Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
14 April 2021
Post No. 191
The Week’s Contents
• Mid-April 2021 Message of Hopes as the Coronavirus Endures
• Protection against the Negative Delayed Effects of the Coronavirus and Lockdowns
• Protection of the Acutely Food-insecure People in the Lake Chad Basin and Central African Sahel
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Mid-April 2021 Message of Hopes as the Coronavirus Endures
To All of our Supporters and Users,
We hope that everybody is having a good Easter season despite the enduring coronavirus.
We shall continue to engage with you whether you are self-isolated or confined or locked down or working or just staying home or have recently resumed your outdoor activity during this time. Our engagement will be mostly via CENFACS’ various physically contactless means and no close-contact services.
We trust that everybody is continuing to follow the proscribed health measures and safety guidance to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic where they are based to save lives and healthcare systems. This following of health measures and safety guidance should be done regardless of the COVID-19 vaccine rolling out (or jabbing) and the non-essential retail restrictions easing.
We would like take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been supportive to CENFACS at this turbulent time since the coronavirus began. We particularly thank our essential volunteers who continue to incredibly help harder than ever to keep our month and system of protection alive during this enduring coronavirus pandemic period.
We have updated and upgraded CENFACS’ Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus. CENFACS’ updated and upgraded Cube of Protection brings together under one roof these coronavirus-related initiatives that are intended to help poor, vulnerable people and incapacitated Africa-based Sister organisations.
For those who think that CENFACS’ coronavirus-related initiatives making CENFACS’ updated and upgraded Cube of Protection may be of any help to them or people around them; they are free to contact CENFACS by texting or emailing or phoning or completing the contact form with their request.
We look forward to receiving your or their request. After receiving your/their request or query, CENFACS will get back to you or them.
Please STAY HEALTHY and SAFE. Don’t forget to WEAR YOUR FACE COVERING!
From CENFACS
• Protection against the Negative Delayed Effects of the Coronavirus and Lockdowns
(Protection Key Note 2 for Week Beginning Monday 12/04/2021)
There are arguments that COVID-19 is a revelatory crisis as it has revealed what has been already there or known about the weakening of health and economic systems. COVID-19 is not only a revelatory crisis; it is as well a crisis with far-reaching hidden effects. Some of these hidden effects have not yet been unveiled. When the coronavirus pandemic finishes or is nearly defeated, and one starts to really do the accounting of its negative effects, then one will figure out the real scale of damages this crisis has caused or left.
However, one does not need to wait until this end or near end to happen in order to start to the recovery work. One can still start to guesstimate the kinds of negative effects that may come after, in order to prevent the transformation of this crisis into another one. Once this guesstimate exercise happens and the possible negative effects to come are identified, one can think of protecting those who could bear the brunt of these negative effects and externalities from the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the Main Development section of this post, we have identified some possible negative delayed effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns that need to be tackled as way of protecting those who may suffer from these effects.
• Protection of the Acutely Food-insecure People in the Lake Chad Basin and Central African Sahel
The Lake Chad Basin and Central African Sahel continue to experience structural deficit in food to live on despite the stabilisation of the civilian situation in these regions, particularly in the Lake Chad Basin. According to local statistical sources, around 27 million people will be in food crisis between June and August 2021. Two million children are in need of treatment from acute severe malnutrition. Structural and continuing food deficit have made people and communities in these two regions to highly depend on humanitarian food assistance since they cannot feed themselves.
As part of CENFACS’ Month of Protection and Project of Africa Feeding itself with Agriculture, we are echoing the work of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (1) about the need to strengthen State leadership in food and nutrition security governance in the Sahel and West Africa. We are calling for the protection of the acutely food-insecure people in the Lake Chad Basin and Central African Sahel.
To reduce these over-dependency and over-reliance on humanitarian food assistance, it requires from these regions to build and develop a self-sustenance or sustaining capacity in food supply and distribution. This capacity building and development in food will help to protect their people and communities from hunger and food insecurity as well as mitigate disease-related to the lack of food.
Anyone who knows what has been happening in these two regions in terms of food insecurity, malnutrition, the impact of climate change, civil conflicts, financial limits of States in the entire African Sahel region (the Lake Chad Basin being part of it), etc., will realise that it is not easy for under-resourced States of the region to solve the immense problem of food insufficiency and scarcity. However, it will be unrealistic prospects to totally and continuously rely on international food humanitarian assistance to solve the hunger problem there. Unless the locals in these regions start to develop some form of autonomy or self-sustenance in terms of food supply, food poverty is not going to go away.
For those who would like to engage with CENFACS on the issue of building and developing food self-sustenance capacity in the African Sahel region, they are welcome to do so.
Extra Messages
• Updates and Upgrades of the Month: CENFACS’ Cube of Protection against Enduring Coronavirus
In the above message of hopes, we have informed you that as the coronavirus endures, we have updated and upgraded CENFACS’ Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus. CENFACS’ Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus is a cuboidal system that enables us to defend against harms, dangers, threats and risks from the coronavirus and its associated health and socio-economic impacts.
The upgrades we have done concern the Coronavirus Spring Project which is now trending as Spring Project of Building Back Better from the Coronavirus. They are as well for Virtual Support against the Coronavirus Pandemic which is currently trending as Advisory Support to Build Back Better from the COVID-19. Our ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) Resource known as ‘Holiday with Relief’, which is part of our Cube of Protection, has an updated focus for this year. Its updated focus is on ‘Restricted Holiday’.
The other three remaining sub-cubes (that is, Charitable Response to Coronavirus, Advisory Support for Coronavirus Rescue Income and Coronavirus-related Organisational Relief Programme) of the main Cube of Protection remain unchanged. However, we are monitoring the evolution of the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus and shall take into account any changes that may occur in terms of protection and safety against the coronavirus. If there is any change, we shall again review our Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus.
For any queries and enquiries about the above mentioned updates and upgrades, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• Reopening of CENFACS’ Charity e-Store
CENFACS e-Store has been reopened following the easing of non-essential retail restrictions and the unlocking of the charity retail sector.
We are following the strict restrictions and guidance regarding the control and surveillance of Covid-19 as well as the protection and saving of lives.
For the health and safety of everybody, all goods donations will be quarantined for at least 72 hours.
We have enhanced our sanitation and cleaning methods and practices.
We hope you are doing the same in the interest of public health and safety.
Please do not hesitate to donate goods or purchase what is available at CENFACS e-Store.
Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic. Those who managed to survive, they need help. We need help to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
To donate or purchase goods, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/
• Protection of In-work or Working Poor and Reduction of In-work or Working Poverty
Protecting people includes the reduction of in-work or working poverty they may face. During this Month of Protection, we have added to our protection work the reduction of in-work or working poverty. The reduction of in-work or working poverty is the 4th Goal of CENFACS’ 2020s Development Agenda and Poverty Reduction Programme. The Goal 4 is about supporting in-work or working poor people. However, what is in-work or working poverty?
• • Meaning of In-work or Working Poverty
Drawing from the Eurostat (as part of the EU’s set of social inclusion indicators), Ive Mark and Brian Nolan (2) assert that
“The working poor are defined and measured as those individuals who have been mainly working during the reference year (either in employment or self-employment) and whose household equivalised disposable income is below 60 per cent of the median in the country in question”. (p. 11)
Yet, Abigail McKnight et al (3) argue that there is no uniform definition of in-work poverty and different studies take different approaches. Abigail McKnight et al use the following definition:
“Individuals are poor or at risk of poverty if they live in households with equivalised income below 60 per cent of the national household median” (p. 52)
In the same line of reasoning, Rod Hick and Alba Lanau (4) contend that
“in-work poverty is based on an evaluation of the total circumstances of a working household, considering not only earnings from employment but income from all sources, minus taxes, with income equivalised to take account of the differences in needs that different household types have, and with all household members classified as poor or non-poor” (p. 5)
Rod Hick and Alba Lanau (op. cit.) add that
“In-work poverty occurs when a working household’s total net income is insufficient to meet their needs”. (p. 5).
The common denominator from these definitions is that the household equivalised income should be below a certain level in order to start to speak about in-work or working poverty.
• • Reducing In-work or Working Poverty
There is a set of measures (both statutory and non-statutory) to help reduce in-work or working poverty in any country. There are as well initiatives taken by poor people/households themselves and organisations which go in the same direction of reducing this type of poverty.
As far as CENFACS is concerned, we work with users and Africa-based Sister Organisations through our Advice Service to direct the beneficiaries of this service to relevant support so that they can get the help they need in order to root in-work or working poverty out.
However, in these current conditions of COVID-19 lockdowns, many ways of improving in-work or working poor’s income prospects and conditions are closed or restricted, especially for those who would like this improvement happens by grabbing opportunities that the non-essential retail industry offers. One could hope that the easing of non-essential retail restrictions would help to bring some add-ons to the household equivalised income for some in-work or working poor working in this sector.
For those who would like to dip into in-work or working poverty with CENFACS, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.
Main Development
• Protection against the Negative Delayed Effects of the Coronavirus and Lockdowns
(Protection Key Note 2 for Week Beginning Monday 12/04/2021)
In any disaster of the magnitude of the coronavirus, there would be delayed effects due to shock waves. In this respect, the effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns are still to come since both of them are not over yet. We are still in sinusoidal cycle of the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus in many places. Likewise, we are still having intermittent closures and openings of economies and societies, especially for what it has been considered as non-essential retail activities.
In this policy of stop and go, close and open; no one exactly knows the scale of the damages or negative effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns until the war/fight against the coronavirus is really over. Until then, we will continue to have COVID-19 effects. Some of these effects are already known. Others will come on time as expected while other ones will be delayed or are delayed. The delayed ones would be fully known when economies and societies will be fully open and functioning, and the process of counting all damages will be finished.
In meantime, we can anticipate or speculate on some of the negative delayed effects that we may expect. Since we are in the area of probability or possibility, one can make theoretical assumptions about the kind of negative effects one may expect while taking into account what is already known so far about the coronavirus and lockdowns.
One can as well work on the kind of protection that is needed against these negative effects. Because CENFACS work on poverty reduction and sustainable development, we are going to limit ourselves to the kind of protection that is needed to handle the negative delayed effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns in the areas of poverty reduction and sustainable development.
• • Types of negative delayed effects that could be expected
We have identified the possible or probable areas of negative delayed effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns in relation to poverty reduction and sustainable development. The identified negative effects relate to organisations and individuals with whom CENFACS work. They can include the following:
loss of skills, capacities and capabilities; frozen and postponed bills; the increase of the stock of household waste; and the socio-economic effects of staying homes during the coronavirus lockdowns.
Let us look at them one by one.
• • • Loss of skills, capacities and capabilities
Although many organisations and individuals gain online and distance working skills, they are also those who lost their other areas of skills, capacities and capabilities. In this respect, it is difficult to assert that the coronavirus and lockdowns have been a win-win game. Instead, many would like see them as a zero sum game or simply a lost game for those who lost their skills, capacities and capabilities.
The losers are those who have not been able to home or distance work/study because of lack of means and opportunities. Many of those who also work in non-essential economic activities, physical close-contact services and non-essential travel and transport additionally bear the brunt of the coronavirus and lockdowns.
Since most of people and organisations we work with are in need, this implies that they would probably be on the losing side in terms of the effects of coronavirus and lockdowns on skills, capacities and capabilities. In other words, the coronavirus and lockdowns have not so far enhanced the skills, capacities and capabilities for these people and organisations. Instead, they have denied to them many opportunities for development.
• • • Frozen and postponed bills
Part of the arrangement during the COVID-19 crisis and lockdowns has been to reach a mutual understanding or mediation between service providers and users to freeze or postpone or spread out the payment of bills (such as utilities, rents, credits, etc.). When societies and economies come to term with the fight against the coronavirus and lockdowns, most of these frozen, postponed and spaced out payments could become overdue or enforceable or will just rebound. There will be negative effects for those who are unable to honour these owed bills.
• • • An increase of the household stock of recyclable waste
Since many of those recycling facilities have been working at a relatively low speed and high street retail recycling stores have been closed during the lockdowns, the normal process of recycling household personal items (such as clothes, light domestic appliances, etc.) which starts from household reducing the amount of unneeded and unused items has been stopped or sensibly reduced because of the coronavirus and lockdowns. With the reopening of non-essential economic activities, the true scale of household and environmental stock of waste will come to light.
• • • The cost of staying home during the coronavirus lockdowns
For those of our members of the community whose life depends on they going out to survive and seek support, staying home has unbearable consequences on them. If they do not have enough space, resources and other means; staying home could have led to various problems including psychological issues, tensions and conflicts over the share of space and limited resources. These problems that the coronavirus and lockdowns may have exacerbated could still develop and take different forms or shapes.
The above identified problems or negative delayed effects can harm or endanger the lives of the above named organisations and people in need. They can lead to further poverty and unsustainable development. Protection is needed to stop this happens.
• • Protection against negative delayed effects
The delayed effects could be positive, negative and neutral. In the context of these protection notes, we are interested in negative delayed effects or those results that will negatively affect the quality of life and the well-being of the organisations and people we work with, when these effects are fully known and counted.
• • • Protection against the loss of skills, capacities and capabilities
After losing skills, capacities and capabilities; it could mean one has become less able about what they were able to achieve. They may need to re-empower and rebuild themselves. They may as well need to be or self-protected against any harms and dangers that the skills, capacities and capabilities they had helped them to deal with these sorts of situation.
• • • Protection to meet the frozen and postponed bill payments
The true picture of the amount of the frozen and postponed bills will come when the real accountability and counting of all payments (due, in arrears and outstanding) are accounted for when the battle against the coronavirus and lockdowns are completely over. Defending the community and people to cover these bills so that they do not fall deep into poverty and unsustainable development should be thought about.
• • • Protection against climate inaction or for climate action relating to recyclable waste
Shielding from danger and keeping life safe are further about facilitating or enabling the community and people to get rid of unwanted and unneeded household items that put pressure on them and the environment. Protecting people and the community in this way will reduce climate inaction while encourage active climate action and the circular economy to grow.
• • • Protection to recover from the cost of staying home during the coronavirus lockdowns
Apparently, some may think that staying home help to save money. It could be true for those who have money to save. For those who do not have, staying home could be extremely costly. Recovering from this cost could mean mending the negative legacies of the coronavirus and lockdowns. One of the negative legacies within the community could be conflicts and tensions over the share of limited space and resources.
Working with the members of our community to overcome these internal conflicts, disputes and tensions can help relieve the situation in the short, medium and long terms. Likewise, working with them to improve the share of resources within their households could help guard them from poverty linked to unfair distribution of resources and assets.
The above areas of protection notes briefly illustrate the way in which one can protect themselves from the negative delayed effects of the coronavirus and lockdowns. For those who would like to enquire about these effects and their related protection, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.
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References
(2) Mark, I., Nolan, B. (2012). In-Work Poverty. AIAS, GINI Discussion Paper 51
(3) McKnight, A., Stewart, K., Himmelivert, S, & Palillo, M. (2016), Low Pay and In-work Poverty: Preventative Measures and Preventative Approaches, Evidence Review, May 2016
hpps://www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consutancy/consulting/assets/documents/Low-Pay-and-In-Work-Poverty.pdf (accessed April 2021)
(4) Hick, R. & Lanau, A. (2017), In-Work Poverty in the UK: Problem, policy analysis and platform for action, Cardiff University
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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 2021 and beyond.
With many thanks.
