Bursaries

The Training & Support Programme also offers bursaries that support junior negotiators in becoming subject specialists. Bursary recipients are chosen based on recommendations from senior negotiators. 

These bursaries have helped selected junior negotiators from countries such as Sudan, Tanzania, Mali, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Gambia, Malawi and Nepal attend the UNFCCC negotiations, and helped them become experts in the negotiating process. Bursary recipients have been instrumental in making developing countries more effective in the UNFCCC negotiations. For example, most of the ecbi bursary holders have gone on to become members of the LDC core team. There, they advise the LDC Group chair and group members in their chosen negotiating themes.

In 2012, Sumaya Zakieldeen, an ecbi bursary recipient, was nominated for the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee as the only representative of the LDC group. Gebru Jember, another bursary recipient and an LDC core team member, has become the LDC group's key coordinator for the Kyoto Protocol.

Technical support during sessions
During the climate negotiations, the ecbi partners deliver technical and legal advice to developing country negotiators and civil society organisations. A team of liaison officers from the Legal Response Initiative (LRI) follow the negotiations and talk delegates through legal issues.

If a request for advice cannot be answered instantly it is forwarded to a legal advisor who addresses the query and drafts a short legal opinion. Training & Support programme participants can use this service during the sessions.