Climate Change Resilience
3 December 2014, Lima, Peru - Helping women engage effectively at the UN Climate Change Conventions has been at the core of training especially for developing country women at the negotiations in Lima, Peru.
Held over a period of two evenings, approximately 20 women from developing countries took part in a negotiations skills building night school that focused on drafting text for interventions, decisions and other written outcomes of the negotiating process with the aim of strengthening the capacity of developing country women to effectively engage in the negotiation process.
The training included experiential learning through a mock negotiation exercise and also provided a set of tools and materials for participants to use over the two week Climate Convention in Lima.
"Based on feedback we learnt that the training was very useful for women who were very new to the training and those that have a little more experience at the Conferences of the Parties," said Ms. Linda Siegele, a training facilitator for this programme since 2012.
"The women who have been to a number of Conference Of the Parties said they had never been properly trained and had learnt things in an ad hoc way, so this training helped provide a framework or structure for them."
The training was coordinated by WEDO, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, on behalf of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), in partnership with the Government of Iceland and the Government of Finland under the Women Delegates Fund (WDF) Program.
The Women Delegates Fund was founded in 2009 to promote women’s leadership in climate change decision-making by providing travel support, capacity building and networking opportunities to women, particularly from the Global South, to join and effectively participate on their national delegations at the UNFCCC.
Working towards gender equality in the national delegations to the UN Climate Conventions was one of the decisions to come from conventions in Doha, Qatar in 2013.
"I think this training is very valuable for the women delegates," said Ms. Siegele.
"Parties now have the responsibility under the Doha Decision to have a fair representation of women, this program is aiming to help countries meet that obligation, not only in terms of numbers of women attending but also ensuring that women are able to engage effectively at the Climate Conventions."
From 2008 - 2012 on average only 32 percent of the delegates to the UN Climate Convention were women, as a response to the low numbers of women in national delegations at the UNFCCC the Women Delegates Fund was established.
The Cook Islands is one party that is unique in the makeup of their delegations to the UN Climate Convention. Over the past decade the majority of their delegation has consisted mainly of women who have engaged effectively in the negotiations. Here in Lima the Cook Islands delegation is made up of seven, six of whom are women, including Ms. Linda Siegele who has supported the Cook Islands delegation since 2007.
"The Cook Islands base delegation selection on the best person that can address the priority agenda issues at the national level, it has just happened that over the past 10 years our delegation make up has been this way," said Ms. Ana Tiraa, Head of Delegation at the COP 20 in Lima, Peru.
"Our role as delegates is to follow certain issues and we're committed to doing that to the best of our abilities. Here in Lima we are following Loss and Damage, Adaptation, Climate Finance and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) - our role as a country is to ensure that what comes out of those agenda items is in the best interest of the Cook Islands."
Since the Womens Delegate Fund was founded in 2009 35 women delegates from 28 countries, otherwise unable to attend UNFCCC meetings have participated and engaged effectively across 18 meetings with over 70 additional delegates have reached through pre-sessional night schools and capacity building such as the training in Lima, Peru.
The COP20: Women Delegates Fund Training on UNFCCC Negotiations Skills, Technical Language Training and Networking Session was held on 28 - 29 November in Lima, Peru. The 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is from 1 - 12 December.
Pacific islands represented at this annual conference are the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.
"Two delegates from Kiribati who participated in the negotiations skills building night school for women from developing countries."
Held over a period of two evenings, approximately 20 women from developing countries took part in a negotiations skills building night school that focused on drafting text for interventions, decisions and other written outcomes of the negotiating process with the aim of strengthening the capacity of developing country women to effectively engage in the negotiation process.
The training included experiential learning through a mock negotiation exercise and also provided a set of tools and materials for participants to use over the two week Climate Convention in Lima.
"Based on feedback we learnt that the training was very useful for women who were very new to the training and those that have a little more experience at the Conferences of the Parties," said Ms. Linda Siegele, a training facilitator for this programme since 2012.
"The women who have been to a number of Conference Of the Parties said they had never been properly trained and had learnt things in an ad hoc way, so this training helped provide a framework or structure for them."
The training was coordinated by WEDO, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, on behalf of the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA), in partnership with the Government of Iceland and the Government of Finland under the Women Delegates Fund (WDF) Program.
The Women Delegates Fund was founded in 2009 to promote women’s leadership in climate change decision-making by providing travel support, capacity building and networking opportunities to women, particularly from the Global South, to join and effectively participate on their national delegations at the UNFCCC.
Working towards gender equality in the national delegations to the UN Climate Conventions was one of the decisions to come from conventions in Doha, Qatar in 2013.
Ms. Linda Siegele on left working with a delegate from Kiribati at the 16th UNFCCC COP in Mexico, 2010. Ms. Siegele has been a member of the Cook Islands delegation to the UNFCCC COP's since 2007
"I think this training is very valuable for the women delegates," said Ms. Siegele.
"Parties now have the responsibility under the Doha Decision to have a fair representation of women, this program is aiming to help countries meet that obligation, not only in terms of numbers of women attending but also ensuring that women are able to engage effectively at the Climate Conventions."
From 2008 - 2012 on average only 32 percent of the delegates to the UN Climate Convention were women, as a response to the low numbers of women in national delegations at the UNFCCC the Women Delegates Fund was established.
The Cook Islands is one party that is unique in the makeup of their delegations to the UN Climate Convention. Over the past decade the majority of their delegation has consisted mainly of women who have engaged effectively in the negotiations. Here in Lima the Cook Islands delegation is made up of seven, six of whom are women, including Ms. Linda Siegele who has supported the Cook Islands delegation since 2007.
"The Cook Islands base delegation selection on the best person that can address the priority agenda issues at the national level, it has just happened that over the past 10 years our delegation make up has been this way," said Ms. Ana Tiraa, Head of Delegation at the COP 20 in Lima, Peru.
Delegates from the Cook Islands with Dr. Netatua Pelesikoti (second from right) Director of SPREP's Climate Change Division. Three members of the delegation are Cook Islanders working at SPREP.
"Our role as delegates is to follow certain issues and we're committed to doing that to the best of our abilities. Here in Lima we are following Loss and Damage, Adaptation, Climate Finance and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) - our role as a country is to ensure that what comes out of those agenda items is in the best interest of the Cook Islands."
Since the Womens Delegate Fund was founded in 2009 35 women delegates from 28 countries, otherwise unable to attend UNFCCC meetings have participated and engaged effectively across 18 meetings with over 70 additional delegates have reached through pre-sessional night schools and capacity building such as the training in Lima, Peru.
The COP20: Women Delegates Fund Training on UNFCCC Negotiations Skills, Technical Language Training and Networking Session was held on 28 - 29 November in Lima, Peru. The 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is from 1 - 12 December.
Pacific islands represented at this annual conference are the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.