CVF Capacity-Building Fellowship

Overview

As part of its efforts to promote and drive ambitious climate action and to mobilize international support for climate threatened nations, the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) has launched a “Capacity-Building Fellowship” for 15 participants selected from its member countries. A CVF collaboration of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the program works to strengthen the capacities of the fellows and contribute to the development of national efforts to pursue strategic forum priorities on climate change in CVF member countries and in international policymaking. In addition, the participants are supported to be better positioned to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities developing countries face and present as a result of climate change, in addition to assisting the CVF in advancing its priorities within UN processes including the UNFCCC and COP meetings.

Scope of the Fellowship

Member countries of the CVF are extremely vulnerable to climate change-induced catastrophes, despite their insignificant contribution to the causes and highly restricted capabilities for responding to climate challenges compared to larger, wealthier, and more responsible nations. Building the capacities of stakeholders in the area of climate change is one of many possible mechanisms to address such imbalances. Thus, the goal of this Fellowship is to ensure that CVF government officials/representatives can benefit from increased opportunities to understand, engage in and master representation and policy development activities on climate change. Accordingly, the Fellowship includes the following opportunities anchored in specific training sessions conducted by UNITAR throughout the year:

• A comprehensive training on relevant climate change policy topics (e.g., mitigation, adaptation, finance, loss and damage, Paris Agreement compliance, UNFCCC historical development, structure and procedures, international climate finance access, national policy-making on climate change, policy mainstreaming), and a UNFCCC negotiation simulation workshop;
• A media training on the skills required to disseminate information to a wider international audience outside of policy circles;
• A platform for publishing the fellows’ research related to climate change, and participation in a South-South community of climate change government representatives from the CVF to share and exchange experiences and knowledge;
• A real-life experience of climate change negotiations through sponsored participation in UNFCCC COP 27, and possibilities to join other key international climate change conferences*;
• A Professional UNITAR Certificate of Recognition upon completion of the Fellowship.

Learning Objectives

The Fellowship will last for one year, with an inaugural timeframe from April 2022 to February 2023. Subject to the experience of the inaugural Fellowship program, possibilities to extend the program for future years or to offer Fellowship extensions will also be explored. At the end of the Fellowship, the participants are expected to meet the below objectives:

• Understand the climate change negotiation process, including the Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement;
• Adopt the lessons learned from global climate change fora to support the implementation of national climate policies; 
• Gain the knowledge and skills needed to assist governments in accessing climate finance;
• Equip with the necessary communication skills to use media as a platform to raise awareness on the challenges posed by the changing climate.

2022 Fellowship Activities

The following activities are planned for the year 2022: 

• Training on Climate Change Negotiations (May 2022);
• Media training (May 2022);
• Bonn Climate Change Conference (June 2022);
• Publication of reflections on the COP 27 expectations (October 2022);
• Training on Climate Change Negotiations in preparation for COP 27 (October 2022);
• Sharm el Sheik Climate Change Conference (November 2022);
• Publication of reflections on the outcomes of the COP 27 (November 2022); 
• Any other activity organized by the Forum.  

The application period is currently closed. A future fellowship will be advertised on the website in due course.