NFA organized a regional CSO Consultation on Forming a Regional Alliance inviting interested CSOs and the Advisory Group members on November 2 and 3, 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand. 18 CSO representatives and 7 Advisory Group members attended the event.
The two-day consultation event came up with the following outcomes:
- Identification of key areas of work for the Regional Alliance
- Data collection and knowledge building on statelessness through research, capacity strengthening of CSOs, awareness raising programs, and rapid response services to stateless persons and activists, were identified as key areas for the regional alliance to work on.
- Human rights advocacy and engagement with UN agencies and government bodies were identified as areas that the regional alliance should also focus on, but they need to further be deliberated upon on how to do them strategically.
- Thematic Focus, Structure and Activities of the Regional Alliance
It was decided that it is too early to discuss the thematic focus, structure, and activities of the Regional Alliance at this early stage. However, NFA was advised to consult with the former Board members and other active members of SNAP before preparing the concept papers on the thematic focus, structure and activities of the Regional Alliance.
- Next Steps
- NFA will create an email group comprising of all the Alliance members and will share regular updates of any statelessness related work including information on any regional or global event on statelessness
- NFA will meet one on one to consult with the former SNAP Board members to take their suggestions on the formation of the regional alliance, and ask if they would be interested to join
- After the consultation with the former SNAP Board members, NFA will organize a virtual meeting of the Advisory Group members for further suggestions on the Concept Papers
- NFA will prepare the following documents and share it with the alliance members for comments and review before the next in-person meeting of the CSOs
o An Option Paper on the Structure of the Regional Alliance based on the key areas identified
o A Concept Paper on the Thematic Focus of the Regional Alliance
o A Concept Paper on the Activities of the Regional Alliance based on the key areas identified
- CSOs and Advisory Group members will provide their inputs and comments on the documents
- NFA will organize another in-person Consultations to discuss the Option Paper and the Concept Papers which will include additional sessions on Self-Care and possibly invite government representatives to share good practices in one of the sessions
Timeline of the Next Steps
| SN | Actions | Timeline |
| 1 | Consult with former Board Members of SNAP | November – December 2022 |
| 2 | Virtual Meeting of the Advisory Group members | January 2023 |
| 3 | Preparation of Concept Papers on Structure, Thematic Focus and Activities | January – February 2023 |
| 4 | Inputs by the CSOs and Advisory Group Members on the Concept Papers | March 2023 |
| 5 | In-person CSO Consultations | April/May 2023 |