capacity sub-roster, 2010 Strategy on UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness, Protection Guidelines on Statelessness, the introduction of the dedicated budget and planning pillar for statelessness work, and the launch of the self-study module on statelessness (hosted in the UNHCR Global Learning Centre) all took place between 2005 and 2014. 154. From 2015 to 2018 the Statelessness section introduced internal tools to give structure to the campaign and support country operations. These included the GAP Map, with information on State pledges and UPR recommendations, the GSIP for a multi-year outlook on country operations priorities for working with States on relevant GAP actions, and the Good Practice papers for knowledge sharing. The Statelessness Section has also worked to maintain and strengthen key relationships with other actors during this period, developed guidance and ad-hoc training for programming, and facilitated various research studies and thematic reports to build internal knowledge and external awareness on key statelessness issues. 155. The role of DER leading up to the campaign suggested they would play a substantial role in public communications and resource mobilization aspects of the campaign, but from 2017 to 2018 there were no dedicated DER staff focused on the campaign. Over the course of the campaign, most global communications work has been conducted by the Statelessness Section, including drafting and dissemination of thematic reports and organizing and speaking at public events. Public information officers in the field report minimal direction and support on how to communicate about statelessness during this time period. Some stressed that they were less comfortable communicating about statelessness and that the topic needs to be “de-mystified”. Others noted that UNHCR does not usually provide direct services for stateless persons so they feel more disconnected from their experience and find it more difficult to communicate the ramifications of statelessness. Following the 2017 internal assessment of the campaign, DER established one temporary dedicated post at headquarters and made efforts to revitalize the public aspects of the campaign, focused primarily on the preparations for the HLS. 87 44 Van den Brule, Jill, ‘Campaign Assessment, #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness’, October 2017. UNHCR / May, 2021