Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
28 July 2021
Post No. 206
The Week’s Contents
• Key Briefs on Happiness and Healthiness Projects in a Changing Climate and Enduring COVID-19
• July 2021 All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment (Level 3): Impact Feedback of XX236.3 F Programme
• Happiness and Healthiness Budgets 2021 – Holiday Budget Deficit: How to Sustainably Manage Budget Deficit in a Changing Climate and Enduring COVID-19
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Key Briefs on Happiness and Healthiness Projects in a Changing Climate and Enduring COVID-19
Our summer campaign about finding health relief and happy fulfilment continues this week with key summaries about Happiness and Healthiness Projects 2021. These summaries are about projects to keep children, young people and families happy and healthy over Summer under the conditions of mutating COVID-19 and changing climate.
These key briefs can be found under the Main Development section of this post. The full details of these projects are also available on request from CENFACS, including ways of accessing and using them.
To access and or support them, just contact CENFACS.
• July 2021 All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment (Level 3): Impact Feedback of XX236.3 F Programme
Unlike Impact Feedback of our 2020-2021 Programmes and Projects given by Users and Stakeholders, Impact Feedback of XX236.3 F Programme is provided by CENFACS to inform its audience (including users and stakeholders) about the progress it is making in terms of this programme.
• • What is this Impact Feedback from CENFACS about?
CENFACS’ Impact Feedback of XX236.3 F (2020 to 2030 to 2063 Follow up) Programme is about the observation on the following four key components of this follow-up programme:
(a) The Paris Treaty
(b) The Istanbul Declaration (although Turkey withdrew from this declaration)
(c) The United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals
(d) Africa’s Agenda 2063
This feedback also provides our feelings and what we would like (if we could) to be different regarding these four pieces frameworks of work.
Our observation, feelings and need of difference will be in terms of progress made so far concerning these frameworks. Our observation, feelings and need of difference are indeed in relation to the kind of work of poverty reduction we do since these global and international frameworks/initiatives greatly impact us. Our feedback is not an evaluation of these frameworks of work. What are our observation, feelings and need of difference?
• • Feedback about XX236.3 F Programme
The following summarises our feedback for XX236.3 F Programme.
(a) Implementation of the International Climate Change Agreement (or the Paris Treaty)
Although some progress has been made, the following are still holding the pace and speed of negotiations:
∝ The carbon market and non-market mechanisms
∝ Transparent communication on climate action
∝ The mobilisation of 100 billion dollars annually
∝ The phasing out of coal for energy
∝ The elimination of coal from power generation
∝ The Blue Congo Basin Fund for Africa to raise ambition on emission reduction
Etc.
The above is a list of some of the issues that are stumbling-blocks in the climate negotiations.
For the issues relating to CENFACS‘ climate advocacy and demand, one needs to refer to CENFACS’ Compendium of Climate Advocacy, which details them and which is available on request.
One can hope that the incoming 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), scheduled to be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021, will be an ideal rendezvous to alleviate some of these long running discussed issues. One can as well expect that the opposing views will be aligned by then in order to deliver on the Paris Treaty.
(b) The Istanbul Declaration
The 10th Anniversary of the Istanbul Convention (1) shows that implementation of the Istanbul Convention has impacted the lives of women and men, girls and boys in all diversity. It has helped to raise awareness of gender-based violence in society. This is despite some opposition to this convention. One can hope that the positive elements of this convention will prevail despite criticisms and oppositions.
As far as CENFACS is concerned, we continue to work on the issues that matter most for this convention so that gender poverty can be reduced and possibly eliminated within the community and the area of Africa we serve.
“Climate change is directly impacting Africa’s ability to realise its Sustainable Development Goals and its aspirations of Agenda 2063” (2)
(c) The United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals
Before the coronavirus pandemic broke out, there was some noticeable progress regarding some of the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets in many regions of the world including in Africa, even though this progress was uneven and not enough. Some goals and targets were on track and others off track; but the general pre-COVID-19 trend analysis was the Agenda 2030 was moving in a slightly right direction. Since the coronavirus pandemic stroke, there has been some doubt about the successful attainment of the 17 Goals and 169 targets of the United Nations 2030 Agenda by the 2030.
For example, the United Nations’ Children Fund and the World Health Organisation (3) have reported that childhood vaccination fall behind due to COVID-19. They have reported it in those terms:
“23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services in 2020, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019”
Despite this gloomy statement, CENFACS shall continue to work with its Africa-based Sister Organisations in order to help reduce COVID-19 induced poverty that is hampering the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
(d) Africa’s Agenda 2063
There has been noticeable progress regarding the 15 flagship projects of this Agenda. For example, the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area is now operational.
Despite this progress, there is still a need to transform well-thought array of intentions into concrete actions in order to meet most of the stated goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, such as economic development (including the eradication of poverty within one generation) within the planned time frame.
For example, in the executive summary of their publication entitled as ‘Africa 2030: Sustainable Development Goals within Social Boundaries’, the Sustainable Development Goals Centre for Africa (4) argues that
“COVID-19 adjusted forecasts reveal that nearly 460 million Africans are projected to remain poor in 2030. This translates into 8 in 10 of the world’s poor will be living on the African continent… 33 of the 36 countries in the low human development category are in Africa” (p. xi)
The above observation and feelings about Africa are important to CENFACS since most of its Africa-based Sister Organisations operate in Africa and are likely to be affected by any of the above developments. They are also important since their end-users are based in Africa. More than that we can only help to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development if we work together with local people and if these global and African frameworks facilitate our work in addressing some of the above mentioned issues.
• Happiness and Healthiness Budgets 2021 – Holiday Budget Deficit: How to Sustainably Manage Budget Deficit in a Changing Climate and Enduring COVID-19
We are continuing our tips and hints on Happiness Budget by looking at holiday budget deficit.
A deficit is generally defined as the amount by which expenditure is greater than real income. In terms of holiday budget deficit, it simply means that one’s holiday expenditure is more than holiday income. It is a negative balance which could suggest that there could be a need to finance it (here holiday budget deficit).
Yet, speaking about holiday budget deficit could seem bizarre since we are talking about poor people or those in need. These are the people who often struggle to make ends meet. They are the ones who often are short of money to tie the knots of the two ends of the month. Despite that any sensible humans should do some budgeting, here holiday budgeting.
Budgeting is forward thinking process that can help to coordinate the different areas of household life while defining responsibility and delegating powers within the same household. It is indeed an instrument for household control as well as a basis for decision making process and changing plans where there is a need to do so.
We will be working on the budgeting process with those who are struggling to make ends meet. We will be working on how to avoid and sustainably manage holiday budget in a Summer of Changing Climate and Mutating/Enduring COVID-19.
For those who are familiar with online tools, they can find countless examples of family or household budgets sometimes in the form of Microsoft Application Spread sheets. For those who are not familiar with these free available online resources, they can use CENFACS’ line of financial advisory support.
With the particularity of this Summer during which the Coronavirus is still threatening lives, there is a need to take into account the COVID-19 in dealing with budget deficit. In this need, one should not also forget the effects of changing climate.
So, we will be checking with them on which part of this deficit is attributable or not attributable to COVID-19 or climate change or both. This exercise enables to take into consideration the way in which COVID-19 and climate change are affecting their holiday budget in what they eat, drink, cover or uncover their body, entertain, shelter, etc.
To learn or seek support on how to avoid and sustainably manage holiday budget deficit or negative budget balance in Summer of changing climate and enduring COVID-19, please contact CENFACS.
Extra Messages
• Feedback on Summer Festival 2021 (the Seven Days of Development in July 2021 Festival): with a Focus on Coronavirus Debt and Deficit Management
How to reduce and/or cancel debts and deficits for the poor to make ends meet
The 13th Edition of our Summer Festival of Thoughts and Actions will end today.
Any contribution in the form of thoughts and comments to be provided need to be done by the 5th of August 2021. Please mail them to CENFACS at facs@cenfacs.org.uk and or by completing the comment form on our website by 05/08/2021.
Thank you for your support.
• All-in-one Impact Feedback: Only Three Days to Go!
Supporters’ and Users’ Experiences, and Africa-based Sister Organisations’ Voices
Our Analytics month of bringing light to what worked, what did not work and of measuring what we achieved in our last financial year is coming to an end in three days. We are therefore appealing again to you to tell us in your own words, numbers and info-graphics your perceptions, feelings and experiences about the programmes and projects we ran in the last 345 days preceding the beginning of July 2021.
Although we have selected 12 initiatives for Impact Feedback One and 9 ones for Impact Feedback Two for monitoring and evaluation purposes, we are not expecting people to provide feedback on all of them. People can only feedback on the project(s) and programme(s) they benefited from, supported, recommended users to us or interacted within. We again suggest picking up ONLY 1 or 2 initiatives for feedback.
Please feel free to say what you experienced.
Again, thank you for your experiential support!
• E-Workshop: Run Project and Olympic Athletics
How to do analytics and integrate data patterns from the Olympic Athletics into your Run Project
As part of CENFACS’ All Year Round Run Project (that is, Run to Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2021), we can work together to support those who are or would like to run or organise a run activity to help reduce poverty in 2021. We can do it while referring to the data from the Olympic Athletics (e.g. the currently held Tokyo 2020 Olympics) and integrate their data and other information into your model of running to reduce poverty.
The e-workshop will include the following:
∝ Research and development activity (i.e. investigation leading to the discovery of techniques and products to apply your Run project)
∝ Organisation of an event (e.g. a run or race event)
∝ Other things to consider in the organisation of your event such as location, engagement in activities, prizes (rewards for participants), COVID-19 health and safety issues, child protection policy if children are involved , insurance cover, budget, etc.)
∝ Analyse and interpretation of data patterns
∝ Miscellaneous support (e.g. how to integrate COVID-19 restrictions and climate change constraint; how to choose run themes; running options including running alone or as a group, running for fun or fundraising or raising awareness, etc.)
∝ Report activity (including visualisation of your Run project)
At the end of this analytics process, one will have enough tools and techniques at their disposal to enable them in their decision about the Best African Global Games Runners and Agents of Poverty Reduction 2021.
For further details about this analytics e-workshop, please contact CENFACS.
Main Development
• Key Briefs on Happiness and Healthiness Projects in a Changing Climate and Enduring COVID-19
• • 2021 Edition of Summer of Happiness, Healthiness, Peace, Vulnerability-free, Protection and Sustainability
This 2021 Edition is out now and trending. In this edition, the 2021 Happiness and Healthiness Projects may have kept the same names for some of these projects like in the previous Summers, but their contents reflect this year’s themes of happiness and healthiness in a changing climate and mutating/enduring COVID-19.
These projects are as follows:
1) Build Forward Happy and Healthy Summer Break
2) Holiday with Relief with a focus on ‘Restricted Holiday’
3) Summer Harmony with Nature
4) Hot Barriers to Build Forward Better
5) Networking for Protection and Safeguarding against COVID-19
6) Build Forward Better Community Care and Health Responsibility
They are the combination of skills, knowledge, resources, tools, fixers, enhancements, boosters and tasters for poverty relief. They consist of
Two resource projects (Family Happiness and Healthiness Mini-Guide, and Holiday Information Manager)
One communication-protection project (Networking Platform for Happiness and Healthiness)
One environmental campaign (Summer Harmony with Nature)
One barrier-gesture project (Hot Barriers to Build Forward Better)
One Personal/Family Healthcare Plan (Build Forward Better Community Care and Health Responsibility)
We have considered the effects of climate change all over our Summer 2021 Programme. In other words, all the six Happiness and Healthiness Projects will have green, sustainable and climate changing contents. They will be aligned with greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and targets. The consideration of the effects of climate change all across is what makes Summer 2021 of a zero or neutral carbon one.
This is done to help improve life evaluation while taking actions to enhance the same life in a changing climate. In this way, Summer can be a season of Happiness and Healthiness NOT of Misery for un-served and under-served children, young people and families who are at the same time the victims of the adverse effects of climate change.
They are the victims of adverse effects of climate change because climate change affects the way they dress, eat, house, educate, entertain, care for their health, and above all the way they pass Summer holiday.
We can briefly present these projects one by one as follows.
• • Key Briefs on Happiness and Healthiness Projects
Here are the key briefs on the Happiness and Healthiness Projects making the 2021 Summer Programme Part II. As said previously, these projects can help in achieving some happy, helpful, healthful and hopeful Summer plans, goals and outcomes.
••• 1) Build Forward Happy and Healthy Summer Break (Family Happiness and Healthiness Mini-Guide)
Happiness comes when one experiences a feeling of enjoyment or positivity. As to healthiness, let us argue that being healthy means running a healthful lifestyle to reduce the possibility or risk of getting disease. Having a good rest over Summer can help achieve both happiness and healthiness.
Happy and Healthy Summer Break (HHSB), which is CENFACS’ Family Happiness and Healthiness Mini-Guide, is designed to this joyful and disease-free healthful lifestyle to happen. HHSB is an effort to keep our diet, lifestyle, and ways of consuming goods and using services happy and healthy. It means happy and healthy life in foods, drinks, hobbies, entertainment, etc.
To build forward happy and healthy Summer break, and or get this Family Happiness and Healthiness Mini-Guide, please contact CENFACS.
••• 2) Holiday with Relief with a focus on ‘Restricted Holiday’ (Holiday and COVID-19 Information Manager)
One of the concerns for many people and families is how to pass this Summer under the restrictions of COVID-19, climate change and other restrictions.
Holiday with Relief with a focus on ‘Restricted Holiday’ (or Holiday & COVID-19 Information Manager) is the awareness, preparedness and solutions-focused Resource to Manage Information for the Summer holiday of restrictions. It contains a set of tips and tricks to help and enable vulnerable unaware people to plan their holiday or break with confidence, in taking into account all aspects of life and by making sure that key areas of those life aspects are not adversely affected.
Holiday and COVID-19 Information Manager is CENFACS’ resource that adds value to the health and hygienic support to the already known World Health Organisation guidelines, the UK Government’s rules and the National Health Service guidance on the protection against the coronavirus pandemic.
This health section of Holiday and COVID-19 Information Manager helps to practise, comply and reinforce the exiting anti-coronavirus restrictions and measures in a user-friendly manner. It is a COVID-19 compliant support in a user-friendly way.
For further details about this Holiday and COVID-19 Information Manager, please contact CENFACS.
••• 3) Summer Harmony with Nature (Summer Campaign over Nature)
Summer of Happiness and Healthiness is also of accord with nature with its creatures. Keeping a harmonious relationship with leaves, plants, animals, landscapes and surrounding natural species (like trees, plants, waters, parks, etc.) and resources adds a great value to our happiness and healthiness. In other words, it is about equating our needs of happiness and healthiness to those of the nature.
Living in harmony with nature means that we do not need another spike of COVID-19 outbreak or a lockdown to happen in order to be silent by the nature. Humans can preemptively take the lead by keeping their relationships as harmonious as possible for future viruses or lockdowns not to happen.
Need to keep harmony with nature, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS’ Summer Campaign over Nature.
••• 4) Hot Barriers to Build Forward Better (“Barrier-gesture” Project)
Although most people got their two jabs of COVID-19 vaccine in the UK, the coronavirus pandemic is still mutating or enduring. Because of that, it is important to keep tight control of fences or barriers to stop or prevent the circulation of COVID-19 and of the new COVID-19 variants.
Removing our elevated barriers against Covid-19 can open up the possibility of COVID-19 spikes within any community. If we want to build forward better, then we need to keep those sensible and life-saving barriers for as long as COVID-19 and its new variants are posing threats to or endangering our lives.
Hot Barriers to Build Forward Better against COVID-19 or “Barrier-gesture” Project is a life-saving and sustaining gesture for our own and public interest and goods. Barrier-gestures (like physical and social distancing) must be kept elevated during this Summer as the threat of COVID-19 and its new variants are real and still around.
To find out further about this Happiness and Healthiness Project, please contact CENFACS.
••• 5) Networking for Protection and Safeguarding against COVID-19 (COVID-19 Social Media Platform)
Networking for Protection and Safeguarding against COVID-19 is a CENFACS Media Platform to facilitate the flows of information and communication in order to keep local children, young people and families (CYPFs) out of the threats, troubles, attacks and challenges of everyday life and during the Summertime of changing climate and mutating COVID-19.
Networking for Protection and Safeguarding against COVID-19 is about improving the Flow of Information over the Summertime amongst us and other stakeholders by gaining access to mutual support, facilities, services and resources in order to protect and safeguard multi-dimensional deprived CYPFs.
It is not enough to carry out our individual actions against COVID-19 unless we sum up them by coming together in the form of social connections as human chains. Such connections or network will help to exchange information and data for the mutual interest and collective defence.
Networking for Protection and Safeguarding against COVID-19 or COVID-19 Social Media Platform is a means to access and facilitate the flows of information about the protection and safeguarding against COVID-19. Through this means, one can receive and pass on protective and safeguarding information about COVID-19 within a networked community.
To network for protection and safeguarding against COVID-19, please let CENFACS know.
••• 6) Build Forward Better Community Care and Health Responsibility (Personal/Family Healthcare Plan)
Build Forward Better Community Care and Health Responsibility is a combination of the support to people to live with care and dignity in our community on the one hand, and our shared responsibility for the public health on the other.
Through this Personal/Family Healthcare Plan, we will try to reduce lifestyle-induced diseases for ourselves and others while promoting our own health without adversely impacting the health of others and future generations. Community care and responsibility imply as well whatever we do we must comply with COVID-19 restrictions. For example, when we do physical exercising we must maintain COVID-19 restrictions.
We can use this Happiness and Healthiness initiative to create a COVID-19 Proof Wellness or Healthcare Plan. Such a plan will include the following: health vision and goals, lifestyles habits, follow-up tips and checks.
For further details about Build Forward Better Community Care and Health Responsibility, please contact CENFACS.
The above six interlinked ways/projects of creating and sustaining Happiness and Healthiness in a Summer of changing climate and mutating/enduring COVID-19 do not replace any good advice and practice (like the ones produced by statutory health organisations on COVID-19 matters). They just add value to what it is already in place. They are to be used in conjunction with the existing other measures to bring happiness as well as health and safety measures.
For further details about any of these projects, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
We would like to wish all multi-dimensionally Poor Children, Young People and Families Happy, Healthy, Vulnerability-free, Peaceful, Safe and Sustainable Summer Days.
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References
(1) https://www.politica-en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/10/istanbul-convention-op-ed-final.pdf (accessed July 2021)
(2) https://www.uneca.org/stories/africa-day-2021-for-nature-and-for-african-people (accessed July 2021)
(3) COVID-19 pandemic leads to major backsliding on childhood vaccinations, new WHO, UNICEF data shows (accessed July 2021)
(4) The Sustainable Development Goals Centre for Africa (2021), Africa 2030: Sustainable Development Goals within Social Boundaries, Leave No One Behind Outlook (https://sdgafrica.org)
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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.
