This program aims to strengthen the capacity and voice of CAN Southern NGO members to influence the international and national negotiation processes under the UN Climate Change Talks towards creating a robust post-2012 global architecture for climate protection efforts. It will do so by creating a select group of program participants that will attend. They will also be involved in regional and national workshops as trainees and trainers and engage in dissemination exercises with fellow NGOs, decision-makers and the media. Implementation of the program and its activities seeks to strengthen South-South coordination and South-North interaction across the network and beyond CAN members. The program was launched in December 2008. The capacity will be further built upon in to make a lasting contribution to a stronger southern agency on climate change issues in collaboration with CAN’s southern members and nodes.

In general, this program aims to strengthen the capacity and voice of CAN Southern NGO members to influence the international and national negotiation processes towards creating a robust post-2012 global architecture for climate protection efforts. Their strengthened participation will equip them with a better understanding of the dynamics and complexity of such negotiations and the wide array of issues involved. This will also help them establish good rapport with key negotiators from their respective countries and regions.

Specifically, this program seeks to:

• Create spaces for Southern NGOs to enable them to advance their regional agenda and influence the international and national climate negotiations;
• Improve existing communication processes between and among regional and national nodes in particular and CAN in general to facilitate information sharing, knowledge exchange and capacity building; and
• Strengthen coordination systems within the regional nodes and between these nodes and CAN to facilitate informed decisions.

The key mechanism proposed is a group of participants representing all regions of the world, that are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to engage with their respective decision-makers at home as well as during the negotiations. Every year the program seeks to provide funding support for a number of SCB Program Fellows from a wide cross-section of developing countries.