Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
28 December 2022
Post No. 280
The Week’s Contents of the Last Post of 2022
• 2022 Year-in-review Report
• Year-end Triple Action Giving: Peace, Hope and Difference
• Year-end Advice-giving Service
… And much more!
Festive Season’s Key Messages
• 2022 Year-in-review Report
The above mentioned report is an evaluation of what happened in this ending year (2022). It is not an annual report or an annual return. The report, which is a brief summary of 2022, will help to learn what went well and what did not go well within and around CENFACS, as well as how we can engage our charitable objects in 2023 and beyond.
This year-end post, which is the 52nd one, is therefore about covering the events of the year 2022 from the perspective of recapping the year for CENFACS’ audiences, followers and supporters, as well as from the point of view of CENFACS’ contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Under the Main Development section of this post you will find key highlights of CENFACS’ 2022 Year-in-review Report.
• Year-end Triple Action Giving: Peace, Hope and Difference
• • What is the Season’s Relief Triple Action Giving?
It is about fighting poverty and hardships in a number of fronts over the Festive Season, particularly by helping…
(a) to bring peace,
(b) to create hope
(c) and to make a difference.
Let us briefly explain each of the three givings (that is, peace, hope and difference).
• • • Peace via the Gifts of Peace
Our celebratory theme for the Season’s Reliefs is Peace and continues to be alive to the end of this season. The Gifts of Peace, which are one of CENFACS‘ festive favourites, are the set piece of the Season’s Reliefs that provides the absence of conflicts within ourselves as well as between us and others.
In terms of projects and programmes in Africa, the Gifts of Peace try to support poor people and communities so that they can navigate their ways towards freedoms from wars, armed conflicts, coronavirus disturbance and disorder from natural events.
For those who are looking for fundraising appeals or projects to fund as festive gifts over this festive time, Gifts of Peace as an appeal is a valuable proposal they could consider.
To enquire about and or fund the Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS.
• • • Hope through the Gift of Light
Our theme for the Season of Light is Hope and is still featuring what we have planned to achieve over this season. The Gift of Light helps to bring hope to those who are in the darkness and need some lights to see life through other ways.
Regarding the projects and programmes in our sphere of operation in Africa, through the Gift of Light we try to work with hopeless, desperate and destitute people and communities so that they can rebuild confidence and faith in themselves and continue to believe that they can find light and move away from darkness in the future.
• • • Difference by means of Charity e-Store
Shopping and donating goods at our Charity e-Store is the third giving.
We are asking goods donors and buyers to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS SEASON by undertaking these following options:
∝ Safe collection of goods for recycling: We can arrange for goods to be safely collected at an agreed location, day and time under our Recycle and Give policy
∝ Goods buyers can Click and Collect.
Every time you shop at CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, you make a helpful difference to people in need over this festive time. Amongst these people are those who are trying to fight poverty induced by the cost-of-living crisis.
The above are the Season’s Relief Triple Action Giving. Each of these action givings will help to reduce poverty over the festive period and beyond.
We can only help reduce and possibly end multi-dimensional poverty as well as poverty induced by the cost-of-living crisis if you help us to do so. And this time of the year is a unique opportunity for you once a year to change lives through your invaluable action giving, however small it may be.
Please, don’t miss this marvellous opportunity of the year and the end of the year. There is a high demand for poverty reduction.
To donate goods and/or shop, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/
The above-mentioned Year-end Triple Action Giving or End of Year Fundraising Campaign continues until the last day, hour, minute and second of 2022.
For those who would like to donate to our End-of-year Asks and any other festive projects or campaigns or even causes before 2022 ends, please do not hesitate to donate. You can still make a helpful difference before 31/12/2022.
To donate, just contact CENFACS with your donation by any of these means of communications: text, phone, e-mail and contact form on this website.
• Year-end Advice-giving Service
The Festive Season’s Arrangements below explain that we are in holiday break until the 5th of January 2023. However, some of our projects and campaigns are either self-running or designed to run throughout the holiday season like the festive holiday. One of these holiday projects is the Advice-giving one.
Indeed, during the festive period not everybody or member of our community can afford to celebrate on the New Year’s Eve. There are people who still need accommodation, food, income, guidance, support, help against loneliness, etc. They may also need life-saving support of various kinds to cope and survive while other people, the lucky ones, are busy preparing themselves for the New Year’s Eve festivities.
Because of this on-going need and demand within the community, we have maintained a minimum level of advice-giving service to e-work with those who desperately need advice to reduce poverty or any type of hardships they are facing and do not have anywhere else to ask for help and advice, especially at this time of the cost-of-living crisis.
If you are one of our members and facing serious hardship during the festive period, you can e-contact CENFACS for advice, guidance and support.
If you are not one of our members and would like to discuss this year-in-review project, please still e-contact CENFACS.
Festive Season’s Extra Messages
• Festive Season’s Arrangements: from 23 December 2022 to 5 January 2023
• Help for your Year-in-review Accounts
• E-discussing Volunteering for Nature and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme
The above figure or table shows what is on between 23/12/2022 and 05/01/2023. For those who want to get a further picture about what will be happening within CENFACS during the remaining days of December 2022, we recommend them to read our three last posts on the Blog page of this site.
• Festive Season’s Arrangements: from 23 December 2022 to 5 January 2023
The following are the arrangements we have made for the above stated period.
• • Queries and enquiries
During the festive holidays, we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 5th of January 2023. However, our All-in-Development Winter e-discussion on Volunteering for Nature Goals and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty is still on until the 5th of January 2023 as planned.
• • Opening hours and days: 24/7
We are open online 24 hours and 7 days of week.
• • Visits
You can only visit us online.
• • Festive donations
Our festive campaigns highlight not only the projects and activities that are related to CENFACS’ demand, but also and mostly to the needs and asks of those living in poverty around this time of the year and of the continuing disruption of the cost-of-living crisis.
Those who want to donate to our fundraising campaigns and projects (such as Gifts of Peace and Knowledge Gift); they are welcome to do so.
Their festive support or donations will help bring a Blaze of Hope and Peace to those in need, particularly at this challenging time of the cost-of-living crisis.
As well as donating, there are other ways one can support. These other ways range from spreading the message about CENFACS’ work and campaigns to visiting our online store for shopping.
All the above initiatives can create magical reliefs during this Festive Season and disturbing moment of the cost-of-living crisis.
• • Season of Light
Although our Season of Light has just kicked off, some of our services and activities (such as advocacy, in-person fundraising events, etc.) as well as development campaigns are scaled down until the 5th of January 2023.
• • What’s on from 23 December 2022 to 5 January 2023!
Since 23 December 2022 we have broke for the festive holidays. However, there are projects that are essential including in festive times. One of them is advice-giving one, which will still be run online.
This is because evidence shows that in any difficult moments of human history or crisis, the poorest always suffer. They do not have festive celebration as such, just as they could be the ones bearing the brunt of the most negative socio-economic effects of the cost-of-living crisis. Many of them need support which includes advice at any time.
• • Delays regarding call and e-mail responses
People should expect delay from us in responding to their calls and e-mails. We heavily rely on volunteers for most of our services, who are sharing the Winter e-discussion with us during this Festive Time. Some of them are already on holiday.
• • Emergency and exceptions
In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text, phone, e-mail and complete the contact form on CENFACS’ website. We will respond to your message as soon as we can.
We apologize for any inconvenience or upset this may cause.
We thank you all for your invaluable and sustained support during 2022 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year.
We wish you a Very Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Festive Season!
• Help for your Year-in-review Accounts
How to successfully close your end-of-year personal or family accounts and get prepared for the New Year accounts before the end of financial year
We do not only carry out our own accounts review. We also work with users to review their accounts at the end of each year.
It is theoretically known that the financial year closes in April and the State budget starts in April of each year. For example, the current tax year ends on 5 April 2023 in the UK.
It is a good practice to use the opportunity of the end of the civil year to start to work out the balances of one’s personal or family accounts.
To help those who are struggling to close their year-end accounts of 2022, we will be looking at, from the start of January 2023 when we return, how to successfully close your personal or family financial accounts and prepare your new accounts in the New Year.
It is always a good practice to start early before the deadlines of the financial year!
It is wise to work out your year-end accounts early so that you could enter the New Year with a good understanding of your financial position while keeping financial control on accounts. In doing so, one can know areas of financial improvement to sort out their financial situation in the New Year.
This year-end financial control project or exercise includes income boost and other elements making our campaign to reduce and end income poverty. This is without forgetting the elements of Financial Stability Programme/Scheme and Zero Income Deficit Campaign we conducted.
For those who may be interested in this year-end financial control project, they can contact CENFACS in the New Year.
• E-discussing Volunteering for Nature and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme
Our Winter e-discussion about Volunteering for Nature and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty continues as scheduled until the 5th of January 2023.
Since the global pact to protect nature was agreed on 19 December 2022 at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference or COP (Conference Of the Parties) 15 Summit in Montreal (1), our e-discussion, which is in progress, includes the goals agreed in this historic biodiversity agreement and how All-in-Development Volunteers can help CENFACS translate these goals in its activities, projects and programmes.
To e-discuss Volunteering for Nature Goals and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, please contact CENFACS.
To support CENFACS translate the newly agreed nature goals into voluntary action, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Rapport rétrospectif de l’année 2022
Le rapport rétrospectif de l’année 2022 est une évaluation de ce qui s’est passé au cours de cette année qui se termine (2022). Il ne s’agit pas d’un rapport annuel ou d’un bilan social.
Le rapport, qui est un bref résumé de 2022, aidera à apprendre ce qui s’est bien passé et ce qui n’a pas bien fonctionné au sein et autour du CENFACS, ainsi que la façon dont nous pouvons engager nos objectifs caritatifs en 2023 et au-delà.
La rétrospective vise donc à couvrir les événements de l’année 2022 dans la perspective de récapituler l’année pour les publics, les adeptes et les sympathisants du CENFACS, ainsi que du point de vue de la contribution du CENFACS à la réduction de la pauvreté et au développement durable.
Pour plus de détails sur le rapport rétrospectif de l’année 2022 du CENFACS, veuillez contacter CENFACS.
Festive Season’s Main Development
• 2022 Year-in-review Report
How the year 2022 has gone within and around CENFACS
The following contents make this report:
a) A brief Summary of the Year
b) The Theme of 2022 Year-in-review Campaign
c) How did the Year 2022 Go through from within and around CENFACS?
d) 2022 Key Produce or Achievements
e) Looking Forward to 2023 (or Commitments for the year 2023)
f) 2022 Gratitude.
Let’s look at each of these contents.
• • The Year’s Brief Summary
We started 2022 with two areas of work and interest: a dilemma and a tool.
The dilemma was the one faced by Africa-based Sister Organisations in helping to reduce urban poverty in the context of rising population in Africa. To work with these organisations, we set up a urban poverty reduction project. The project aimed at reducing the economic and social difficulties or hardships experienced by urban poor (who could be city-dwellers and small scale urban farmers) living in Africa’s cities so that they could improve the quality of their living conditions.
As to tool, it was about the necessary financial control tools that our individual and household users need in order to reduce poverty. Amongst these tools were year-end financial accounts and Zero Income Deficit Campaign. In this respect, sustaining debt becomes paramount in the process of building financial control, especially for the highly indebted poor. It was equally important to smooth the way to energy transition via climate actions. One of the actions we took with users was to work together on energy transition support services.
As the cost of living dramatically rose because of a combination of factors (such as the lingering effects of the coronavirus, the Russia-Ukraine war leading to the increase in the prices of energy and food), working with users to erect the fences of protection was another area of work and concern in 2022. In this respect, creations and innovations were the answer to deal these rising costs of living.
Rising costs of living meant for us working with the community to develop three tiers or layers of security (i.e., energy, food and financial security) in order to help fight this confluence of crises and costs. To progress on this road, security and vulnerability analyses of the household accounts making our community became part of the answer in what we were trying to achieve together with our members in terms of poverty reduction and sustainable development throughout 2022.
In that help to fight these crises and rising costs, deploying efforts with our supporters to make sure that our members had enough information and data to reduce any form of poverty induced by these crises was instrumental in pursuing our policy and commitment with them. Equally, having crisis response skills to deal with any crisis could not be neglected. This is why our Development Day focused on these crisis response skills.
To reduce any types of poverty and hardships, it requires infrastructures. So, building infrastructures to reduce poverty was included in our efforts to support the community and in any agenda to drive change.
We hope that the long-, medium- and short-term services to reduce or end poverty linked to the costs of living we put in place will help our members navigate their way out of the cost-of-living crisis.
We can expect as well that the urban poverty reduction project and the different financial control tools or metrics we shared with users during this ending year will start to bear their fruits or outcomes in the New Year.
• • Theme of CENFACS’ 2022 Year-in-Review Campaign
The theme for this review is building forward better together in the context of rising prices.
• • How did the Year 2022 Go through from within and around CENFACS?
To underline the way in which the year 2022 went from within and around CENFACS, we are going to highlight the key takeaways of 2022 and the contributions we made.
• • • Key takeaways of the year
The points or facts to remember about 2022 from within and around CENFACS are as follows.
∝) 2022 as a Knowledge Year
During 2022, we tried to learn and know as much as we could the needs of those asking and looking for help, among them were the members of the CENFACS Community. These learning and knowledge activities contributed in matching the types of expectations and responses they were hoping to deal with their needs.
As a consequence of the dedication of 2022 as a Year of Knowledge, participants were able to conduct 12 key knowledge activities or tasks with those in need.
∝) 2022 as a year of tackling urban poverty in Africa
Besides humanitarian issues caused by events such as civil insecurity, armed conflicts, natural disaster, health crisis, etc.; there were economic difficulties experienced by urban poor due to rising urban population in Africa. Many of our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) working in urban areas of Africa tried to address urban poverty.
As a result of their work together with our support, ASOs explained poor city-residents how the distribution of city-wide services work, provided them with digital support where these services could only be accessible digitally, informed them about their rights and obligations as city-residents in terms of these services, etc.
∝) 2022 as a year of debt sustainability for highly indebted poor households
To build forward better together greener, cleaner and safer from the lingering effects of the coronavirus meant dealing with the legacies of the coronavirus crisis. One of these legacies was many ordinary families, including our users, became poorer and serious financial/income deficit.
So, how to reduce or cancel financial debts and deficits for the poor (e.g. COVID-19-indebted and income deficit families from our community) to make ends meet, clearly became a preoccupation to avoid intergenerational poverty among our users. Many of them were not aware of the importance of keeping records of debt payments.
Thanks to the work we did together via worksheet we provided for debtor’s payment records keeping, they were able to restore track on their debt payments.
∝) 2022 as a year of net zero consumption
Building forward from the coronavirus is as well about making sure that our trajectory in the process of building forward is net zero consumption; that is consumption that does not add extra greenhouse gas emissions to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
One of the ways to go net zero we thought was to smooth the way to energy transition and to work with users via Climate Neutral Projects, which were/are greenhouse gas emission reduction or removal initiatives and activities.
As part of net zero consumption campaign, some of our beneficiaries used the example of CENFACS’ net zero consumption shopping bad as an idea for them to budget for net zero consumer goods and services in the context of the overall household budget.
∝) 2022 as a year of generational impact analysis of the coronavirus on children
In the process of building forward, we further considered the fact that COVID-19 put or held back a generation of children for what they supposed to do. We worked and analysed with users the generational impact of the coronavirus on children. This work or analysis included, but was not limited to, their children and African children.
∝) 2022 as a year of data skills to run your households
Thanks to the work carried out with users, we were able to share and enhance the storage, security, process, insight and analytics skills of some of the households making our community.
∝) 2022 as a year of mobilising for birds’ useful life for us
Through the ‘Mbulu‘ project and ‘A la une‘ (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) campaign, we tirelessly worked with the community and others outside our community to raise awareness of the upkeep of endangered bird species like Africa Grey Parrots, Congo Peafowl, Dwarf Honeyguide, African Green Broadbill and Grossley’s Ground Thrush.
There are many good and positive results to take away from 2022, although we limit ourselves to the above key takeaways mentioned.
• • 2022 Key Produce or Achievements
2022 has also been a deserving year of poverty reduction produce or accomplishments. After doing a round-up of all efforts we made to support the causes of those in need and work with them, we could name the following contributions.
∝) A humanitarian relief appeal to help the cyclone-stricken people of Madagascar
As natural events did not exempt the peoples of Madagascar, we conducted together with our followers and supporters a humanitarian relief appeal to help the cyclone-stricken people of Madagascar to recover from the legacies of Cyclone Batsirai.
∝) Support of the people of Lake Chad basin
Since the dry conditions of Lake Chad Basin were far from over, together with supporters we timely appealed for the support of the people of this basin to get the relief they were deserving and looking for.
∝) An appeal to help the desperate coronavirus-affected children of Sub-Saharan Africa
When we learnt that the coronavirus was still claiming its victims amongst children in Africa, we worked with our Africa-based Sister Organisations to launch an appeal to help the desperate coronavirus-affected children of Sub-Saharan Africa. We did the same with the Acute Food Insecure People in Hotspot African Countries.
∝) Ituri Peace Appeal and Re-appeal
As we could not stay silent about human insecurity and displacement in the Ituri Region of the North-eastern in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we launched Ituri Peace Appeal and Re-appeal for the region, particularly but not exclusively for the internally displaced people of Rutshuru.
The above are just the few selected accomplishments or produce we wanted to share with audiences and supporters in this year-in-review campaign. However, for those who would like get more insights into them and other achievements of the year 2022, they can still let us know.
• • Looking Forward to 2023 (or Commitments for the year 2023)
We shall undertake more sustainable initiatives about nature and nature-based solutions to poverty since there has been a new global pact to protect nature or biodiversity agreement at Montreal COP15 (op. cit.).
• • 2022 Gratitude
To end this year-in-review report, we would like to continue to thank our poverty reduction producers and enablers as we did in last week’s post (2).
2022 was a memorable year for CENFACS for those who inspired us in responding to local and African needs at the challenging time of the cost-of-living crisis. We could not do it without their support.
We thank them for making possible 2022 as another rewarding year of poverty reduction and of sustainable development as well as for what we accomplished together. We hope to achieve more in 2023 and beyond.
For further information or a full story of 2022 and to discuss any issues regarding this 2022 Year-in-Review Report, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
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• References
(1) https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 (Accessed in December 2022)
(2) cenfacs.org.uk/blog/december21, 2022 (Accessed in December 2022)
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• 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. Likewise, CENFACS accepts matching gifts from companies running a gift-matching programme.
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 until the end of 2022 and beyond.
With many thanks.
