#HearItFromUs: Piloting an approach to promoting the voices of people affected by statelessness in Europe One of the European Network on Statelessness’ key priorities is to improve how we work with people affected by statelessness to inform and deliver our mission, and to strengthen and diversify the voices speaking out on statelessness. In July 2018, with support from EPIM we started our #HearItFromUs project with a pilot year. The purpose of the pilot was to: 1. identify existing community engagement across our membership; 2. provide opportunities for refugee and migrant communities affected by statelessness to have their voices heard and to engage with the debate; 3. explore and develop participation approaches with stateless communities in order to support them to become further involved in our work This document outlines what we did in the pilot year of the project, what we found out and learned about effective community engagement as a result, and what needs to happen now to enable further engagement with and empowerment to communities affected by statelessness. WHAT DID WE WANT TO KNOW? METHODOLOGY: WHAT DID WE DO TO FIND OUT? What are our members currently doing in terms of community engagement? Online member survey Who and where are communities affected by statelessness? Mapping of community organisations representing groups affected by statelessness in Spain, the UK and the Netherlands supported by partners Workshop at our Annual Conference for members What are the key issues and priorities of people affected by statelessness? What solutions/changes do people affected by statelessness want to see? Workshops with community representatives in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands supported by national partners How can we best support ongoing engagement and work together to achieve these changes? WHAT DID WE FIND? KEY ISSUES 4. Lack of understanding and awareness from authorities about statelessness Across the participatory workshops, participants identified common issues facing people affected by statelessness. 5. The impact of statelessness on mental health 1. Access to rights (including the right to work, healthcare, freedom of movement, civil and political rights) 7. Childhood statelessness and the intergenerational effects of statelessness 2. Routes to naturalisation (including language requirements, length of residence requirements and application & citizenship fees) 3. Access to legal procedures (including settlement, residency & asylum procedures in the UK and the statelessness determination procedure in Spain) 6. The impact of statelessness on identity & belonging, and not wishing to identify with the term ‘stateless’ 8. The lack of information available to stateless people about statelessness 9. Statelessness intersects with other issues such as racism and sexism leading to further marginalisation 10. Being made to feel voiceless as a result of being stateless