An Evaluation of Pledges to Eradicate Statelessness in the SADC of and referral to statelessness status determination procedures as well as the capacity building of national civil registries to prevent the risks of statelessness “including through digital technology and the provision of mobile services, subject to full respect for data protection and privacy principles” (UNHCR, 2018). The GCR and CRRF acknowledge that statelessness is both a cause and consequence of refugee movements and encourage states to accede to the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (hereafter “1954 Stateless Convention”) and the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (hereafter “1961 Stateless Convention”). Further, it encourages states, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and other stakeholders to contribute resources and expertise to support the sharing of “good, gender-sensitive practices for the prevention and reduction of statelessness” and the development of national, regional, and international action plans to end statelessness (UNHCR, 2018). THE PLEDGING SYSTEM The developmental approach, as sketched above, contains certain common tools – multi-stakeholder participation, local and national infrastructural expansion and an emphasis on self-reliance – that are increasingly unfolding in the institutional response to forced displacement. Included in this set of tools, is the system of pledgemaking. Pledges can take the form of financial, material, or technical assistance. Additionally, pledges may provide for resettlement places, complementary pathways for admission to third countries, and “other actions that States have elected to take at the national level in support of the objectives of the global compact” (UNHCR, 2018). Various stakeholders, individually and in cooperation, such as states, regional intergovernmental organizations, multilateral development banks, education institutions, CSOs, faith-based actors, the private sector, and others make pledges of assistance to refugees and hosting communities. To monitor the progress of these pledges and the GCR as a whole, the Compact established a Global Refugee Forum that takes place in Geneva every four years for UN Member States and relevant stakeholders to announce pledges made, take stock of past pledges and consider opportunities and challenges for burden-sharing. The first and second of these took place in 2019 and 2023, respectively. Additionally, the GCR provides for a biennial meeting of high-level officials in between the forums as a means of “mid-term review.” These make it possible for the pledging system to be used as an indicator for the success of the GCR (Gilbert, 2019). Several forums have been convened for the purpose of announcing and stocktaking pledges made toward statelessness. This includes the UNHCR’s Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons in 2011 and the HighLevel Segment on Statelessness in 2019, which were held at the midpoint of the IBelong campaign. The 2019 High-Level Segment was announced in tandem with the GCR to address statelessness and is thus more explicitly part of the GCR’s framework than the 2011 event. The eradication of statelessness thus follows suit 115