ACTIVITIES 

Fellowship program
The CLACC network is a group of fellows working on climate change adaptation issues. The fellows, each with a varied background in environment and development, meet as a group twice a year and attend international conference on climate change. The network enables the members to build their capacity, exchange ideas and acquire new contacts. The fellows are selected through local partner organizations in developing countries.

CBA workshop
The community-based adaptation conference will now be hosting its 6th international conference in Hanoi, Vietnam from 16-22nd April 2012. The conference aims to bring together key stakeholders and practitioners from across the globe and bring them together to discuss community-based adaption planning and practices from different parts of the developing world. It is a chance for our CLACC fellows to meet with local and international experts and discuss latest learning developments and good practices in CBA. Comic Relief has actively engaged with the CBA conference by funding the participation of 8 of the CLACC fellows to attend the international conference in 2010 which was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  

Health Case studies
The case studies from each CLACC countries are in the process of being finalized, the will be available through our documents page shortly.

COP (www.unfccc.org )
The CLACC network is actively engaged in COP negotiations. The fellows attend the conference as negotiators or support their country delegations as ENGO representatives. CLACC's attendance at the COP increases the visibility and levy of southern NGO's in advocating for change in developing countries and promoting the cause of adaptation to climate change for poor countries. The Comic Relief grant provided support for the following CLACC fellows to attend COP16 in Cancun, Mexico, December 2010. In all cases, the CLACC fellows would not have been able to attend without support from Comic Relief:
       1. George Kasali from EECZ in Zambia
       2. Shepard Zvigadza from ZERO in Zimbabwe
       3. Silene Bila from GED in Mozambique
       4. Boubacar Fall from ENDA in Senegal
       5. Krystel Dossou from OFEDI in Benin
       6. Mahamadou Maiga Farka from AMADE-PELCODE in Mali
Of these individuals, three (Krystel, Silene and Maiga) were invited to join their national negotiating teams. This is a strong acknowledgement of the fact that the capacity of these individuals has been built over the years through the CLACC programme. Inviting members of civil society onto the official delegations also strengthens the links between civil society and government in each country, helping both to work together constructively in between negotiating sessions. This is important because whilst government and civil society may not always see eye-to-eye about climate change issues, they need to work together to improve outcomes for those most vulnerable to climate change. This relationship continues to flourish as Comic Relief will fund the attendance of all CLACC fellows to attend COP17 in Durban, South Africa in 2011.

Continuing to Build Capacity:
The Southern Voices Programme has been supporting each CLACC partner in the 15 respective countries in their work to establish, manage or support the work of an existing network looking at climate change issues in each country. The Southern Voices Programme, which is principally led by CARE Denmark aims to ensure that the CLACC network have through, south-south and north-south alliances increase their capacity for carrying out advocacy and monitoring activities and for raising public awareness at national, regional and international levels. This alliance seeks to promote environmental integrity and sustainable development benefitting poor and vulnerable people. This north-south partnership has contributed to the continued development of the 15 networks. Thus, the networks have been instrumental in increasing awareness, providing advocacy training-particularly in the lead up to COP17, Durban, South Africa-strengthening the capacity building of local, regional and national stakeholders, providing guidance to stakeholders and increasing the interest levels in climate change related activities at both the local, regional and national government levels across these four diverse regions. CLACC network activities have increased the speed at which climate change information is disseminated, through the organization of face-to-face meetings, radio programmes, awareness-raising campaigns, various publications addressing climate change and the management and coordination of local and regional workshops. Within East Africa, for instance, support was given to create a national level network that would focus on issues surrounding climate change; this initiative came to be known as the, ‘Climate Action Network Uganda;’ partners within Kenya were able to participate in the National Stakeholders Workshop that took place in May 2011 as well as receiving an invitation to attend a meeting that was hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Resources. Also in East Africa, the Tanzania Civil Society Forum (Forum CC) has developed a long term strategy and a policy tracking initiative to increase the effectiveness of the forum in lobbying government; while in Sudan the ‘Sudanese Climate Change Network’ has held monthly meetings to share updates on negotiations and to provide training. It was also invited to contribute to Sudan’s Second National Communication to the UNFCCC. Furthermore, in Nepal we saw the development of radio programme which created a series of radio shows which allowed the climate change message to be disseminated to thousands of individuals.