Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
12 June 2019
Post No. 95
The Week’s Contents
• Jmesci Project, In Focus from Week Starting 10/06/2019: Innovations in Uncertain Times
• World Anti-Poverty System: Centre Staging Climate Issues
• Arts & Design Project: Making and Sending a p-Card or e-Card
… and much more!
Key Messages
~ Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives) Project – Innovations in Uncertain Times
Last week our Creative Economic Development (CED) month was about Creation in Uncertain Times. We worked out how creation could lead to happiness. This week, we are continuing with Jmesci project by putting an emphasis on Innovations in Uncertain Times. Amongst the innovations we are dealing with there are: those helping to reduce poverty, the ones enhancing sustainable development and the ones more carried out by our Africa-based Sister Organisations.
For more details about this first key message, please read under the Main Development section of this post.
~ World Anti-Poverty System: Centre Staging Climate Issues
A new International System for Poverty Reduction (ISPR), if it has to happen, cannot ignore the problems caused and will cause by the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change has changed or de-normalised the ways we dress, eat and house ourselves. It further perturbs the natural living patterns of humans, animals and plants. It finally pushes the frontiers or boundaries of what we knew about living as beings.
Climate change and global warming have broken the conventional way we deal with diseases and epidemics as the recent work by the World Health Organisation has showed in the case of Ebola virus in Africa. Climate change has increased the displacement of all living beings (humans, animals, fishes, plants etc.). This puts enormous pressure on healthcare, housing, food, education, jobs, social relations, relationships between humans and other beings etc.
In face of the challenges posed by evolutionary climate, poor people do not have enough means to deal with the life-changing patterns caused by climate change. They may need a framework that can help them to deal with these issues. So, integrating and centre staging the above climate issues would provide the ISPR the means to deal with them.
For more information on centre staging climate issues inside the ISPR, please contact CENFACS.
~ Arts & Design Project: Making and Sending a p-Card or e-Card
For those who are trying to design and send a paper card (p-card) or an electronic card (e-card) as a way of participating in the Creative Economic Development month, please make sure that the poverty relief message you are conveying is without confusion.
When designing a card, it is better that your art or design work
√ contributes to inclusive and sustainable development goals
√ is a driver and enabler of sustainable development processes
√ is evidence-based as an expression of realities
√ is capable of leading to new pathways for creative economy
√ reflects on creative economic development
√ connects with the different sectors of creative economy
√ is conducive to new opportunities for sustainable development
√ is supportive of learning and innovation for poverty relief and sustainable development
√ opens up a possibility of working together
√ touches climate change issues (such as air pollution)
√ deals with sustainability issues (like conservation of the nature)
√ develops culture of poverty relief and sustainable development
To create and send your card or support CENFACS’ Creative Economic Development month, contact CENFACS.
Extra Messages
~ ReLive Issue No. 11 (2019 Edition): Spring Gifts of Renewing Lives in Burundi, Madagascar and Niger for the Flood Victims
Our Spring Appeal to donate £5 to any of the 14 Renewal Gifts to create 20 Reliefs in the above mentioned countries will come to an end in a couple of weeks. For those who would like to directly support but did not have the opportunity to do so, they can do it now.
This appeal can also be supported indirectly by passing the message onto those who may be in position to support.
To support, contact CENFACS directly or go to: http: cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/
~ End of Spring 2019 Appeal for Peace Re-creation and Security Re-innovation in Africa –
Re-create Peace and Re-innovate Security in the African Sahel and African Countries in Search for Transitional Democracy
Peace and security are always a challenge for some parts of Africa, particularly in the Africa Sahel (and specifically in Burkina Faso and Mali) and African countries in search for a transitional democracy (like Sudan).
June month of environmental and sustainable creative initiatives at CENFACS is also for conflicting communities to create and innovate ways and means to re-create peace and re-innovate security, especially for poor and defenceless people making their communities. The lack of peace and security cost any society especially its poor people.
Re-create peace and re-innovate security can help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. For example, one can hope that the common sense will prevail, that there would be an understanding between States and armed groups in the African Sahel region. One can as well hope that the G5 Sahel (made of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania) will be able to stabilise the situation and get the support its deserves from the international development communities One could finally hope that the disagreeing sides of the transitional democracy in Africa (like in Sudan) will come to an agreement to secure peace and build security for their suffering ordinary peoples.
For further details about peace re-creation and security re-innovation, contact CENFACS.
~ Quadranscentennial (“Q”) Innovations
June continues to carry out and speak for our “Q” Year and Project. Since the “Q” Year and Project started, those who have been following us have learnt the “Q” history of CENFACS so far. They learnt how CENFACS broke new grounds in the field of poverty relief and sustainable development. What was not known about CENFACS legacies has been progressively released and unveiled.
This week is the continuation of the “Q” Year and Project. So, our “Q” Year and Project is still in progress for this week as we are looking at the innovations (e.g. ideas, methods and ways of working) that kept CENFACS running in the last 25 years. “Q” innovations are progressive ways of working that helped CENFACS to achieve its vision, mission, aims and objectives while adapting itself to development landscape as it happens. “Q” innovations are catalysing forces that provided us the momentum needed to stay in tune with the charitable industry.
Where we found that ideas and methods were not suitable or compatible with our charitable ethos, we did not apply them. One of the new methods that helped in the recent times is the introduction of digital technologies in what we do. Digitalisation has helped to reach out faster and conveniently our users and project associates.
For more on “Q” Innovations, contact CENFACS.
Main Development
• Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives) – Innovations in Uncertain Times
One thing is to create in uncertain times; another thing is to implement those creations. In this second week of our creative and innovation activities, we are going to focus on three types of innovations as follows: innovations for poverty relief, innovations for sustainable development and innovative work conducted by our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs).
~ Innovations for poverty relief (IPR)
IPR are the introduction of new ideas and methods to help alleviate poverty and hardships. In certain times, it is straightforward to routinely handle new ideas and methods. However, in uncertain moments, innovations can become a matter of life and survival, especially if these innovations touch the lives of those who feel more the pain of uncertainty than anybody else.
So, innovating for poverty relief in uncertain and pressurized times could be a matter of saving lives. in difficult times of an economy like the UK one trying either to exit or remain in the EU, IPR for those organisations involved in the work of poverty relief are crucial for those organisations (like CENFACS) and their users to live, survive, sustain and possibly thrive.
~ Innovations for sustainable development (ISD)
Developing in a way of meeting the needs of both current and future generations does not happen itself. For it to happen, humans need to work and innovate. ISD is about supporting sustainable initiatives from people and communities in need in adding value to their efforts to come out poverty and hrahips. It is as well investing in initiatives that facilitate the development of sustainable initiatives.
However, in difficult times like of economic uncertainty, there could be attitudes or mindsets that could feel the price to pay for sustainability could be higher. They may tend to psychologically abandon the virtues and practice of sustainable development or just be reluctant in doing sustainable development (for example in accepting energy transition). Yet, with innovations adapted to deal with uncertainty, ISD could be a response to uncertainty and difficulty rather than a problem. For example, introducing new forms of clean energy that does not pollute can help to save the cutting down of trees and burning of woods as well as reducing deforestation while protecting animal habitat.
~ Innovations by ASOs
The month of Creative Economic Development is also of highlighting innovations conducted by CENFACS’ ASOs. Among these innovations, we can highlight the following three ones:
⇒ Irrigation activities that CENFACS’ ASOs in the dried lands of Africa (North Africa) have been trying to undertake in order to bring safe drinking water to the local population and reduce the level of drought for local agriculture and farming
⇒ Health awareness campaign regarding the channels of transmission of the Ebola virus; campaign designed to demystify the local or tribe beliefs on the mystique causes of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo
⇒ Forest activity to re-grow and replant forests where it has disappeared, just as innovations related to the recovery and restoration of degraded lands in the dried countries and areas in North Africa
The above are just the innovative ways of working to develop sustainable initiatives by our ASOs. They are trying to find and introduce new ideas and methods to tackle old, current and new problems that themselves and their users face.
In difficult times like of prolong drought, of eruption of the deadly Ebola virus and of forest extinction, it is vital for local organisations to innovate should they wish to seriously tackle poverty and hardships and stay on track with sustainable development.
To support and or enquire about the week of innovations in uncertain times, contact CENFACS.
To become a CENFACS’ Creation and or Innovation Supporter, please contact CENFACS as well.
FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, JUST GO TO http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/
Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.
Thank you as well to those who made or make comments about our weekly posts.
We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support throughout 2019.
With many thanks
