Global Programme
Amplifying Global South Voices in Global Decisions
The VCA global programme (GloPro) shifts the power in global climate and climate finance decision-making. We work towards transforming international political spaces to enable climate action on the ground to be locally and community-led. Climate policies and finance streams should empower people, not hurt them. It should support women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and the urban poor to make change.
Glopro aims to amplify the voices of marginalised groups, including youth, women, Indigenous Peoples and civil society from the Global South, supporting them with tools and resources to advocate for just climate action effectively. Glopro identifies and creates opportunities to enable the scaling of local climate solutions for impact.
Climate Justice Requires Meaningful Participation at the Global Level
Currently, non-governmental actors from the Global South face significant challenges participating in UNFCCC negotiations and decisions, contrasting sharply with the substantial representation from organisations and countries in the Global North. Even though the vast majority - more than 80% - of the world’s population lives in the Global South, they still represent the minority of voices within the negotiations. While some engagement is observed from youth, women, Indigenous peoples, and local communities, many groups continue to feel marginalised and unheard. This is a problem, for climate justice requires the meaningful participation of underrepresented groups in all levels of decision-making.
Global Programme Impacts
How the VCA Global Programme Achieves its Aims
Evidence shows that inclusive decision-making delivers better results. GloPro works to democratise the UNFCCC and other global spaces by:
- Supporting civil society from the Global South with training, fellowships, and direct connections to negotiators.
- Offering real-time, plain-language summaries of complex negotiations to help grassroots actors engage effectively.
- Providing financial support and interpretation so that language and cost are not barriers to participation.
- Supporting civil society organisations gain accreditation and strengthen their advocacy strategies.
Before and during COP, we collaborate with negotiators and experts to provide concise, easy-to-understand summaries of the key issues under negotiation, along with detailed guidance on how to engage with constituencies and other groups, including establishing contact with like-minded negotiators.
Glopro further aims to support Global South observers to gain accreditation and effectively engage and amplify marginalised voices within the UNFCCC. Currently, 73% of all admitted observer organisations to the UNFCCC are from industrialised countries (Global North), and they still receive the majority of observer badges for SBs and COPs. To date, support from the Global Programme has resulted in three additional CSOs gaining accreditation as observers to the UNFCCC.
GloPro Learning Agenda
The VCA programme continuously seeks opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing at various levels, i.e. internal and externally, cross-country and with global partners. Learning webinars have been facilitated on both programmatic and thematic topics. Some of these topics include climate finance, lobbying and advocacy, loss and damage and how to engage effectively at COP. GloPro hosted seven learning webinars with a total online attendance of 418.
Innovations in Climate Finance
We address systemic barriers to accessing climate finance through initiatives like:
BASE (Building Approaches to fund local Solutions with climate Evidence)
Simplifies proposal processes, supports climate rationale development, overcomes language barriers, and builds trust-based funding relationships. In its first round, BASE received over 70 applications and funded 8 projects across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Next Level Grant Facility (NLGF)
A flexible funding tool that responds quickly to climate emergencies and emerging opportunities, co-created with local partners. Guided by principles of mutual capability strengthening, agenda setting, alternative storytelling, and joint lobbying, the NLGF ensures funds reach the frontline when they’re needed most.
The principles which underpin both BASE and the NLGF should guide international climate finance. Local groups and communities deserve greater trust and access to financial streams. Funding needs to reach frontline communities quickly when the need is there, and application procedures should be open and understandable to all.
