WAYS OF WORKING TOGE THER Community representatives who attended the workshops identified ways in which ENS and affected communities could work together. ENS members also provided suggestions. 1. Workshops, trainings and information provision within communities 2. Create national forums/advocacy groups for stateless communities WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? The process of planning and delivering the three workshops provided various learnings for developing and improving our work with stateless people. 1. Communities affected by statelessness are interested in working on the issue 2. Building connections with community organisations is both crucial and challenging Why is building connections challenging? ▪ Location/distance may prevent participation ▪ Lack of knowledge or identification with the word stateless 4. Arrange regular joint meetings or trainings with relevant authorities and affected communities ▪ Lack of trust with an unfamiliar NGO or negative experiences ‘engaging’ with NGOs in the past 5. Collaborate with researchers and universities on research projects and mobilise student activism on the issue ▪ Lack of community development support for communities to engage on statelessness ▪ Community organisations often run on a voluntary basis, impacting on their ability to be active on statelessness ▪ The impacts of statelessness on mental health may affect ability and desire to work on the issue 3. Public awareness raising using the media, art and other platforms to share people’s stories 6. Collaboration between national NGOs and community-led organisations including joint funding proposals & training stateless people to provide service delivery/volunteer 3. Community engagement requires time, skills and resources to be effective and sustainable 4. Meaningfully representing the diversity of people affected by statelessness (such as women, migrant and in situ stateless people) is important and challenging 5. Effective interpretation is essential for productive engagement WHAT NEXT? The pilot year of the #HearItFromUs project has laid the groundwork to improve how we and others effectively engage with people affected by statelessness. We have outlined recommended actions for ENS, its members and other actors to enable further engagement with and empowerment of communities affected by statelessness: 1. Commitment from civil society, policy makers and donors to work together with stateless people on the issue 2. More and better investment in communities and community development support 3. Develop and support national and regional platforms for people affected by statelessness to coordinate, organise and advocate on the issue 4. Information and knowledge provision on statelessness for affected communities 5. Diversify ENS’ network to better represent individuals and community organisations affected by statelessness 6. Incorporate the impacts of statelessness on mental health into awareness raising and advocacy messages 7. Take an intersectional approach to statelessness If you would like to know more about the #HearItFromUs project & how to get involved or to read the full report on our pilot approach, please contact Khadija Badri (Khadija.Badri@statelessness.eu).