At the heart of the ecbi is an Oxford-based Fellowship Programme for climate negotiators and other stakeholders directly involved in the UNFCCC process from the participating developing countries. Its primary purpose is to build trust and exchange procedural and institutional knowledge both among the Fellows ('South-South trust-building'), and between them and their European colleagues ('North-South trust-building').
Each year, the ecbi invites a number of senior developing country negotiators to participate as 'ecbi Fellows' in the activities of the Trust Building Programme, in particular the Oxford Fellows Colloquium and Seminar and the Bonn Seminar.
The annual Oxford Seminar enables the Fellows to find out how climate change issues are managed by European governments, and provide an opportunity to exchange views in an informal and non-confrontational setting. They also enable the European partners to understand the situation of their developing country colleagues – one of the reasons why the ecbi is not just a capacity-building initiative by Europeans, but also for Europeans. The Seminar is an annual, three day event hosted in the academic environment of Oxford. It usually takes place in the first week of September. Participation in the event is by invitation only.
Fellows Colloquium
South-South relation- and trust building are also of key importance in supporting the international negotiations. During the Fellows Colloquium in Oxford, the Fellows have the chance to exchange views and experiences among themselves prior to the Oxford Seminar.
To maintain the momentum of these trust-building activities, the Fellowship Programme organises an annual one-day Bonn Seminar during the intersessional Subsidiary Bodies meetings in Bonn/Germany.
In addition to these regular annual events, the ecbi Fellowship Programme organises Ad-hoc Seminars either in conjunction with meetings organised by relevant bodies (such as the GCF Board), or on their own (like the agriculture seminars that led to the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture).
