Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
09 November 2022
Post No. 273
The Week’s Contents
• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2022 Edition: Financial Stability – How to find financial stability in unstable economic conditions
• 2022 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No.5 from Week beginning 07/11/2022: Safekeeping of Crossley’s Ground-Thrush
• Data Skills to Run your Household – In Focus from Wednesday 09/11/2022: Data Security Skills
… And much more!
COMING NEXT WEEK:
The 13th Women and Children FIRST Development Day (in short Development Day) will take us an extra mile from last year’s Development Day, which was on Foresight Skills. This year, we will be thinking of and celebrating our Crisis Response Skills.
After improving our capacity to predict and forecast future risks and crises as well as plan actions based on improved knowledge, estimations and prospect; we can try to apply this improved capacity and knowledge to respond to crises (like the cost-of-living crisis, debt crisis, climate change crisis, biodiversity crisis, etc.). In fact, the majority of us is already responding to the cost-of-living crisis and other ones.
The Development Day provides the opportunity to exchange and celebrate what we have successfully done to respond to crises. It also offers an occasion to improve our crisis response skills if our responses fall short.
What’s more, by dealing with skills, this year’s Development Day will resonate with November month of Skills Development within CENFACS.
For further information and how to engage with the Development Day, please contact CENFACS.
Key Messages
• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2022 Edition: Financial Stability
How to find financial stability in unstable economic conditions
Financial Stability (FS) is a dream for many people, including the members of CENFACS Community. Yet, many of these people are finding the realisation of this dream difficult or impossible, particularly in the current state of the economy.
The current economic conditions are those of rising interest rates, skyrocketing inflation and soaring costs of living. And predictions are that the impact brought by the current conditions will continue to grow to end 2022 and be at their peak in the first quarter of 2023.
As a result of the above difficult conditions, there is an increase in demand for services from beneficiaries. One of the services in demand is their need for financial stability.
The 2022 Edition of Festive Income Booster (FIB) is about how we can work with these people making our community so that they can navigate through these unstable economic conditions in order to create financial stability for their households and/or families. In other words, it is about how these people can have enough income that cover their living expenses and debts while creating savings for emergencies.
From the above understanding of financial stability, the 2022 Edition of Festive Income Booster deals with financial stability from the micro-economic perspective of the perception of ordinary people and families in terms of what financial stability means for them. This perception of financial stability has to be differentiated from the macro-economic considerations that link financial stability to financial systems of the economy.
During this long festive period, many of our users will be working towards financial stability by finding ways of having enough income to cover their festive expenses and debts while saving for emergencies. To help this search for FS, the 2022 Edition of FIB resource provides multi-dimensional income poor children, young people and families (CYPFs) with some tips, hints and hacks to work out their FS over the festive period and beyond.
Throughout the festive period and beyond this period, we shall work with CYPFs in their journey in finding the financial stability they need. We shall work with them through financial stability tools, advice, tips and hints so that they can position themselves to enter the year 2023 in a financially stable way.
More information about this year’s Edition of Festive Income Booster has been provided under the Main Development section of this post.
• 2022 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No.5 from Week beginning 07/11/2022: Keeping Crossley’s Ground-Thrush Safe
Crossley’s Ground-Thrush, which is a species of bird in the family of Turdidae, is found in Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Since sometimes, the species has become rare and is threatened by forest loss, habitat encroached, clearance of the montane and semi-montane forests (e.g., in Western Cameroon), etc. It is listed as endangered on ‘earthsendangered.com’ (1). As a result, there is need to keep this species safe.
• • What is keeping Crossley’s Ground-Thrush safe?
It is about the following:
√ Keeping the population of Crossley’s Ground-Thrush safe from threats of extinction
√ Reversing their habitat loss
√ Reducing the impact of climate change on Crossley’s Ground-Thrush
√ Cutting direct anthropogenic mortality that impacts on bird population, including Crossley’s Ground-Thrush
Etc.
Our understanding of what is safekeeping of Crossley’s Ground-Thrush can lead to specific safekeeping actions.
• • Actions for Keeping Crossley’s Ground-Thrush Safe
The actions we are going to list below come from ‘BirdLife International (2). They are:
√ Carry out surveys to assess the total population size of Crossley’s Ground-Thrushes
√ Monitor their regular population trends
√ Keep track of rates of habitat loss and degradation
√ Protect suitable habitat for the species
Etc.
The above actions will help in keeping safe Crossley’s Ground-Thrush, which is near endangered bird species in Africa.
To take actions and/or find out more about this fifth composed note and/or the entire “A la une” Campaign, please contact CENFACS.
• Data Skills to Run your Household – In Focus from Wednesday 09/11/2022: Data Security Skills
Our campaign on data skills that a typical household or family can use for its effective and efficient running continues with Data Security Skills. To identify these skills, one may need to know the meaning of data security.
• • What is data security?
Data security can have many definitions. Since, we are in the era of digital technology and of households that are becoming free from illectronism (that is, the lack or total absence of knowledge relating to the use of electronic resources), we have selected a digital definition of data security of this era. This definition, which comes from ‘ibm.com’ (3), is the following one:
“Data security is the practice of protecting digital information from unauthorised access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle. It is a concept that encompasses every aspect of information security from the physical security of hardware and storage devices to administrative and access controls, as well as the logical security of software applications. It also includes organisational policies and procedures”.
There are different types of data security including encryption, data erasure, data masking, and data resiliency.
Clearly speaking, the above-mentioned definition applies to members of households who use digital technologies. We can assume that most members of our community have some touch on computer and digital devices to carry on their daily life. If so, they handle information using the digital tools or means.
Whether they digitally store and secure their data or not, this is a matter of investigation. If they do, then they may need digital skills to store and secure their data. Those who are not digitally skilful or literate will need non digital skills to store and secure their data. Others will require both digital and non-digital skills. What are those data security skills?
• • Data Security Skills to Run your Household
There is a range of skills that a typical household making our community can use to secure its data. To summarise, we can list the following data security skills:
√ Identification skills to spot threats and risks to the household’s data security system
√ Problem-resolution skills
√ Support skills in risk assessment
√ Skills for incident response and reporting
√ Data maintenance skills
√ Data control skills for those who are data controllers within their households
Etc.
These skills will apply whether a household is using a digital or non-digital way of securing its information or data. Likewise, the types of skills that people making this household possess could matter.
For example, in a household (with online security skills) where people are digitally skilled or digitally statistical literate, they may find easy to apply data security using digital devices. They may be able to spot potential attacks on their online accounts.
These skills will depend on the types and levels of digital and cyber-security threats and risks from within and outside a given household.
For instance, if the household uses an online device or technology to store their data, data security skills relating to online threats and risks will apply in case there is any online security breaches or threats (like cyber-attack, hacking, scamming, any malicious software trying to access household’s data, etc.) or to respond to an incident. If the household uses non digital or non-computerised system of storing their data, they will have to find a method to secure their data as well.
To sum up, having or acquiring the skills to protect data that runs your household is important in the process of reducing poverty.
• • CENFACS’ Digital and Social Media Campaign to enhance the community’s data security status
CENFACS run a Digital and Social Media Campaign. Inside this campaign, we have level 2 which is about IT (Information and Telecommunications) and Online Security, and level 3 which deals with Digital Infrastructure, Security and Defence.
Through these two levels of our campaign, we can enhance Data Security Skills for those members of our community who are in need of those skills. These two levels of digital security campaign are about campaigning to protect the community against cyber-security crimes and digital threats. They also speak about anti-virus devices and software to protect the community.
For those community members of our community who will be interested in Data Security Skills to Run their Household, they can contact CENFACS. CENFACS can work with them to enhance their Data Security Skills to Run their Household.
To get further insight into Skills Development Month at CENFACS, please continue to read our weekly posts.
Extra Messages
∝ Appeal to End Sexual Violence in Conflicts in Africa
∝ Work on Financial Security for the Poor Continues…
∝ Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation with Installation Sub-phase (Phase 3.2)
• Appeal to End Sexual Violence in Conflicts in Africa
This is an appeal to support the survivors of sexual violence in conflicts (like in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo).
The appeal is about backing the International Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Conference to be hosted by the UK Government in central London from 28 to 29 November 2022.
Through this appeal, we hope the work and progress that have already been done on this matter will continue and advance. In particular, we can expect the following:
√ Sharing ideas and experiences about the fight against sexual violence in conflicts
√ Helping the victims and survivors of sexual violence
√ Supporting and increasing support to African organisations based in Africa and in the Diaspora working on this issue in their mission to end sexual violence in armed conflicts in Africa
√ Increasing contributions to the Global Survivors Fund and Foundation so that more and better help can be provided to the victims and survivors of atrocities linked to armed conflicts
Etc.
Please support this appeal to restore and save broken lives as a result of armed conflicts in Africa.
We look forward to your support to help the victims and survivors of sexual violence in armed conflicts and end this violence in Africa.
To discuss or enquire about this appeal, please contact CENFACS.
Thank you!
• Work on Financial Security for the Poor Continues…
We are carrying on working on some of the topics highlighted in the 77th Issue of FACS. In particular, we are dealing with the Survey and E-discussion aspects of this Issue relating to Financial Security for the Poor.
• • Financial Security Survey
The purpose of this survey is to collect information from a sample of our user households on their assets and liabilities in order to measure their liquidity ratio (that is, Current Assets to Current Liabilities). This benchmark measure will enable to determine their financial health. Participation to this survey is voluntary.
As part of the survey, we are running a questionnaire which contains some questions. Three of these questions are:
√ How do you feel in terms of financial security?
√ How confident are you to cover any unexpected expenses?
√ Is your emergency/reserve fund enough for the next 3 months?
You can respond and directly send your answer to CENFACS.
To help people respond, they can think of any coping strategies to achieve the aim of financial security. Coping strategies are defined by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Food Programme (4) as
“Activities to which people resort in order to obtain food, income and/or other essential goods or services when their normal means of livelihood have been disrupted or other shocks/hazards affect their access to basic needs” (p. 40).
These strategies can be crisis-, emergency- and livelihood-coping.
You can refer to this definition and respond by putting it into the context of financial security.
• • E-discussion on Financial Skills, Diligence, Prudence, Foresight and Financial Poverty Reduction
To reduce financial poverty, it requires a degree of financial skills, diligence, prudence and foresight from the poor.
For those who may have any views or thoughts or even experience to share with regard to above-mentioned items (i.e., financial skills, diligence, prudence and foresight) making financial security, they can join our e-discussion to exchange their views or thoughts or experience with others.
To e-discuss with us and others, please contact CENFACS.
• Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation with Installation Sub-phase (Phase 3.2)
• • Following up the Climate Talks that are Taking Place in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt)
We are following up the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which is taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt). We are following it while keeping in mind CENFACS’ Compendia of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, which summarises the key points forming the basis for our climate advocacy.
The slogan for this 2022 follow-up is: Sharm El-Sheikh Makes Children’s Dreams Come True. One can hope that the talks or discussions in Sharm El-Sheikh will deliver on the pledges made so far and make climate protection and stake for children and future generations happen.
For those who have any queries or need any details (e.g., our follow-up plan) about this 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up, they are free to get in touch with CENFACS.
To support and or enquire about CENFACS’ CPSAC (Climate Protection and Stake for African Children) and its sub-phase 3.2, please contact CENFACS.
To find out more about CENFACS’ Compendia of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, please also communicate with CENFACS.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Augmentation festive des revenus –
Point de mire de l’édition 2022: Stabilité financière
Comment trouver la stabilité financière dans des conditions économiques instables
La stabilité financière est un rêve pour beaucoup de gens, y compris les membres de la communauté CENFACS. Pourtant, beaucoup de ces personnes trouvent la réalisation de ce rêve difficile, voire impossible, en particulier dans l’état actuel de l’économie. Les conditions économiques actuelles sont celles d’une hausse des taux d’intérêt, d’une inflation galopante et d’une flambée du coût de la vie.
Et les prévisions sont que l’impact apporté par les conditions actuelles continuera de croître jusqu’à la fin de 2022 et sera à son apogée au premier trimestre de 2023.
En raison des conditions difficiles susmentionnées, il y a une augmentation de la demande de services de la part des bénéficiaires. L’un des services en demande est leur besoin de stabilité financière.
L’édition 2022 de l’Augmentation festive des revenus traite de la façon dont nous pouvons travailler avec ces personnes faisant partie de notre communauté afin qu’elles puissent naviguer dans ces conditions économiques instables de manière à créer une stabilité financière pour leurs ménages et / ou leurs familles. En d’autres termes, il s’agit de savoir comment ces personnes peuvent avoir un revenu suffisant pour couvrir leurs frais de subsistance et leurs dettes tout en créant des économies pour les urgences.
À partir de la compréhension ci-dessus de la stabilité financière, l’édition 2022 de l’Augmentation festive des revenus traite de la stabilité financière du point de vue micro-économique de la perception des personnes et familles modeses en termes de ce que la stabilité financière signifie pour elles. Cette perception de la stabilité financière doit être différenciée des considérations macroéconomiques qui lient la stabilité financière au système financier de l’économie.
Pendant cette longue période festive, plusieurs de nos bénéficiaires travailleront à la stabilité financière en trouvant des moyens d’avoir suffisamment de revenus pour couvrir leurs dépenses et leurs dettes festives tout en épargnant pour les urgences.
Pour aider à la recherche de la stabilité financière, l’édition 2022 de la ressource ‘Augmentation festive des revenus’ fournira aux enfants, aux jeunes et aux familles multidimensionnels pauvres en revenus quelques conseils, astuces et tuyaux pour élaborer leur stabilité financière pendant la période des fêtes et au-delà.
Tout au long de la période des fêtes et au-delà de cette période, nous travaillerons avec ces personnes pauvres dans leur cheminement pour trouver la stabilité financière dont elles ont besoin. Nous travaillerons avec elles par le biais d’outils de stabilité financière, de conseils, de tuyaux et d’astuces afin qu’elles puissent se positionner pour aborder l’année 2023 de manière financièrement stable.
Pour plus d’informations sur l’édition d’Augmentation festive des revenus de cette année, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.
Main Development
• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2022 Edition: Financial Stability
How to find financial stability in unstable economic conditions
The following makes the contents for the 2022 Edition of Festive Income Booster (FIB):
∝ What the 2022 FIB resource is about
∝ Who the 2022 FIB resource is for
∝ Key Concepts
∝ Main Highlights
∝ Resources and services to help the community establish financial stability
∝ What other highlights it covers
∝ What’s more?
∝ How to access this resource.
• • What the 2022 FIB resource is about
It is about helping beneficiaries…
√ Get tools to become financially stable
√ Become more resilient to financial stresses
√ Dissipate financial imbalances within household system of running finances
√ Better manage financial risks and threats
√ Become capable of dealing with economic instability (like rising interest rates, skyrocketing inflation and soaring costs of living)
√ Correct the effects of the increase in the costs of essential spending and of living crisis caused by monetary or price instability
√ Take control of their financial stability and well-being
√ Establish financial stability report by the end of 2022
√ Understand that financial stability is intergenerational
Etc.
• • Who the 2022 FIB resource is for
Festive Income Boost is for Multi-dimensionally Income Poor Children, Young People and Families (MIPCYPFs) and it is designed to support them throughout the entire festive season and beyond. Amongst them are:
√ Financially unstable MIPCYPFs
√ Those without financial peace of mind and with financial stress levels above average
√ Those experiencing deteriorating financial conditions
√ Those without household cohesion and connection because of lack of financial stability
√ Those looking to improve their financial well-being and happiness
Etc.
• • Key Concepts
There are three key concepts to help the users of the 2022 FIB resource.
These key concepts are: Financial Stability, Emergency Fund and Unstable Economic Conditions.
(a) Financial Stability
The 2022 FIB resource uses an online definition of Financial Stability as given by ‘europeanbusinessreview.com’ (5) which argues that
“While there is no one-size-fits-all definition of financial stability, there are a few key components that are essential for most families. These include having enough income to cover basic expenses, paying off debts with the help of professionals […], and having savings for emergencies”.
This definition will help us to work with beneficiaries on how they are trying to apply these three components of financial stability.
(b) Emergency Fund
In the 2022 FIB resource, the meaning of emergency fund comes from ‘fqmom.com’ (6) which provides the following definition:
“Emergency fund is the amount of money you should keep in fixed income products that you can easily withdraw if emergencies happen”.
Although it is a challenge for MIPCYPFs to create an emergency or reserve fund, the 2022 FIB resource provides ways of working with these people so that they can develop habit of creating an emergency or reserve funds to help for the unexpected situation.
(c) Unstable Economic Conditions
To understand unstable economic conditions, one may need to know the meaning of economic conditions. Our definition of economic conditions comes from ‘corporatefinanceinstitute.com’ (7) which states that
“Economic conditions are the present state of affairs in the overall economy of a country or geographical region. The conditions evolve over time through various business and economic cycles”.
These conditions can be stable or unstable. Economic instability can come from various factors. According to ‘study.com’ (8),
“Economic instability [then] occurs when the factors that influence an economy are out of balance. When an economy becomes unstable, there is inflation, which is a decrease in the value of money. This leads to higher prices, higher unemployment rates, and general angst among consumers and businesses that are trying to survive financially”.
This definition of economic instability will be used in this 2022 FIB and in our work with beneficiaries.
The above three key terms or concepts (Financial Stability, Emergency and Unstable Economic Conditions) and any others (like monetary or price instability) will be considered when one is trying to navigate their way through to build financial stability.
• • Main Highlights
As the focus for this year’s edition is on Financial Stability, the resource includes the following items:
∝ Tools to become financially stable
∝ How to take control of your financial well-being through financial stability
∝ How to create enough income to cover basic festive expenses (e.g., by avoiding impulse festive buying)
∝ How to enable yourself to pay debts over the festive period (e.g., by carrying out a debt-to-income analysis)
∝ How to build savings for emergencies or emergency funds to cover unexpected festive costs
∝ How to generate enough income while cutting unneeded expenses to cover basic festive costs
∝ How to invest in long-term financial stability goals
∝ End-of-the-year earning opportunities and openings to create Financial Stability
∝ How to earn and save money during the cost-of-living crisis
∝ Online and offline opportunities from both essential and non-essential economic activities
∝ How to successfully create Financial Stability during the festive season
∝ Tips and hints to make savings for your Financial Stability.
For example, how can you improve your spending habits and plans to avoid impulse buying during the festive season?
• • Resources and services to help the community establish financial stability
They include
√ Bridging Financial Information Gap (service)
√ Summer Financial Updates (resource)
√ Signposting beneficiaries to low-cost and free financial advice services
√ Zero Income Deficit Campaign
√ Financial advocacy (e.g., discuss a workable debt repayment plan with creditors)
√ Financial advice on how to create emergency or reserve fund, to set realistic financial stability goals and targets and so on
√ Help and support in terms of financial stability planning, budgeting, financial statistical literacy
Etc.
• • What other highlights it covers
The resource covers some ways of dealing with the following:
√ Casual job interview questions (online, video calls and distance job interviews)
√ Seasonal job search techniques (for both online and offline searches)
√ Job search engines and leads
√ Guidance on job applications and CV
√ Reference building techniques
√ How to highlight your skills in your job application and or CV
√ Job adverts and alerts
√ Credit history or score
√ Diary of online job fairs and events
√ Job matching to person specification and profile
√ Online job fraud and employment agency scams
√ Details can potential employers ask and not ask as well as how they can ask them
√ What details to provide and not to provide in your job enquiries and when filling job applications
Etc.
It goes further in exploring e-skills as well as stages and steps that poor families can take to skill up themselves.
In addition, the resource covers security and protection matter when trying to organise Financial Stability or generate a little extra income to make ends meet. In this respect, it deals again with the general data protection regulations, child protection and safeguarding issues as well as COVID-19 restrictions for jobs where these requirements apply.
The resource does not stop there as it includes online employment agency scams and job advert scams which sometimes has dramatically increased in today’s world and employment market as there are always unscrupulous players (scammers, hackers and fraudsters) on the market who try to take advantage of the poor and vulnerable people like MIPCYPFs.
• • What’s more?
The resource is packed with insights such as income statement, balance sheet. net worth asset value, etc. It finally reminds us of the areas of law or legal requirements in terms of whatever we do to try to create Financial Stability or raise additional household income to reduce poverty. We should always try to lawfully act and live within our means.
• • How to access this resource
The resource will be available as a booklet from CENFACS e-Store. It is normally free of charge, but we will appreciate a donation of £5 to help us help reduce poverty and the cost of renewing and producing this resource on an annual basis. As the side effects of cost-of-living continues and the resilience of voluntary sector is falling, we need financial help like many voluntary and charitable organisations do.
The 2022 FIB resource is a great way to start and set up yourself into 2023.
To order and or find out more about the Autumn ICDP resource, please contact CENFACS with your contact details.
_________
• References
(1) www.earthsendangered.com/(accessed in November 2022)
(2) BirdLife International (2022), Species factsheet: Geokichla Crossleyi (www.birdlife.org)
(3) https://www.ibm.com/topics/data-security (accessed in November 2022)
(4) WFP and FAO, 2022, Hunger Hotspots, FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity: October 2022 to January 2023 Outlook, Rome (accessed in August 2022)
(5) https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/the-importance-of-financial-stability-for-families/ (accessed in November 2022)
(6) https://fqmom.com/how-important-is-financial-stability-to-a-family/ (accessed in November 2022)
(7) https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/economic-conditions (accessed in November 2022)
(8) https://study.com/academy/lesson/economic-instability-definition-examples.html (accessed in November 2022)
_________
• Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going this year
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 also consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.
Additionally, we would like to inform you that planned gifting is always an option for giving at CENFACS.
Donate to support CENFACS!
FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ NOBLE CAUSES OF POVERTY REDUCTION.
JUST GO TO: Support Causes – (cenfacs.org.uk)
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.
