Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
06 April 2022
Post No. 242
The Week’s Contents
• Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living
• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3.2 and the Effects of Rising Cost of Living
• Activity/Task 4 of the Knowledge (K) Project: Knowing the Kind of Protection that the Impacted of the Rising Cost of Living Need
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living
The cost of living has dramatically risen in many countries including here in the UK and parts of Africa where CENFACS‘ operation is located. The current rise in this cost has been the combination of various factors which include: the lingering effects of the coronavirus, the Russia-Ukraine war which has led to the increase in the price of energy and food, and recent rising prices of other utilities due to various factors.
When the prices of food and energy go up, the scenario is that there is a sort of contagion effect in the economy. The prices of other services (such as accommodation, transport, etc.), dissimilar utilities (e.g. phone), and goods will follow suit.
Whatever the origins and causes of the rising cost of living, it is important to find ways of solving this problem; at least to protect those without income or with less disposable income as they cannot afford to meet this rising cost of living.
It is well known that in this sort of context of rising and shocking prices and bills, often the poor and vulnerable bear the heavy brunt. Since many of them will turn to charities and the not-for-profit organisations to seek help and support, our April Month of Protection will be approached on the tone of developing and sustaining protection against the cost of living crisis. In particular, we shall look at protection against the rising prices of energy and food.
This is the context of our protection work for this April and possibly for this Spring 2022. It is also the first message of this week’s post. It is a message of protecting those without income or with less disposable income from the rising cost of living.
More on this message and the Month of Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living is covered under the Main Development section of this post.
• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3.2 and the Effects of Rising Cost of Living
The rise in the cost of living can have some detrimental effects on the efforts one can make in order to have climate protection. It can effect the implementation of climate protection and stake for children following the model of protecting children from climate proposed by CENFACS. Before looking at what kind of effect or challenge that the rising cost of living can bring to climate protection, let us remind you our plan about 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up.
• • Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation (TCPSACI) with Installation Sub-phase (Phase 3.2)
Last month, we started the planning process of the 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up. We informed you that the slogan for this 2022 follow-up would be: Sharm El-Sheikh Makes Children’s Dreams Come True.
Consisted of the 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up is our plan to engage with the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) from Monday 07 November to Friday 18 November 2022. This engagement or follow up will contribute to TCPSACI.
• • TCPSACI and the Effects of Rising Cost of Living
The rising prices of energy, food, water, rent and other services and utilities means that there could be a challenge to have protection of climate and the ozone layer. In other words, measures to control the emissions of greenhouse gases and gases that adversely affect the stratospheric ozone layer (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons and halons) could be jeopardised. If these measures have to be carried out, their cost could increase at this current level of cost of living.
The increase of their cost could also mean the cost of protecting children and future generations could increase since there could be a risk of shifting priorities from climate protection to protection to meet basic life-sustaining needs of food, shelter, energy, etc.
Because of that, we are working on ways of making sure that the rising cost of living does not increase the cost of protecting children or deprioritise climate protection.
For those who are interested in the effects of rise in the cost of living on climate protection, especially on climate protection and stake for children; they can share their views with CENFACS.
To support and or enquire about CENFACS’ TCPSACI and share your views on the effects of rising cost of living on climate protection, please contact CENFACS.
• Activity/Task 4 of the Knowledge (K) Project: Knowing the Kind of Protection that the Impacted of the Rising Cost of Living Need
To undertake Activity/Task 4 of the ‘K’ Project, we will be working to have some understanding and information about the types of protection that those who have been impacted by the rising cost of living may need.
When there is a rise in the prices of energy, food, water, rent and other services and goods; it affects the all range of needs to be met by people (here our users and those working with us). It also affects every area of protection linked to any of these services and utilities. However, to know how it affects them and the kinds of protection they may need; one needs to work with them in order to properly identify the level and quality of protection they may need.
Briefly, in the Activity/Task 4 of the ‘K’ Project, we shall undertake three sub-activities, which are:
a) Gathering information about the effects of rising costs of living on those in need
b) Finding out the kinds of protection or shield they may need against these effects, and
c) Working together with them so they can navigate their way out of these effects.
For those members of our community who will be interested in the effects of rising prices and bills on their cost of living and in sharing with us the types of protection they may need to counteract or overcome these effects, they are free to work with CENFACS.
To work with us on the effects of rising prices and bills on protection, please contact CENFACS.
Extra Messages
• Integrating the Rising Cost of Living into Zero Income Deficit Campaign
How to protect low income poor’s accounts from the rise of prices and bills
When the prices of utilities, services, and goods increase as well as bills go up; those with low income or who are simply poor have difficulties to cope with these rises. As part of CENFACS’ Zero Income Deficit Campaign, we would like to work with those of our members who want to consider these rises (from prices and bills) in their household accounts.
• • What we can do together
We will be step-by-step exploring ways to include the rise in the cost of living in various family or household financial statements (e.g. budget, balance sheet, surplus and loss account, etc.).
We will be looking at how this rise is impacting and will impact family or household accounts.
• • How this integration will be helpful to those in need
This integration will enable to add financial control on family or household accounts.
It can as well help to find out the extent to which the effects of the rise in the cost of living could exacerbate poverty experienced by our members.
It can finally indicate whether or not these effects will influence the transmission of poverty to future generations or simply intergenerational poverty.
For those members of our community who will be interested in this sort of activities or exercises, they are welcome to contact CENFACS for further information.
• Build Forward Better Donations Needed!!!
This Spring Relief season, we would like to take this opportunity to communicate to you our need of donations which is now greater than ever before. The lingering effects of the coronavirus and the cost of living crisis have put serious pressure on the finances and other areas of operations of many organisations including ourselves.
We need donations to help those who are still suffering from the legacies of the coronavirus and the current cost of living crisis so that they can build forward better cleaner, greener and safer.
We know that some of you have their income dropped because of the legacies of the coronavirus. The current cost of living crisis can only add more pressure on the way people earn and spend their income. However, for those who can, please do not hesitate to support as the need is still pressing and the stakes are still higher at this unprecedented time.
You could be a life-saver or changer this Spring.
We look forward to your support. Many thanks!
• E-discussion on Bills and Prices
You can share your experience of coping with the current rise in the prices of food and other household items. You can as well speak about your struggle to pay the recent percentage/rate increase in your utility bills and that of other services linked to your living expenses. What is good about this sharing?
• • The good thing about sharing
Your experience sharing will assist in knowing how the current rise in the cost of living is impacting you, the people around you (e.g. your family or household) and other people.
This experience sharing will also provide the data and facts for us together to organise an additional or new way of working with you and others to explore ways of reducing the impact of the cost of living crisis within the community.
Furthermore, we can raise awareness of your problem and advocate together your case so that those who are in a position to support you and the people around you can act.
To tell and share your experience of managing the impact of the rise in the cost of living, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
Plan de travail pour la mise en œuvre de la protection en avril 2022
Pour mettre en œuvre la protection en avril 2022, nous avons sélectionné quatre notes clés, qui sont données dans le tableau ci-dessous.
Ces notes seront élaborées à partir de tous les lundis d’avril 2022, comme prévu ci-dessus.
En outre, ce plan de protection doit être combiné avec l’aperçu des projets et programmes pour l’aide de printemps 2022 (que nous avons publié le 16 mars 2022 dans notre article n ° 239), qui comprend la protection de l’énergie et la sécurité pour les femmes et les enfants, et la protection contre la hausse des prix alimentaires et la pénurie.
À côté de ces notes sélectionnées et zones de protection, nous aimerions continuer à travailler sur d’autres domaines qui nécessitent également une attention particulière comme la protection contre le coronavirus ainsi que la protection de la flore et de la faune.
Pour plus de détails sur le Mois de la Protection du CENFACS, n’hésitez pas à contacter le CENFACS.
Main Development
• Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living
The following items make up the contents of Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living:
Context of protection in April 2022, What is the cost of living?, Identified areas of protection work and people to work with, Plan for the implementation of protection this April 2022, Protection against inflation from week beginning 04/04/2022, Protection against the coronavirus and Flora and fauna protection.
Let us briefly explain each of the above items making Protection in the Context of Rising Cost of Living.
• • Context of our protection work in April 2022
The context of our protection work in April 2022 is of rising cost of living in the UK and in some parts of Africa where we have operations. It is the economic situation in which there has been rise in the energy price cap in the UK, meaning that households using gas and electricity will pay more per year.
As the UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (1), which is the energy regulator, put it on 3 February 2022 by stating that
“The energy price cap will increase from 1 April for approximately 22 million customers. Those on default tariffs paying by direct debit will see an increase of £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 per year (difference due to rounding). Prepayment customers will see an increase of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017”.
It is also a time during which rent has been increased for renters and tenants together with utilities like water, council tax and other services (e.g. phone). This is without forgetting that the prices of food and transport have been increased as well.
Briefly, it is a context of rising bills and prices, of the rise in the cost of living during this April 2022, which has become the month of bill and price rises. April is generally the month of protection according to CENFACS‘ development calendar. But, what does cost of living mean?
• • Brief understanding of the cost of living
According to the ‘ecnmy.org’ (2) website,
“The cost of living is a measure of how much money it costs to live a fairly average quality of life. Economists measure the cost of living by looking at different cities or countries and adding up the prices of the goods that people need to live an average life – food, housing, transport, energy and healthcare and taxes. They then look to see where prices are on the whole are the most expensive”.
For example, the website ‘expatistan.com’ (3) provides calculation for the cost of living. As of April 2022, it has estimated that the cost of living in London (UK) for a family of four estimated monthly costs is £4,954, whereas the cost of living in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) for the same family is 8,356,890 Congolese Franc.
If this cost of living goes up as it is the case now and people’s income does not increase to match it, then there could be a cost of living crisis. What is the cost of living crisis?
The Institute for Government (4) defines the cost of living crisis as
“The fall in real incomes (that is, adjusted for inflation and tax) that the UK has experienced since late 2021. It is being caused by a combination of high inflation outstripping wage increases and upcoming tax increases that have squeezed incomes for many households”.
In these circumstances, there is a need of protection to help and support those who are failing to meet the rise in the cost of living. To support and work with those members of the CENFACS’ Community who are failing to meet their cost of living, we have identified some areas of protection work with them.
• • Identified areas of protection work and people to work with in this April 2022
Following a basic needs assessment relating to the effects of the cost of living within the community, we have identified the following areas and people to work.
• • • Identified areas of protection work
The preliminary results of our basic needs assessment suggest that we can start with the following areas of protection work:
Energy supplies protection, energy protection as transition away from fossil fuels (like coal, gas and oil), energy protection as a collective purchase/procurement, energy protection as a dilemma between environmental protection and energy access, protection of the energy poor, etc.
As one can notice, most of these areas of work are about energy protection. This is because most of the conversations within the community have been about the change in the energy price, which is quite unusual for many. People are also concerned with the increase in the price of food, but they are familiar with it. In the Plan for the implementation of protection this April 2022, we will consider other areas of protection rather than just working on energy protection.
• • • People to work with for April 2022 Protection
Early indication of our needs assessment also shows that we will be working with the following people who need support from the rising cost of living:
√ Those struggling with bills and prices
√ Those who need support to deal with the cost of living crisis
√ The severely impacted by inflation (both imported and domestic inflation)
√ Those with less or low disposable income
√ Those having less flexibility in their household budget
√ The energy poor
√ The food poor
√ The worst affected by the rising cost of living
√ The incapacitated by inflation
√ The other poor and vulnerable people
Etc.
• • Work Plan for the implementation of protection this April 2022
To implement protection this April 2022, we have selected four key notes, which are given in the table below.
These notes will be developed starting every Mondays of April 2022 as scheduled above.
Also, this plan of protection needs to be combined with the Preview of Projects and Programmes for Spring Relief 2022 (which we released on the 16th of March 2022 in our Post No. 239), which includes Energy Protection and Security for Women and Children, and Protection against Food Price Rises and Scarcity.
Besides these selected notes and areas of protection, we would like to keep on working on other areas that need particular attention too, like protection against the coronavirus as well as the protection of flora and fauna.
Before summarising these other areas of protection, let us look at the first selected key note of our plan, which is Protection against Inflation.
• • Week Beginning Monday 04/04/2022: Protection against Inflation
In this first key note, we would like those who are reading us and or supporting us to understand what we are talking about. To do that, we are going to briefly define inflation, explain what we mean by protection against inflation and how CENFACS can work with the community to strengthen their fences of protection against inflation.
• • • What is inflation?
According to Christopher Pass, Bryan Lowes and Leslie Davies (5), inflation is
“An increase in the general level of prices in an economy that is sustained over a period of time” (p. 248)
They also argue that
“The rate of inflation can be measured by using a consumers’ PRICE INDEX which shows the annual percentage change in consumer prices” (p. 248).
For example, the Office for National Statistics (6) in the UK stated that
“The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 5.5% in the 12 months to February 2022, up from 4.9% in the 12 months to January 2022 [in the UK]”.
This figure was released on 23 March 2022 by the UK’s Office for National Statistics. The next release will be on 13 April 2022.
With the current rise in the prices of energy (i.e. electricity, gas and water), food, rent, council tax, transport and other services and utilities in the UK; this figure could be bigger.
• • • Meaning of protection against inflation
Protection against inflation could mean many things to different people, organisations and institutions. In the context of this note, protection against inflation is an action of shielding income poor people from the lack of means to buy or access goods and services they need to basically sustain their life. They are unable to buy and access them because of a general rise in prices of these goods and services.
This inability to buy and access could mean that one is not protected from inflation wise. Likewise, threats, attacks and neglect to deny people, especially the poor ones, to buy or access these basic life-sustaining goods and services which have been inflated (or being subject to inflation) is in itself an indication of a lack of protection.
Briefly, protection against inflation is a system of shielding those who are in need of buying or accessing basic life-sustaining goods and services from economic attacks and uncontrollable market forces (such as weaponization of energy prices as a result of Russia-Ukraine conflict). It is a system that helps to economically keep safe those in need from the volatility of the prices of energy, food, transport, housing, etc.
Protection will help to deflect these negative forces that lead to a general increase in prices and the denial of poor people from buying and or accessing goods and services. In these circumstances, there could be a need to work with the inflation-stricken people, especially the poor ones, so that they can find the means to navigate their way to strengthening their protective system.
• • • Ways in which CENFACS can work with the community to strengthen their fences of protection against inflation
There is a number of ways in which CENFACS can work with the community to boost their protection against inflation, which include:
√ Budgeting their income, expenses and needs
√ Prices hunting, comparison and contrasting
√ Getting informed about the current and near-future measure of inflation and the state of the economy in which they live
√ Providing them with leads to safety nets for the poor
√ Advising them not to rely on borrowing in order to deal with inflation, instead to invest in anti-inflation assets and solutions to poverty
√ Suggesting them to use nature-based solutions to inflation (e.g. use clean energy instead of polluting energy)
√ Recommending them digital solutions to their payment problems (e.g. digital payment of energy) to save money and papers
√ Working with them to reduce and restructure their accounts to deal with inflation
√ Including inflation accounting in their decision making processes
√ Advising them how to react and prepare from warnings, notices and alert messages about future rises of prices (for example, notices about the increase of utilities)
√ Developing their foresight skills to interpret inflation warning signals, forecasts and projections (e.g. what inflation predictions mean for household budgets)
√ Building their financial literacy statistics and numeracy skills to enable them to read financial information pages about inflation (e.g. charts, tables, in brief infographics about inflation)
√ Organising activities or workshops to help them integrate the rate of inflation into household financial statements and plans
√ Improving their knowledge in terms of the key financial dates to save in the calendar (for example, the release date of the rate of inflation, the start and end of tax year, etc.)
√ Motivating them to follow news and information about prices, bills and particularly the evolution of inflation
√ Asking them to subscribe to free providers of financial information that touches their life (e.g. free subscription to magazines, papers and websites that provide information about bills and prices related to products they buy or use)
Etc.
All these ways of working with the community will help to protect them against inflation. This is because the more informed they are, the more they will find the tools, tips and hints they need in order to overcome inflation. It is all about working with them to improve the way they manage their income and life in order to overcome future upheavals of the financial and real economic markets.
• • Protection against the coronavirus
The coronavirus threat has not yet disappeared. This April, we will continue the protection work against the coronavirus pandemic since the coronavirus pandemic is still life-threatening and destroying despite the amount of efforts that have been deployed to reduce its far-reaching impacts.
We shall continue to maintain a healthy relationship between hands (e.g. washing our hands with sanitisers), faces (e.g. wearing face coverings if required), body (e.g. get vaccinated) and space (e.g. keeping indoor spaces ventilated). It is better not to give up the basic healthcare principles and any life-saving advice until the coronavirus threat disappears.
We will continue to follow the COVID-19 situation in the UK and in Africa via our shadowing model.
Our COVID-19 Campaign is still in its Phase 3 of Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Strategies for our work in the UK and in Africa.
This phase or stage includes the following sub-stages: recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity. We are dealing with the four sub-phases (i.e. recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity) at the same time since these sub-phases are interlinked. This concerns our actions relating to the two operations (in the UK and in Africa).
Further details about the COVID-19 Campaign can be found from CENFACS’ COVID-19 Hub for Poverty Reduction.
• • Protection of flora and fauna
This month, we shall as well revisit progress made so far in protecting animals and plants. We shall do it by recalling our Build Forward Better Flora and Fauna Projects, which were one of our XI Starting Campaign and Projects for Autumn 2021.
We will be doing it since we are in the Month of Protection and the Season of Spring Relief; season during which we are trying to Build Forward Better Greener, Cleaner and Safer. In this Month of Protection and Season of Spring Relief, we will not forget flora and fauna.
Indeed, we continue to advocate for the protection of animals (fauna) in Africa and elsewhere in developing world whereby animals get killed, traded and extinct to such extent that some species are at the brink of disappearing.
We are as well extending our advocacy to other species in danger like trees, plans and flowers (flora). It is about building forward these species that are threatened with extinction.
To advocate and raise your voice to build forward better endangered plant and animal species, contact CENFACS.
For any further details about CENFACS’ Month of Protection, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
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• References
(1) https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-increase-ps693-april (accessed in April 2022)
(2) https://www.ecnmy.org/learn/your-home/consumption/cost-of-living (accessed in April 2022)
(3) https://expatistan.com/cost-of-living/country/united-kingdom (accessed in April 2022)
(4) https://www.institutefor government.org.uk/explainers/cost-living-crisis (accessed in April 2022)
(5) Pass, C., Lowes, B. & Davies, L., (1988), Dictionary of Economics, HarperCollins Publishers, London & Glasgow
(6) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices (accessed in April 2022)
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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 2022 and beyond.
With many thanks.
