Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
05 August 2020
Post No. 155
The Week’s Contents
• Track, Trip and Trending in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
• Mid-Summer 2020 Review and Update
• Happiness under the Constraint of Face Coverings
…. and much more!
Key Messages
• Track, Trip and Trending in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
August is CENFACS’ Track, Trip and Trending month.
We do Track at CENFACS as we think that every one of us can undertake basic physical activity of running or racing to help reduce poverty. Our project known as Run to Reduce Poverty is designed to meet that end.
This Summer, we are going to do Social Distancing Track. This is due to the coronavirus and its associated impacts and effects.
August is also the month we carry out some Trips to our projects. We visit our projects all over the year, but August is the time we highlight this. It is the month of the year we walk again and reach out to the need, to the people, communities, organisations and livelihoods in need.
This Summer, we are going to undertake Virtual Trips. This is also due to the coronavirus pandemic and its associated impacts and effects.
We thirdly deal with Trending in August as we spend time looking at what we can call Trendy Development. Trending in Poverty Reduction helps us to follow the direction of poverty reduction work. This August we are going to follow this direction via ‘Social’ and ‘Virtual World’ in reducing sanitation poverty and enhancing health and safety aspects of sustainable development.
Again, due the coronavirus pandemic and its related impacts and effects, we are going to follow this direction via online, video, phone, screen and digital technological means of communication rather than on papers (print) or physical visits.
This Summer has been all about Covid-19 and its impacts. Therefore, we are going to integrate Covid-19 and the theme for Summer into these three activities of August as follows: Track, Trip and Trending in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance.
More details about CENFACS’ Track, Trip and Trending month for this year is given under the Main Development section of this post.
• Mid-Summer 2020 Review and Update
This is a review and update about what has been happening within CENFACS in terms of the running of activities, projects and programmes. The review and update cover the period from the 1st of July 2020 until now and is divided into areas of work dealing with the CENFACS Community, Africa-based Sister Organisations and the two of them.
=> Areas of work dealing with the CENFACS Community
Regarding the CENFACS Community, we would like to mention the following.
We have reopened the Charity e-store while following to letter the restrictions and guidance related to the control of Covid-19 .
Our Covid-19 Campaign continues with the mantra of “STOP COVID-19 NEGATIVE IMPACTS AND SURGE”.
There are advisory sessions on holiday, happiness and healthiness budgets to be accessed by the community via an appointment.
We have unveiled our 6 Healthiness Projects for poor children, young people and families; projects that are run under the theme of a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance.
We have recently set up a Covid-19 Hub for Poverty Reduction as a point of collection and treatment of CENFACS’ work and information on Covid-19-induced poverty and hardships.
We held the 12th edition of our Summer Festival of Thoughts with a focus on Health Economics. This festival was a wonderful and unique opportunity to look into the issue of Covid-19 as being at the same time an economic and health threat, especially as the world is the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The above is not just a list, but it is what has been going on so far since the beginning of July 2020. To find out more about this review and update, please contact CENFACS.
=> Areas of work dealing with the Africa-based Sister Organisations
Concerning the Africa-based Sister Organisations, we would like as well to keep you inform by stating the following.
We heard the African Voices about the areas of improvement in the work we do together as some of you have expressed it in our consultation related to All-in-one Impact Feedback. Where possible and within our capacity, improvement will be initiated. We will set up an improvement plan to that effect.
The survey about the impacts of Covid-19 shock is still running. We are asking to those who have not yet responded to do so. It is in our mutual interest to respond to the survey.
The Rebuilding Africa Advocacy has been held with a focus on rebuilding healthiness in the phases of low spread and growth of the epidemiological curves of Covid-19 in Africa.
Data Analytics and Impact Activities have been carried out as scheduled. However, due to the delay in getting all the feedbacks or reports from various sections of CENFACS, we are a bit held behind compared to our initial plan.
The African Sahel Humanitarian Corridors Appeal (that is an appeal to end food insecurity, water shortage and income decline exacerbated by Covid-19) is now trending.
=> Areas of work with the CENFACS Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations
To both the CENFACS Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations, we would like to add the following to what is trending within CENFACS.
We are still working in making CENFACS’ 2020s Development Agenda, Poverty Reduction Programme and Tools Box Covid-19 secure.
Under the project known as African Children and Sustainable Development Goals (Generation Global Goals or 3G Project), we are as well continuing to work on the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Shock on African Children’s realisation of climate and sustainable development goals.
We have recently embarked on the Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of CENFACS’ 2019-2020 Humanitarian Appeals for Africa, which we conducted.
The two parts of our Summer Programme (i.e. Appeal and Healthiness projects) are still running. If there is any query about these projects and / or any of our projects, please contact CENFACS.
To support the Appeal projects, let CENFACS know at http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/
To access Healthiness projects, contact CENFACS at facs@cenfacs.org.uk and or by completing the comment form on our website.
We hope that this Mid-Summer 2020 Review and Update will give you a glimpse and the state of improvement of our activities, projects and programmes. It is our way of keeping you informed and engaged around the Summertime.
We also hope that everybody is looking after each other in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance while enjoying the Summer weather.
For those who are in holiday during this Summer, we wish them a healthy holiday time.
For those who are working this Summer, we also wish them well with their work and whatever they are doing.
For those who are planning to go for holiday, we would like as well to wish them well with plans.
• Happiness under the Constraint of Face Coverings
Our Season of Happiness is still on track as we are trying to discuss and find answers about the difficulty that some members of the CENFACS Community are facing in covering the cost of buying masks or coverings, let alone the cost of hygienic and cleaning products to disinfect households.
The usual happy face with a smile that represents our Season of Happiness has been taken away by Covid-19. Covid-19 has forced us to wear face masks or coverings instead of keeping our face and mouth free with a smile. We are therefore asking the following questions.
What is happiness today in this context of Covid-19 adding more costs to our health budget while taking away our smile?
How can we find true enjoyment and joy with a smile under the Covid-19 restrictions?
What relieves better sanitation poverty: is it a face mask to protect us against Covid-19 or a smiling free face that gives us natural breath and a deep feeling of relief?
To discuss about Happiness under the Constraint of Face Coverings, please contact CENFACS.
Extra Messages
• Track, Trip and Trending in a “Mission” Year and Project
As part of CENFACS’ “Mission” Year and Project and of the month of Track, Trip and Trending; we would like those who can and want to proceed with either of the following “Mission” Activities:
√ Social Distancing Run 2.5 miles (nearly 4 km) for the relief of sanitation poverty or just poverty this month
√ Undertake Virtual Visits or Tours of 3 projects or activities related to Covid-19 hit local people or communities
√ Do online search to find 6 Social Trends in health poverty alleviation and health-enhancing aspects of sustainable development
The above three types of “Mission” Activities are our way of linking our “Mission” Year/Project and the month of Track, Trip and Trending together.
To undertake any of the above mentioned “Mission” Activities, please let CENFACS know.
CENFACS will be pleased if you could share with us, your experience in undertaking these “Mission” activities.
• Record your Summer Telling Moments to Report Back
Whether one has a Summer break or is working over this Summer, it is always a good idea to record your telling moments or just what you are doing.
After Summer, we often ask people or the community to report their Summer experience back. If you record what you are doing this Summer, after Summer it will be easier to share what you may judge is a shareable part of your Summer experience or story.
If you decide to record your Summer activities or experiences, please do not forget to take photos and pictures, make a video, record your voice, podcast etc. It is also useful to write down dates, places and names of people involved in your projects or experiences. You can plan the way you want to report back whether you want to use words or numbers or tables or graphs, figures, etc.
Reporting back your experiences can sometimes inspire others, especially if your experiences contain poverty-relieving elements.
We hope you will take our message of recording to report seriously. Thank you any way!
• Integration or Factorisation of Covid-19 Impacts into Le Dernier Carré (the Last Square of Poverty Relief)
The Last Square of Poverty Relief (or le Dernier Carré) is CENFACS’ four step model of poverty relief that deals with four types of poverty: income poverty, consumption poverty, energy poverty and in-working poverty. It is also the square of escape or inescapability from poverty, a four-dimensional poverty.
Multi-dimensional poverty requires multi-dimensional approach to tackle it. CENFACS’ Le Dernier Carré (the Last Square of Poverty Relief) model is an example of multi-dimensional approach to poverty reduction. The model is mostly in action when using CENFACS’ League of Poverty Reduction as it enables to classify team countries according to their efforts in reducing poverty.
Covid-19 and its associated impacts do not leave our four step model of working on poverty untouched. We are looking at the best possible of integrating or factorising the coronavirus pandemic impacts into this model. This integration or factorisation could mean taking into account sanitation poverty or health poverty in the Last Square of Poverty Reduction.
To find out more or get the progress about this process of integration or factorisation of Covid-19 into the Last Square of Poverty Reduction, please contact CENFACS.
Main Development
• Track, Trip and Trending in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
Our thematic and working model of Summer of Healthiness in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance will continue this month through the three activities of
1/ Social Distancing TRACK to help reduce poverty
2/ Virtual TRIP to Covid-19 hit local people
3/ Online TRENDING in health poverty alleviation
• • Track, Trip and Trending 2020 Activities
(1) Social Distancing Track to reduce poverty in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
This is delivered through the project Run to Reduce Poverty, Gaming to Reduce Poverty and Vote your African Manager of Poverty Reduction. These are All-year Round Projects or Triple Value Initiatives.
However, because of the weather conditions (sunshine) and nature of August (holidays time for many of our supporters) we put a particular emphasis on the Run aspects of these all-year round projects, over this month.
This Summer, this emphasis has changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of that, one can only do physical run out and indoor if they respect the coronavirus guidance in terms of social and physical distancing rules.
We expect those who sign up to the Run element to take actions and run it by themselves while following to letter the UK Government restrictions, the NHS advice and the World Health Organisations guidance. After summer, they can report back to us or at any convenient time before the end of the year.
(2) Virtual Trip to the needs in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there are restrictions and travel bans about non-essential trips although some parts of the world are easing the lockdown. For those who cannot physically visit projects on the grounds, arrangements can be made between the physical visitors and the organisations to be visited so that they can organise a virtual trip or viewing.
This requires that the visitors and visiting organisations have the technology that enables this virtual tour to happen. If this is possible we expect and advise our supporters to virtually visit some of projects and initiatives whether in the UK or in Africa during and around the month of August. Because of the circumstances we are all in at this time of Covid-19, it could be a good idea if this trip can be done to Covid-19 hit areas, people and communities.
Since we cancelled all non-essential physical trips, CENFACS All in Development Volunteers can do virtual trips. These virtual trips can still help us to check if we are on the right track at helping to reduce poverty and at tracking our records for the work on the ground.
Because the theme of trending for this Summer is about Socials, we are going to link Trip to the need with social and virtual world.
(3) Online Trending in Health Poverty Reduction in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown effects, it has been noticed that market economy has scaled back while the state economy and social economy have remarkably increased their size through the financial bailout and various socio-economic measures to protect the health systems and the economy.
Additionally, there has been an increase in the ways of e-working, remote working, e-education and so on via the virtual world. Because of that, we are going to add to our trending activity the virtual world.
During this August we are dealing with online Trending in health poverty reduction by following the direction of Social and Virtual World and their capacity of lifting people out poverty. We mean by that we are following the direction of poverty reduction by using social. This social can include: social media, social networking, social skills, social responsibility, social sciences, social distancing rules, etc.
We will be observing what social and the social sector are doing to hep to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. We will be looking at the extent to which social can be poverty reducer.
We will be doing it while integrating the Covid-19 as it affects the way we are happy or not happy, we eat, we entertain ourselves, we pass our summer holiday, we dress, we socialise, etc. to reduce health poverty.
So, social and its respective impacts on health poverty reduction in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance are what will be trending at CENFACS, as given below.
• • August 2020 Trending Activities/Programme
=> Week beginning: Monday 03/08/2020:
Social distancing rules as life saver and protector
=> Week beginning: Monday 10/08/2020:
Social networking as connector for poverty reduction and sustainable development
=> Week beginning: Monday 17/08/2020:
Social health as enabler for poverty reduction
=> Week beginning: Monday 24/08/2020:
Virtual world as a means to online interaction to reduce poverty
If you are interested in this trending programme, please share with us your experience or comments about it.
Further explanation about this August month’s activities can be obtained from CENFACS.
• • Socials as our Online Trending in Health Poverty Reduction in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance
In focus from Week beginning 03/08/2020:
Social distancing rules as life saver and protector
With what is happening now with the measures against the spread of Covid-19, one can hope everybody understands what Social Distancing Rules (SDR) mean.
SDR are simply the guideline to keep a safe space between non-members of the same household in order to avoid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It is a disease control tactics. SDR help to protect and save lives against the threats, harms, damages and dangers posed by the Covid-19.
As a life-protector, a SDR is a social and physical defence against the life-threatening and damaging impacts and effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In this respect, the practice of SDR contributes to the maintenance of healthy conditions of life for all and specifically for the most vulnerable and people at risk of catching the Covid-19 disease.
As a life-saver, a SDR is a social and physical gesture that can preserve or rescue lives from the Covid-19 disaster. In this respect, the practice of SDR is a way of taking care of each other in the difficult times of Covid-19. By taking care of each other, this contributes to the prevention of mass life tragedy or fatality that can be brought by Covid-19.
What is more is that SDR as life-saver can enable to stop the threat of extinction of a generation like the one we have seen with Covid-19 whereby the 65 plus generations have been the most vulnerable.
In the context of our Online Trending in Health Poverty Reduction in a Summer of Covid-19 Compliance, we are following the direction of health poverty through social distancing rules. What does it mean?
It basically means that we are trying to observe how people are applying this rule (the social distancing rule) in order to either stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic or escape from sanitation/health poverty.
Indeed, one can look at how people are trying to comply with this rule in order to protect and save their own life and the life of others. On can as well observe how the same people or other ones are trying to use this life-protecting and –saving rule in order to reduce or end sanitation/health poverty.
The above is our trending activity for this week; activity which has already started.
To follow with us the direction of sanitation/health poverty reduction via social distancing rule, please contact CENFACS.
Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.
We do our work on a very small budget and on a voluntary basis. Making a donation will show us you value our work and support CENFACS’ work, which is currently offered as a free service.
One could consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.
Donate to support CENFACS!
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 2020 and beyond.
With many thanks.
