Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
05 July 2023
Post No. 307
The Week’s Contents
• Analytics and Impact Month 2023
• Activity/Task 7 of the Influence (i) Year/Project: Use your Influential Analysis to Make Helpful Impact on Those in Need
• Goal of the Month: Reduce Poverty with Impact
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Analytics and Impact Month 2023
July is CENFACS’ Analytics and Impact Month as it is the time of the year during which we conduct the impact assessment, monitoring, evaluation, review, assurance, reporting and analytics of our programmes and projects. Through these exercises, we analyse what we did over the last 345 days, seize the outputs and, if possible, capture the early impacts made.
It is the time we focus on the effects of our intervention while reviewing what worked well, what badly worked and what did not work at all. We do it by bringing all together the programmes and projects as well as activities that made the preceding financial year. This is what we usually call All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment.
It is a feedback because we ask all our stakeholders (our beneficiaries) to give their opinions about our work. This beneficiary or participatory monitoring aims to track the perceptions of project and programme beneficiaries. We expect them to provide us with their unbiased, independent, true and fair views and feelings about our work. From what they feedback and what we have collected as data, we can assess or judge our performance against aims, goals and targets of poverty reduction and sustainable development we set up at the beginning of the financial year.
It is also a time to deep dive into numbers and to listen to what these numbers (numerical data) are telling us; for example if we have been on track or running behind or even tracking ahead. This tracking exercise (or financial monitoring) helps us to discover patterns in numbers achieved and to spot trends.
The analytics activity further guides us to know if we hit targets or not, and to focus time and energy on our core mission while adjusting and redeveloping our programmes and projects in improved direction. From data analysed, we can get information about users’ experience and undertake products/services design and development. In doing so, this gives us the opportunity to predict and plan future activities while reconnecting with stakeholders and stewarding new donors.
The impact activity helps us to start getting early signs or signals of the systematic change that we would like together with our users to instil long term. This activity enables us to begin foreseeing the broader and long-term change or effects of the programmes and projects we implemented in the last 345 days.
For more information about All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment or CENFACS’ Analytics and Impact Month, please read under the Main Development section of this post.
• Activity/Task 7 of the Influence (i) Year/Project: Use your Influential Analysis to Make Helpful Impact on Those in Need
It is possible to use community influential analysis or observation and make helpful impact on the most needy and vulnerable of our community and society. One can do microscopy of their interactions with those in need and the structure of the influence they have. They can use influence evaluation metrics, check the flow of influence and analyse their influence in terms of its impact on those in need.
• • Metrics to Track Success of Influence
For those who are interested in the metrics to track their influence and/or indicators to check the impact of their influence, they can use the measuring impact model explained by Rob Mitchell (1). The latter provides four dimensions of influence and metrics to track success for businesses. These four dimensions or components of influence are expertise, empathy, practicality and strength. They can be customised for individuals.
For example, if expertise is a component of individual’s influence, then trust can be used as metric to make helpful impact on those in need. The metrics for the other three components of influence are perceptions of influencer for empathy, confidence for practicality, and comfortability for strength.
Influencers of poverty reduction can as well use their theory of change to check if their influence is having or not having a helpful impact or influence on those in need. If it does not, then they can explore ways of improving the quality or quantity of their influence on those in need or those who may affect the factors or parameters that lead to negative impact or the challenging issues that people in need face.
The above is our Activity/Task 7 of the Influence (i) Year/Project. This task can be undertaken by those members of our community who are interested in it.
To work with us via this Activity/Task 7, please contact CENFACS.
• Goal of the Month: Reduce Poverty with Impact
As we are in CENFACS’ Analytics and Impact Month 2023, we are looking for initiatives of poverty reduction with impact.
There are times when poverty reduction come with impact on other areas of life, while there are other times it does not. What many people living in poverty and hardship would like to see is poverty reduction with impact. What is poverty reduction with impact?
• • Explaining Poverty Reduction with Impact
Poverty Reduction with Impact or Impactful Poverty Reduction is about getting reduced the state in which resources are lacking, but achieving that reduction with a change in the long term for those in need. If there is poverty reduction without long term change, then there could be no impact or very little impact on the poor people. Yet, those living in poverty would like to reduce poverty with impact or a relatively strong impact on other areas of their life.
Changes or impact may take time to happen or appear. However, indication or signs need to show that we are heading the right direction following poverty reduction activities. If not, one may try to use a results chain model (e.g., input>output>outcome>long-term change) to deal with impact or establish cause-effect relations between poverty reduction actions and impact. In other words, one needs to use measuring impact framework to check if there has been an impact or not.
For example, one can refer to the five dimensions of impact as provided by Sopact.com (2), dimensions which include what (outcomes to achieve), who (the target population), how much (the scale, depth, and duration of the impact), contribution (difference made with intervention), and risk (external factors and assumptions that influence results).
These dimensions will help to measure the impact or difference as a result of one’s intervention or work with or help to the poor.
As part of the poverty reduction goal for July 2023, our supporters and audiences can help Reduce Poverty with Impact for those who are in need. We expect them to support this goal.
For any queries and/or enquiries regarding this goal including its support, please contact CENFACS.
PLEASE HELP REDUCE POVERTY WITH IMPACT!
Extra Messages
• Shop at CENFACS’ Zero Waste e-Store during Summer Season
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) and the New Global Financing Pact of Paris
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Private Military Corporations and Poverty Reduction in Africa
• Shop at CENFACS’ Zero-Waste e-Store during Summer Season
CENFACS e-Store is opened for your Summer goods donations and goods purchases.
At this time, many people have been affected by the cost of living crisis mostly driven by the hikes in prices of basic life-sustaining needs (e.g., energy, food, transport, housing, council tax, phone, etc.).
The impacted of the cost of living crisis needs help and support as prices and bills have astronomically gone up while real household disposable incomes are still the same or less for many of those living in poverty.
Every season, every month is an opportunity to do something against poverty and hardships. This Summer too is a good and great season of the year to do it.
You can donate or recycle your unwanted and unneeded goods to CENFACS’ Zero-Waste e-Store, the shop built to help alleviate poverty, lift people out of poverty and prevent poverty and hardships.
You can as well buy second hand goods and bargain priced new items and much more.
CENFACS’ Zero-Waste e-Store needs your support for SHOPPING and GOODS DONATIONS to reduce poverty with impact.
You can do something different this Season of Goods Donations by SHOPPING or DONATING GOODS at CENFACS Zero-Waste e-Store.
You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:
√ DONATE unwanted GOODS, GIFTS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Zero-Waste e-Store this Summer.
√ SHOP at CENFACS Zero-Waste e-Store to support good and deserving causes of poverty reduction with impact this Summer.
Your SHOPPING and or GOODS DONATIONS will help to the Upkeep of the Nature and to reduce poverty and hardships with impact; poverty and hardships exacerbated or brought by the cost of living crisis.
This is what the Season of Giving or Summer of Giving is all about.
Please do not hesitate to donate goods or purchase what is available at CENFACS Zero-Waste e-Store.
Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the cost of living crisis.
We need help to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the cost of living crisis.
To donate or purchase goods, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) and the New Global Financing Pact of Paris
On 26 June 2023 in Paris (3), developing countries’ leaders (including African leaders) discussed the need for reforming the global financial architecture. Further to their discussion, CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum is debating the outcomes of leaders’ deliberations, in particular on how the proposition of a reformed global financial architecture, if it happens, can help ASOs increase or improve their work and results on poverty reduction and sustainable development within the communities they serve.
The e-discussion on the pact within CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum is about finding out what to do for ASOs get any dividend resulting from this reform, if it materialises, and expand their poverty reduction work across Africa. This is knowing that the polycrises that Africa is undergoing are posing multiple challenges to many organisations including mission-driven not-for-profit ones like CENFACS’ ASOs.
Those who support the reform or reformists believe that this reform can help invest with impact in health and education, instead of only paying interests on loan. They advocate for the improvement of ASOs’ share green finance. They also back the view that ASOs will get the means for their ambition to drive forward work on poverty reduction, sustainable development and climate action. That ASOs will improve the work they are doing with highly indebted poor households and help them find the way to come out debt poverty. On the contrary, others disagree with these arguments.
The above are some the views expressed so far. CENFACS would like to know yours. You can tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think.
Those who may be interested in this first discussion of July 2023 can join in and or contribute by contacting CENFACS’ be.Africa, which is a forum for discussion on matters of poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa and which acts on behalf of its members in making proposals or ideas for actions for a better Africa.
To communicate with CENFACS regarding this discussion, please use our usual contact details on this website.
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Private Military Corporations and Poverty Reduction in Africa
There is a controversial debate about the role of private military corporations in poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa and elsewhere. Private military corporations (PMCs) have been in existence in the history of Africa. Sometimes, they are called mercenaries, non-regular armed groups, etc. But, what are really PMCs?
According to ‘britannica.com’ (4),
“A PMC is an independent corporation that offers military services to national governments, international organisations, and sub-state actors. PMCs specialise in providing combat and protection forces. Their work ranges from running small-scale training missions to providing combat units composed of up to several hundred trained soldiers equipped with powerful weapons platforms, including tanks and attack helicopters”.
PMCs take the credit for some and the blame for others for what is happening now in some parts of Africa (like in Mali, the Central African Republic) where there is continuing insecurity or armed conflicts and where PMCs (such as Wagner) are involved or present. Insecurity and conflicts which often have consequences like hunger, famine, human displacement, illegal exploitation of natural resources, poverty, sexual violence, etc. These consequences also generate human appeals from aid agencies. CENFACS too makes appeals to ask for support on behalf of the victims of these insecurity and armed conflicts.
Because of that, there are people who believe that the operations and activities of PMCs are destructive and increase poverty and misery in Africa, in particular where and if PMCs’ employees or members are involved in abuses of human rights, criminal warfare activities and plundering or illegal exploitation of natural resources, commercial operations of raw materials (like gold in Mali and diamond in the Central African Republic) which do not benefit local poor populations.
On the contrary, there are others who argue that PMCs’ operations in Africa are way of liberating people from the forces of domination, injustice, unfairness, etc. There could be more arguments about the presence of PMCs (like Wagner, Sandline International, etc.) and their impact on poverty in Africa.
Besides these arguments, CENFACS would like to know what you think about PMCs’ repercussions on poverty reduction in Africa. If you have argument about their repercussions on poverty reduction in Africa, please do not hesitate to let CENFACS know.
Those who may be interested in this second discussion of July 2023 can join in and or contribute by contacting CENFACS’ be.Africa, which is a forum for discussion on matters of poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa and which acts on behalf of its members in making proposals or ideas for actions for a better Africa.
To communicate with CENFACS regarding this discussion, please use our usual contact details on this website.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS discute en ligne des sociétés militaires privées et de la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique
Il y a un débat controversé sur le rôle des sociétés militaires privées dans la réduction de la pauvreté et le développement durable en Afrique et ailleurs. Des sociétés militaires privées (SMP) ont existé dans l’histoire de l’Afrique. Parfois, elles sont appelées mercenaires, groupes armés non réguliers, etc. Mais que sont vraiment les SMP?
Selon « britannica.com » (4),
«Une SMP est une société indépendante qui offre des services militaires aux gouvernements nationaux, aux organisations internationales et aux acteurs infra-étatiques. Les SMP se spécialisent dans la fourniture de forces de combat et de protection. Leur travail va de l’exécution de missions d’entraînement à petite échelle à la fourniture d’unités de combat composées de plusieurs centaines de soldats entraînés équipés de puissantes plates-formes d’armes, y compris des chars et des hélicoptères d’attaque».
Les SMP s’attribuent le mérite de certains et se font blâmer par d’autres pour ce qui se passe actuellement dans certaines parties de l’Afrique (comme au Mali, en République centrafricaine) où l’insécurité ou les conflits armés persistent et où des SMP (comme Wagner) sont impliquées ou présentes. L’insécurité et les conflits qui ont souvent des conséquences comme la faim, la famine, les déplacements humains, le pillage ou l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles, la pauvreté, la violence sexuelle, etc. Ces conséquences suscitent également des appels humanitaires de la part des organisations humanitaires. Le CENFACS lance également des appels pour demander un soutien en faveur des victimes de ces insécurités et de ces conflits armés.
Pour cette raison, il y a des gens qui croient que les opérations et les activités des SMP sont destructrices et augmentent la pauvreté et la misère en Afrique, en particulier lorsque et si les employés ou les membres des SMP sont impliqués dans des violations des droits de l’homme, des activités de guerre criminelle et l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles.
Au contraire, il y en a d’autres qui soutiennent que les opérations des SMP en Afrique sont un moyen de libérer les gens des forces de domination, d’injustice, d’exploitation, etc. Il pourrait y avoir plus d’arguments sur la présence de SMP (comme Wagner, Sandline International, etc.) et leur impact sur la pauvreté en Afrique.
Outre ces arguments, le CENFACS aimerait savoir ce que vous pensez des répercussions des SMP sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique. Si vous avez des arguments sur leurs répercussions sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique, n’hésitez pas à le faire savoir au CENFACS.
Ceux/celles qui pourraient être intéressé(e)s par cette deuxième discussion de juillet 2023 peuvent se joindre à nous et / ou contribuer en contactant le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS, qui est un lieu de discussion sur les questions de réduction de la pauvreté et de développement durable en Afrique et qui agit au nom de ses membres en faisant des propositions ou des idées d’actions pour une Afrique meilleure.
Pour communiquer avec le CENFACS au sujet de cette discussion, veuillez utiliser nos coordonnées habituelles sur ce site.
Main Development
• Analytics and Impact Month 2023
The name of the July game at CENFACS is Impact Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation, Review, Assurance, Reporting and Analytics. July is the month during which we conduct our impact assessment, monitoring, evaluation, assurance, review, reporting and analytics of the projects and programmes we delivered during almost last 11 months and 2 weeks.
This July, the way in which we have organised ourselves to conduct the Analytics and Impact Month 2023 are summarised under the following sub-headlines:
∝ Key Words for the Analytics and Impact Month 2023
∝ The Analytical Process within CENFACS
∝ What is CENFACS Analytics Dashboard?
∝ Analytics of the Year of Influence as an Example of Analytical Process within CENFACS
∝ Impact Monitoring of Monthly Goals
∝ All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment for July 2023.
Let us look at each of these sub-headlines.
• • Key Words for the Analytics and Impact Month 2023
There are seven key words we are using which are: impact, monitoring, evaluation, assurance, review, reporting and analytics.
Let us briefly explain these key words.
1) Impact
Normally, it takes a considerable amount of time to get the real impact of any intervention, project and programme. However, because we are talking about finding out what projects and programmes have achieved, it makes sense to clarify what we mean by impact.
To do that, we are going to consider different terminologies surrounding impact; terminologies used within the impact literature or field. These terminologies are impact analysis, impact assessment, impact monitoring and impact reporting. Let us briefly explain these terms.
1.1 & 1.2) Impact Analysis and Assessment
To explain these two words, we are going to borrow the definition of impact from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD (5) differentiates ex ante impact from ex post impact. This is what it argues.
“Ex ante impact analysis is the needs analysis and planning activity of the policy cycle. It is a prospective analysis of what the impact of an intervention might be, so as to inform policy making”.
“Ex post impact assessment is the evaluation and management of the policy cycle. Evaluation aims to understand to what extent and how a policy intervention corrects the problem it was intended to address. Impact assessment focuses on the effects of the intervention, whereas evaluation is likely to cover a wider range of issues such as the appropriateness of the intervention design, the cost and the efficiency of the intervention, its unintended effects and how to use the experience from this intervention to improve the design of future interventions”.
The above definitions help to understand the scope and scale of the impact of most interventions.
As far as CENFACS is concerned, we will be doing evaluation activities for some programmes and projects; and impact assessments for others. This is because impact assessment is mostly a theory-based activity and has a narrow and tightly-defined focus. Where we need to design evaluation questions and use evaluation techniques, we will do evaluation. Where there is a need for a tightly-defined focus, we will do impact assessment.
We are as well considering that the initiative for change comes from project users or beneficiaries not from CENFACS or CENFACS’ projects or programmes. This is because the impact analysis model of change we are using is a non-linear one. Despite this non-linearity of the theory of change used, our impact analysis will still be based on causality and attribution approach.
1.3) Impact Reporting
After carrying out the analytics and impact of our programmes and projects, we need to report our findings or results. Although we have not yet reached this step, we need to start thinking of the way we shall report. In technical parlance, we need to proceed or think of impact reporting. What is impact reporting?
The website ‘sopact.com’ (6) states that
“Impact reporting is a powerful tool that organisations use to showcase the positive changes they bring to communities and the environment. A well-constructed impact report tells a story of transformation, capturing the outcomes achieved and the significance of the impact”.
During this July 2023, we will be thinking of the various pieces that will make our impact reporting as we are analysing the data from the last twelve months.
2 & 3) Impact Monitoring and Evaluation
We are going to use the definition of monitoring and evaluation as given by Kersty Hobson, Ruth Mayne and Jo Hamilton (7) in their “A Step by Step guide to Monitoring and Evaluation”.
Regarding monitoring, Hobson et al. define it as
“The collection and analysis of information about a project or programme undertaken while the project or programme is on-going”. (p. 5)
Arguing about monitoring, Intrac (8) considers that there are many types of monitoring which include process or performance monitoring, results or impact monitoring, beneficiary monitoring or beneficiary contact monitoring, situation monitoring or scanning, financial monitoring, administrative or logistics monitoring management information.
During our Analytics and Impact Month 2023, we will be working on three monitoring activities which include performance, impact and financial monitoring.
Concerning evaluation, Hobson et al. (op. ct.) explain it as
“The periodic, retrospective assessment of an organisation, project or programme that might be conducted internally or by external independent evaluators”. (p. 5)
In reality, there are many types of evaluation which include formative evaluation, summative evaluation, outcome evaluation, impact evaluation, etc.
The July 2023 evaluation will help CENFACS to evaluate the appropriateness of CENFACS‘ intervention design, the cost and efficiency of its intervention, the unintended effects of this ending financial year’s intervention and the need to improve the design of future interventions.
The Analytics and Impact Month 2023 will be mostly concerned with impact evaluation. An impact evaluation can be defined in many ways.
For example, the website ‘betterevaluation.org’ (9) explains that
“An impact evaluation provides information about the impacts produced by an intervention. The intervention might be a small project, a large programme, a collection of activities or a policy”.
From the above-mentioned definitions of monitoring and evaluation, it is understood that monitoring is an on-going process whereas evaluation is a periodic or discrete one.
4) Assurance
July is also the month to revisit our commitment to the detection and prevention of quality problems that can hinder the quality of our poverty reduction produce or service. Put it simply, assurance is part and parcel of CENFACS‘ July analytics and Impact work. What is assurance?
By assurance, we simply mean what His Majesty Treasury (10) argues, which is
“Assurance is an objective examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an independent assessment on governance, risk management and control processes for the organisation. An assurance framework is a structured means of identifying and mapping the main sources of assurance in organisation, and co-ordinating them to best effect”.
Assurance can be internal and external. In our analytics work, we are conducting internal assurance. What does it mean?
It means what for example ‘anngravells.com’ (11) argues about internal quality assurance, which
“Seeks to ensure that assessment activities have been conducted in a consistent, safe and fair manner”.
This internal quality assurance, which took place since our programmes and projects started, will continue and be deepened this month as it is the Analytics and Impact Month. This will be done via impact feedbacks.
5) Review
We have referred to the online source ‘method123.com’ (12) for the meaning of this key word. This online source defines review as
“An assessment of the status of a project at a particular point in time”.
From this online perspective, we have been performing a project management review at the end of each phase of our projects and programmes. We have been verifying whether or not we have met the objectives. If so, then a decision needed to be approved to proceed to the next project or programme phase.
July is the month we put together all these small project reviews conducted while doing the last reviews for those projects and programmes pending for a final review.
6) Analytics
There are many approaches to analytics. In the context of our July work, we have selected an explanation from ‘dictionary.com’ (13) which is as follows:
“The patterns and other meaningful information gathered from the analysis of data”.
The website ‘oracle.com’ (14) goes further by explaining that
“Analytics is the process of discovering, interpreting and communicating significant patterns in data. Quite simply, analytics helps us see insights and meaningful data that we might not otherwise detect”.
Like any charity analytics, CENFACS Analytics helps to make informed decisions, drive and increase poverty reduction services or sales, reduce costs and improve poverty reduction outcomes/produce. It finally helps us to better deliver a user experience for our projects and programmes.
• • The Analytical and Impact Processes within CENFACS
We have been continuously and at discrete points in time tracking what has been happening within our programmes and projects while using the data collected to inform programme and project implementation as well as day-to-day management and decisions during the above named period. However, in July this monitoring exercise becomes more intense.
Likewise, we have been periodically assessing the objectives of our planned, on-going, or completed projects, programmes, or policies. During these evaluation processes, we have tried to selectively answer specific questions related to the design, implementation, and results of our programmes and projects.
In July, these evaluation activities become further pronounced as we assess what these programmes and projects have achieved in relation to the overall objectives we set up for them. The results of this evaluation are fed back to improve these programmes and projects, or alternatively to design and develop new ones.
Still in July, we critically examine, reappraise or reconsider our objectives and policies to achievements, and see if there is any progress or set back. This review enables us to improve as well.
What’s more in July, we look at again our loyalty to the detection and prevention of quality issues. This assurance assists in maintaining and improving the quality of our poverty reduction produce.
Throughout the year, we work to finding out, interpret and communicate patterns in data in a meaningful way to the work of CENFACS. We apply those patterns in our decision making process. In July, we put extra emphasis on this analytics which becomes very profound.
Briefly, July is the time we do our Summer tracking by reconsidering the value and relevancy of our work, let alone the overall state of our charitable work. It is in this period of the year that we carry out what we call All-in-One Impact Feedback and Assessment. In other words, we try to listen to our stakeholders while tracking the effects of our intervention and capturing the early impacts of our work by considering all the pieces together as one.
One of the key information management tools we use to do our impact analysis is CENFACS Analytics Dashboard.
• • What is CENFACS Analytics Dashboard?
CENFACS Analytics Dashboard is an information management tool that tracks, analyses and displays key performance indicators, poverty reduction diagnostics, poverty relief metrics/dashboards, results from CENFACS’ poverty relief league, etc.
• • • What else Does CENFACS Analytics Dashboard Offer?
√ It monitors the health of CENFACS in terms of the relationships of support received to outputs and outcomes generated.
√ It provides as well infographics and summaries about some of the campaigns conducted.
√ It enables to discover and identify poverty reduction problems from the examination of symptoms it helps find.
√ It assists in engineering analytical solutions to the problem of reducing poverty.
√ It finally helps to retrieve information from CENFACS repository about the resources to help users and supporters.
For example, during the early stage of the coronavirus pandemic, we used CENFACS Analytics Dashboard to check the health of CENFACS and state of running of CENFACS’ projects and programmes. This checking enabled us to know the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic affected the running of CENFACS and its services. Knowing the distributional effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our projects and programmes, this knowledge helped us to reorganise these projects and programmes differently.
For more on CENFACS Analytics Dashboard, please contact CENFACS.
• • Analytics of Year of Influence as an Example of Analytical Process within CENFACS
The analytics or tracking of Influence Year is the 6-month analysis and turning of raw data insights for making better decisions in terms of helping to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. To make this possible, we have created a booklet or journal of creative activities or tasks carried out so far to mark 2023 as a Influence Year. This booklet/journal is also a record of data.
• • • Booklet/Journal of 2023 Activities as Year of Influence
Inside this Booklet/Journal of Year of Influence, there is one activity or task per month to be carried out by users. Alongside this activity or task, there is a metrics or analytics indicator to enable the owner of the booklet or journal to measure their performance as shown below.
∝ January 2023
Activity/Task 1: Influence to achieve responsible or sustainable consumption and reduce consumption poverty
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Number of food insecure having accessibility, availability, utilisation and stability to food stuffs after influence
∝ February 2023
Activity/Task 2: Persuade people to meet sustainable development goals
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Number of energy poor having access to affordable and clean energy
∝ March 2023
Activity/Task 3: Positively influence climate actions
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Level of decrease in indoor pollution or greenhouse gas concentrations or number of households using non-polluting stoves
∝ April 2023
Activity/Task 4: Influence Protection
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Relief payments or family allowances received by those in need of income protection
∝ May 2023
Activity/Task 5: Encourage people to tell and share their stories of poverty reduction
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Number of homeless’ and street beggars’ stories relating to finding accommodation
∝ June 2023
Activity/Task 6: Boost and nurture the creative and innovative skills of those in need
Selected analytics quantitative indicator: Number of skilful people in need who produced arts and/or design objects
One can journal, quantify and gain insight of the meaning of the data about the last 6 months of Influence Year from this booklet/journal of creative activities and make good decision on how to better help to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.
• • • Impact Monitoring of Monthly Goals
Every month we set up a poverty reduction goal to be achieved for the month. As part of the Analytics and Impact Month, we are starting to assess the changes brought about or by the poverty reduction goals we set up since January 2023.
The following are the poverty reduction goals we set up from January to June 2023.
January 2023 Goal: Reduction of Poverty Linked to Food Waste and Overconsumption
February 2023 Goal: Reduction of Poverty Related to Illicit Financial Flows
March 2023 Goal: Reduction of Holiday Poverty
April 2023 Goal: Reduction of Poverty as a Lack of Income Protection
May 2023 Goal: Make Poverty Reduction through Stories
June 2023 Goal: Make the Relationship between Creativity, Innovation and Poverty Reduction Work.
This tracking is about getting beneficiaries’ results.
• • All-in-one Impact Feedback and Assessment for July 2023
This month, we will be conducting three levels of ex post Impact Assessment:
(a) Impact monitoring and evaluation of the programmes and projects we ran in the last financial year
(b) Impact assessment of CENFACS’ Programme of Building Forward Better Together Cleaner, Greener and Safer
(c) Impact feedback about our XX236.3F Programme.
As said above, this Impact Assessment will be ex post. And the evaluation related to this exercise will aim to understand the extent to which and the way in which our projects and programmes corrected the problems of poverty and unsustainable development amongst our intended beneficiaries.
Let us briefly summarise the three levels of impact assessment to be conducted.
(a) Impact monitoring and evaluation of the programmes and projects we ran in the last financial year
As the title of impact indicates, it will be about putting together in the form of one piece of work all the results of monitoring and evaluation activities we have conducted for programmes and projects we ran in the last financial year.
(b) Impact assessment of CENFACS’ Programme of Building Forward Better Together Cleaner, Greener and Safer
We are going to seize the impact of Build Forward Better Together Cleaner, Greener and Safer, which is a two-year programme we set up to come out and move forward from the coronavirus. We shall look at the impact of this programme on our system of poverty reduction, particularly on CENFACS’ 2020s Poverty Reduction Tools and Programme, and Development Agenda (15).
(c) Impact feedback about our XX236.3F Programme
Like last year, this year’s All-in-One Impact Feedback and Assessment will be extended to include our XX236.3F programme as we are in the month of Monitoring and Evaluation.
XX236.3F is our 2020 to 2030 to 2063 Follow up Programme. We are following the implementation of the following:
∝ The International Climate Change Agreement (or the Paris Treaty)
∝ The Istanbul Declaration (the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women)
∝ The Maputo Protocol (the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa)
∝ The United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals
∝ Africa’s Agenda 2063.
The five of them make up our XX236.3F programme.
In brief, we shall conduct a follow-up and examination, look back and analyse data on the overall projects and programmes delivered during the above stated period, while keeping implementing our XX236.3F programme.
We shall soon publish the programmes and projects making this year’s Analytics and Impact. In meantime, for any enquiries about the Analytics Month 2023, please contact CENFACS.
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• References
(1) https://longitude.ft.com/measuring -impact-four-dimensions-of-influence-and-metrics-to-track-success/ (accessed in July 2023)
(2) https://www.sopact.com/perspectives/five-dimensions-of-impact# (accessed in July 2023)
(3) https://www.uneca.org/stories/in-paris%2C-african-leaders-call-for-affordable-financing-to-recover-economies-and-put-the (accessed in July 2023)
(4) https://www.britannica.com/topic/private-military-firm (accessed in July 2023)
(5) https://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/what-is-impact-assessment-OECDImpact.pdf (accessed in July 2022)
(6) https://www.sopact.com/impact-reporting (accessed in July 2023)
(7) https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/research/technologies/projects/monitoringandevaluation.html (accessed in July 2023)
(8) https://www.intrac.org/wpcms/up-content/uploads/2017/01/Monitoring.pdf (accessed in July 2023)
(9) https://www.betterevaluation.org/methods-approaches/themes/impact-evaluation (accessed in July 2023)
(10) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/270485/assurance_frameworks_191212.pdf (accessed in July 2023)
(11) https://www.anngravells.com/information/iqa (accessed in July 2023)
(12) https://www.method123.com/initiation-phase-review.php (accessed in July 2023)
(13) https://www.dictionary.com/browse/analytics (accessed in July 2023)
(14) https://www.oracle.com/business-analytics/what-is-analytics/ (accessed in July 2023
(15) cenfacs.org.uk/2020/03/11/the-2020s-agenda-and-programme/ (accessed in July 2023)
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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 throughout 2023 and beyond.
With many thanks.
