Global Statelessness Retreat
Date: May 24 and 25, 2022
NFA’s Executive Director, Subin Mulmi participated in the Global Statelessness Retreat organized by UNHCR on May 24 and 25, 2022 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The retreat focused on strengthening the inclusion and participation of stateless persons to end statelessness. The event also discussed the post-2024 multi-stakeholder alliance and brainstormed on the membership and key elements of the Alliance to take the #Ibelong agenda forward.
NFA participated in the Statelessness Summer Course
Date: July 4 – 15, 2022
NFA’s Director of Operations, Ranjeeta Silwal participated in the Statelessness Summer Course 2022. The Summer Course was conducted from July 4 – 15, 2022 in an online format.
For more information about the course, please visit this page.
NFA joined the AJWS Social Movement Advisory Body
Date: May 16, 2022
Subin Mulmi representing NFA and the Global Statelessness Movement became a member of the AJWS Social Movement Advisory Body. American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is seeking to form and engage an advisory group for the next 3 years to support the iterative development of a participatory methodology and tool for assessing social movements as well as strategically contributing to its dissemination. (AJWS) works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. AJWS advances the health and rights of women, girls, and LGBT people; promotes recovery from conflict, disasters, and oppression; and defends access to food, land, and livelihoods. AJWS pursues lasting change by supporting grassroots and global human rights organizations in America, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean and by mobilizing supporters in the U.S. to advocate for global justice. Working together, the AJWS community strives to build a more just and equitable world.
The Advisory Group serves as a point of external reflection, a place for exchange and joint learning, and will assist in expanding opportunities to disseminate the tool for use by other movement actors and supporters.
For more information about AJWS, please visit their website.
Audio Visual Activism with Family Frontiers
Date: May 14 and 16, 2022
NFA and Family Frontiers organized an online workshop on Audio/Visual activism for affected mothers in Malaysia involved in the equal nationality rights movement on May 14 and 16, 2022. Deepti Gurung from Citizenship Affected People’s Network shared her experience advocating for equal citizenship rights in Nepal. Subin Mulmi presented on types of digital campaigning and strategies for creating change through digital campaigns. More than 16 participants attended the workshop.
Guideline on Using Social Media Platforms to advocate for gender equal nationality rights
Strategic Planning Workshop with Council of Minorities (CoM)
Date: May 9 and 10, 2022
NFA organized an online workshop to prepare the strategic plan of the Council of Minorities (CoM) on May 9 and 10, 2022. The workshop was designed to support the organization to be able to apply for multi-year funds. Khalid Hussain who attended the workshop on behalf of the Council of Minorities shared the plans, aspirations, and challenges of the organization. Based on the inputs Khalid, NFA will now prepare a draft strategic plan and share it with CoM. After the first draft, NFA will organize an in-person workshop to finalize the strategic plan.
UNHCR and NFA Regional Consultation with CSOs on Statelessness
Date: April 28 and 29, 2022
UNHCR Regional Bureau Asia Pacific and NFA conducted a virtual regional consultation with civil society organizations (CSOs) working on statelessness and the right to nationality in April 28 and 29, 2022. Around 40 participants including CSO representatives, UN officials, other regional networks and academic organizations attended the Consultation. The Consultation aimed to highlight the work of the CSOs and identify areas where they can work together. A panel discussion was conducted on ‘Strengthening the empowerment, fair and meaningful participation of persons with lived experience of statelessness’ where persons with learned experiences of statelessness were invited. The panelists were Melinda Anne Sharlini from Family Frontiers, Sevim Saadat from MUSAWI and Saqib Sheikh from Rohingya Project. The event was livestreamed on UNHCR’s official youtube channel.
At the end of the event, we asked the participants to fill out a survey. Based on the findings of the bilateral consultations, survey findings of the regional consultation, and building on the learnings of NFA’s work as Statelessness Network Asia Pacific (SNAP), NFA has decided to facilitate the creation and then coordinate the operation of a regional alliance on statelessness. As opposed to SNAP, this alliance is planned to function as a Secretariat-driven collective with the purpose of long-term solidarity building, peer learning, resource building, and joint advocacy.
CAPN Strategic Planning Workshop
Date: April 23 and 24, 2022
NFA organized an in-person Strategic Planning Workshop for CAPN on April 23 – 24, 2022. In this two-day residential workshop, we facilitated the session on the citizenship laws of Nepal and the challenges to addressing statelessness. A psycho-social counseling session was also organized for the participants who were all persons with lived experiences of statelessness.
A draft strategic plan was prepared where CAPN decided to focus on the following priorities for the next year:
- Expanding the network to other parts of the country
- Work together with the Citizenship less Struggle Committee
- Engage in fundraising activities for the organization
- Organize a national conference of the stateless persons in Nepal
Strategic Planning Workshop with DAJI
Date: April 12 and 13, 2022
NFA organized an online workshop to prepare the strategic plan of the Development and Justice Initiative (DAJI) on April 12 and 13, 2022. The workshop was designed to support the organization to be able to apply for multi-year funds. Ravi Hemadri who attended the workshop on behalf of DAJI shared the plans, aspirations, and challenges of the organization. Based on the inputs of Ravi, NFA will now prepare a draft strategic plan and share it with DAJI. After the first draft, NFA will organize an in-person workshop to finalize the strategic plan.