2. Public Participation in the UNFCC Process A Women’s Perspective
Dr. Anke Stock
Gender and Rights
Coordinator
WECF

3. WECF Network of women’s and environmental NGOs (about 100 members)
EECCA region (implementation of projects and advocacy work)
Issues: Water and sanitation, chemicals, sustainable rural development and energy

4. WECF and UNFCCC Present with delegation from EECCA region
Organisation of side events
Co-operation in establishment of women’s constituency
Gender CC, Energia, Life and WEDO

5. Women’s Constituency
Women organised under other groups, such as ENGO and Trade Unions
Last to become acknowledged (Barcelona 2009)
Support of women by individual countries – but not enough
Good channels of communication with Secretariat
Countries who were supportive: Finland, Iceland and Ghana – and we as an NGO network also try to motivate them by presenting them the GENDER CHAMPION AWARD b WECF at UNFCCC in Copenhagen) – lately the US stressed the importance of the role of women!

6. Lessons learned
Process more formal – self-organisation of civil society
Process attracts lots of attention – more active engagement necessary
If the process gets more formal we as NGOs also need to get better organised to overcome often bureaucratic obstacles – very early deadlines – timelines, stricter registration rules etc.
And the process itself gets more and more attention which also requires us to be more active – Copenhagen has created an atmosphere of distrust between parties and NGOs – we need to overcome this and NGOs need to find out what kind of strategies they want to follow

7. Recommendations Keep up dialogue
More financial commitment to support major groups’ participation at meetings
Facilitate process for participation of a large number of civil society members
Provide copies of draft texts at any time
Provide better speaking slots for civil society representatives
Part of re-gaining trust is to keep up the dialogue – good that after Copenhagen civil society focal points were invited to Bonn to discuss with secretariat the future
Financial means: support civil society members to participate in meetings
Large numbers:
Registration process very restricted at the moment
organise the policy conference next to negotiations, but still allow for civil society to take part in both meetings – problematic to split civil society in different groups of participants
Access to information means also access to draft text – newest version – at all times
Speaking slots before or during the main parties – not only at the end where they sometimes get skipped due to time constraints.

8. Thank you!