Angela I. Ebeleke Yoka

Gender and Climate Change focal point at the UNFCCC, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Stepping up as a co-facilitator at COP28 negotiations on gender

Manchester, United Kingdom. Angela, or Angèle as she is called in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is a National Gender and Climate Change Focal Point (NGCCFP) at the UNFCCC for the DRC and works as a course guide for the night school for new negotiators organized by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Initially, Angela was educated in the area of health (tracheostomy) and her journey related to climate change started at COP22 in 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco, where she met the DRC Delegation which led to her appointment as Gender and Climate Change focal point. According to Angela, 

When a patient or the earth is sick, one must take action and that has become her ‘leitmotiv’. 

Angela was one of the ten fellows selected to join the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) fellowship in 2023. As part of the fellowship, she took part in a UNITAR-CVF-organized one-week Climate Diplomacy Training in Accra, Ghana and the subsequent COP28 in Dubai, UAE where she was able to apply knowledge and skills from the training.

Angela gained more confidence and felt well-prepared to attend COP28, thanks to the training. While Angela has already attended seven previous COPs, COP28 was special for Angela because she was appointed Co-facilitator and co-responsible for the daily report on gender to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), one of two permanent subsidiary bodies to the Convention established by the COP/CMP. This included daily meetings with the secretariat, constant consultation with the co-facilitator from Canada and reporting back to the SBI and SBSTA Chairs in the evening. Despite the very work-intense period and late evening shifts, the experience was rewarding for Angela and helped her overcome any lack of confidence that she felt previously due to her dyslexia. Her message to other people with dyslexia is encouraging: “You can make it!”

Her gained confidence was also demonstrated by the fact that Angela felt more comfortable speaking in front of a larger audience following the training and spoke as a panellist on “the assessment of loss and damage in the case of KALEHE natural disaster in South Kivu, DRC”. Angela also felt recomforted by the fact that she mastered all the acronyms and that these were fresh on her mind, thanks to the UNITAR-CVF training organized shortly before COP28.

Another skill gained from the training and her experience working previously in a hospital included the fact of being impartial. Unlike previous COPs where Angela was presenting her country’s position, COP28 required her to report neutrally back to the secretariat which was new for her. At COP28, she even practised a similar role to the trainer from the UNITAR-CVF training in Ghana, which she found particularly rewarding. 

Angela further used skills from the training’s session on “Engaging with Media” to deliver an interview with the Institut de la Francophonie pour le développement durable, part of the Organization internationale de la francophonie (OIF) at COP28. 

The sessions focusing on Ghana’s experience and the carbon market were particularly insightful to Angela.

Despite all her achievements, Angela remains very humble and has made it a mission to support other younger negotiators from DRC at COP28 and provided them with directions, and recommendations and tried to encourage them when they were facing challenges with the English language. 

“Empathy” is Angela’s favourite word, and it illustrates well her life mission of protecting the earth and supporting others, including women. An activist in her heart, Angela also campaigns on a local level at her home in Manchester, where she engages with the diaspora and local communities. This includes lecturing fellow church members about all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over 17 consecutive Sundays at the church, raising awareness about gardening and planting, and using music to advocate for the SDGs, amongst others.