Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
06 December 2023
Post No. 329
The Week’s Contents
• Festive Guide and Income Generation Month
• Festive No-direct Cash Giving without Shopping
• Activity/Task No. 12 of the Influence (“i”) Year and Project: Influence the Income-generating Activities of the Income Poor
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Festive Guide and Income Generation Month
We have seamlessly crafted exciting and engaging initiatives to form our Festive Guide and Income Generation Month (December 2023) as well as deliver unparalleled experiences for both our supporters and project beneficiaries.
• • Festive Guide
Our Festive Guide contains three items, which are:
a) The Season’s Relief
b) Festive Services
c) Gifts of Peace.
• • Income Generation Month
December is Income Generation Month, according to CENFACS development calendar/planner. It is an Income Generation Month not only for most charities, but also for CENFACS users. During this month, we would be working with income poor to find way of generating some income to meet additional costs brought to their life by the cost-of-living crisis and spending pressure from festive demand.
This is why we published our Festive Income Boost on 08 November 2023 so that this festive income resource could be used as early as possible. It contains income generation tools and strategies that streamline the process of meeting these costs. This will quintessentially orchestrate poverty relief outcomes for project beneficiaries since we can work together so as to make the Season’s celebration come on its own to them and be affordable for all of them.
Under the Main Development section of this post, you will find more information about both the Festive Guide and our programme of work for the Income Generation Month.
• Festive No-direct Cash Giving without Shopping
Last week, we provided – under CENFACS’ Festive-Shopping-and-Donations Project or Festive-Donations-With-Shopping Project – a number of no-direct cash donations that those who would like to support CENFACS through their festive shopping can give.
This week, we are expanding on no-direct donations by focussing on those without shopping under CENFACS’ Festive-Donations-Without-Shopping Project. In other words, we are highlighting other ways of backing CENFACS without directly giving cash and without shopping at CENFACS e-shop and other stores or shops.
What are those ways that one can think of or come across with to support CENFACS without having to directly give cash and without doing any shopping at CENFACS e-shop and other stores or shops?
• • Festive No-direct Cash Donations without Shopping
There are 12-themed ways/tools of donating without shopping during this Festive Season and month. They include:
1) Signing up for a Gift Aid Declaration from which CENFACS can earn an extra 25p for every £1 you give
2) Nomination of CENFACS for a donation at festive charity fundraising and donation events
3) Selection of CENFACS as your preferred charity for donation from advertising revenue
4) Planned gifting or legacy giving if you decide to contribute a major gift to CENFACS beyond your lifetime
5) If you are gaming as a good causes and fundraising livestream donor, you can also support CENFACS via Gaming assets when you as a gaming fundraiser can take the initiative to raise money for CENFACS via video games or livestreamed video game events whereby viewers can tune into
6) AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools to generate income or automate income generation
7) If you are a gaming fundraiser or hobbyist interactive gamer and can help CENFACS raise money it needs through your gaming fundraising capability
8) If you are running gaming and livestreaming campaigns or activities as part of livestream fundraising campaign, you can remember CENFACS in your campaigns
9) Digital tickets can assist CENFACS if you can sell tickets on social media platforms via an event site to help CENFACS raise funds; particularly if anyone attending your event can support in raising funds through their purchase of a fundraising ticket
10) Digital collectibles can be a means of supporting CENFACS for those who have them in their wallet as they can be bought, swapped and sold in a peer-to-peer marketplace; just as they can be used to fund needy organisations
11) Giving cryptocurrency donations as Crypto assets can contribute to CENFACS‘ mission if you are a crypto-minded supporter or enthusiast or donor and can aid CENFACS raise money for its noble causes as well as develop a crypto philanthropy programme
12) Non-fungible tokens, which can be accepted as donations, are unique and non-interchangeable tokens compared to crypto assets and a medium by which you can use to boost funds for CENFACS.
There could be more since resource giving to charitable causes is a fast-growing industry. If you know any more of them, please use them to help CENFACS access funds for its noble causes.
So, those who could not give no-direct cash donations through their shopping, they can still donate via the above-named no-direct cash donations without shopping. They could make no-direct cash donations without shopping a souvenir for CENFACS’ noble causes.
By asking for no-direct cash donations with and without shopping, we do not mean that one cannot donate cash. They can and if they choose to directly donate cash, CENFACS will happily accept their direct cash donations.
To support CENFACS without directly giving cash (with or without shopping) and or by directly donating cash, please contact CENFACS.
Thank you for considering our ask for no-direct cash donations without festive shopping activities.
For any queries and/or enquiries about CENFACS’ Festive-Donations-Without-Shopping Project, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• Activity/Task No. 12 of the Influence (“i”) Year and Project: Influence the Income-generating Activities of the Income Poor
The 12th Activity or Task of our ‘i’ Year and Project is about encouraging income people, in what they are trying to do, to generate income to make ends meet. To carry out this task, one may need to understand income-generating activities and income poverty.
• • Understanding Income-generating Activities
Income-generating activities can be viewed from various perspectives or approaches. According to ‘igo-global.com’ (1), an income-generating activity is
“An activity carried out in order to generate revenues used to ensure the financial sustainability of the organisation”.
This definition can apply to households when members of any household are trying to generate or earn income to ensure the financial sustainability of the household. It can as well be used for people living in poverty who are trying to generate income using a variety of means at their disposal.
For example, in the run up to the end of the year’s celebrations, it is possible to see all sorts of coping and surviving activities or strategies (including street begging) that poor people are using to generate some income to make ends meet.
However, is there any level of income from which one can argue about income poverty?
• • Defining Income Poverty
To relatively and absolutely define income poverty, we are going to refer to the metrics used by the World Bank which is the international poverty line. According to the World Bank (2),
“Since 30 November 2022, the international poverty line was set at $2.15 per person per day using 2017 prices. This means that anyone living on less than $2.15 a day is in extreme poverty”.
This metrics can contribute to the knowledge formation of income-generating activities of the income poor or those living below the threshold of $2.15 a day. It is also a useful indicator when trying to influence these activities.
• • The Task of Influencing the Income-generating Activities of the Income Poor
Although ‘assets.publishing.service.gov.uk’ (3) argues that income-generating activities do not yield the expected improvement in income, one can only get to know the result or effectiveness of any initiative by trying it. The same ‘assets.publising.service.gov.uk’ also recognises that problems encountered that prevent this improvement are not inevitable and can be avoided if careful planning and analysis are done before the design and/or implementation of income-generating activities.
From the argument of ‘assets.publising.service.gov.uk’, it is possible to work with the income poor to influence their income generating activities by better planning and analysing them. This influence could be in the form of working with them through the following sub-tasks:
σ reviewing or refreshing their income generation strategy
σ re-evaluating their income generation goals
σ finding out who can support them in their goals
σ building a supporter experience and network to expand the income generation process
σ motivating them to talk to others who are trying to generate income like them
σ promoting learning and development around the theme of income generation amongst them
σ above all, encouraging those income poor who can create generational income (that is, financial assets like cash, stocks, shares, real estate and family businesses that can be passed by one generation of a family to another) to do so to avoid intergenerational poverty.
The above is the Activity or Task no. 12 for the ‘i’ Year/Project for those who are interested in carrying it out. For those who want any clarification of any aspects of the activity or task, they can contact CENFACS.
This Activity or Task no. 12 ends our project relating to the dedication of Year 2023 as of Influence. To conclude the entire ‘i’ Project, let us refer to the five principles of Amy Glass (4). Amy Glass’ five principles, which one can refer to if they want to influence others, are given below.
~ Principle 1: Influence is a persuasive process. It doesn’t happen all at once.
For instance, one needs to answer the question, ‘Did we build relationships with poor people and understand their perspectives about what they want?’
~ Principle 2: Influence is the product of trust.
For example, the question to answer could be, ‘Can people in need trust us?’
~ Principle 3: When people feel heard, they’re more open to being influenced.
For example, we need to answer the question, ‘Do we value and listen to poor people?’
~ Principle 4: Influence requires persuasively communicating.
It means one has to describe what is at stake with poor people, establish their needs/problems, describe the desired state, solve the problem, visualise and call to action.
~ Principle 5: Influence isn’t about winning; it is about solving problems.
Since 2023 has been a Year of Influence to reduce poverty, we can answer the following question at the end of 2023:
Did we help influence poverty reduction throughout 2023?
If we did, then we would have responded to poor people’s need/problem if their need was to reduce poverty. If we did not, then it may be advisable for us to find out why we were not able to help reduce poverty and what is the way forward.
For any queries and/or enquiries about this conclusion or the entire ‘i’ project, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
Extra Messages
• Matching Organisation-Investor Programme – Activity 3 (from 06/12/2023 to 12/12/2023): Matching Organisation’s Project Roles and Teams with Investor’s Investment Implementation and Monitoring Phase
• E-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet (05/12/2023 to 05/01/2024)
• Campaign on Financial Capacity and Capability for Households
• Matching Organisation-Investor Programme – Activity 3 (from 06/12/2023 to 12/12/2023): Matching Organisation’s Project Roles and Teams with Investor’s Investment Implementation and Monitoring Phase
Both Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisation (ASCO) and Not-for-profit (n-f-p) Investor earned more points in their individual second stage of this programme. They are continuing their negotiation and have decided to move to the third round of talks, which is Activity 3 of the Matching Organisation-Investor Programme.
This third level of talks consists of agreeing on project roles and teams for ASCO, and on investment implementation and monitoring for n-f-p Investor. Let us look at what which side can do to make this agreement to happen.
• • Project Roles and Teams for ASCO
Generally speaking, most projects involve people with roles and teams working together to make the projects work. Projects require communications between project members about different aspects of a project.
At this stage of negotiation, a sensible n-f-p investor would like to know who will make ASCO’s project teams and what roles each team members will play and who is responsible for what. It means team members have the competencies and experience to complete their assigned tasks.
At this level of challenge, one needs to think like in The Apprentice (the British TV Series) or Dragons’ Den (another British entertainment show) whereby one can try to secure funding for its project from multimillionaire investors. One can think like this, although in our scenario it is about ASCO trying to secure a deal from n-f-p investor.
At this point, ASCO can start to use investor/project growth or diversification metrics to check that it is acquiring new investors or retaining existing investors or re-engaging lapsed investors.
• • Investment Implementation and Monitoring Phase from Not-for-profit Investor’s Perspective
To understand implementation and monitoring for n-f-p investor, one may need to know what is implementation and what is monitoring in any project.
• • • Implementation and monitoring in any project
Generally speaking, implementation consists of carrying out the project plan.
As to monitoring, ‘monday.com’ (5) defines it as
“The phase of assessing how the final product fulfils the goals of the initial project plan”.
The website ‘monday.com’ recommends to use predefined metrics and measure key performance indicators.
Knowing what project implementation and monitoring mean, let us apply this understanding to investment projects.
• • • Investment implementation and monitoring phase
According to ‘unpri.org’ (6),
“Implementation is about operationalising investment strategy process and translating the investment strategy into initiatives for implementation”.
To implement an investment, one needs an implementation plan. An implementation plan is defined by ‘coursera.org’ (7) as
“A written document that outlines a team’s steps to accomplish a goal or project”.
As to investment monitoring, ‘financestrategists.com’ (8) explains that
“Investment monitoring refers to the ongoing process of tracking and evaluating the performance of an investment portfolio, ensuring that it remains aligned with an investor’s financial goals and risk tolerance”.
At this phase, the n-f-p investor will assess the return in terms of poverty reduction results from ASCO’s project. He/she will likely to keep in his/her investment portfolio only projects with high numbers of people to be lifted out of poverty as well as the quality of poverty relief achieved. He/she will also measure whether or not it is worth taking risk in investing in ASCO’s project. Depending on the magnitude of risk to be incurred compared to the amount of return on poverty reduction, he/she may decide to move to the next round or to wait and see other bids or simply to pull out from the ASCO’s project.
Briefly speaking, investment implementation and monitoring phase is about following and communicating progress towards objectives while making necessary adjustments.
• • The Match or Fit Test
As part of the match or fit test, n-f-p investor’s investment implementation and monitoring phase needs to match ASCO’s project roles and teams. The match can be perfect or close in order to reach an agreement. If there is a huge difference between the two, the probability or chance of having an agreement at this round could be null or uncertain.
However, CENFACS can impact advise ASCO to improve its project roles and teams. CENFACS can as well guide n-f-p investors with impact to ameliorate their investment implementation and monitoring phase to a format that can be acceptable by a potential ASCO. CENFACS‘ impact advice for ASCO and guidance on impact investing for n-f-p investor will help each of them (i.e., investee and investor) to make informed decisions and to reduce the likelihood of any significant losses.
The rule of the game remains the same; which is the more investors are attracted by ASCOs’ project roles and teams the better for ASCOs. Likewise, the more ASCOs are willing to adopt investors’ investment implementation and monitoring phase the better for investors. In this respect, the matching game needs to be a win-win one to benefit both players (i.e., organisation and investor).
The above is the third episode of the Matching Organisation-Investor Programme.
Those potential organisations seeking investment and n-f-p investors looking for organisations who are interested in it, they can contact CENFACS to arrange the match or fit test for them. They can have their fit test carried out by CENFACS’ Hub for Testing Hypotheses.
For any queries and/or enquiries about this third activity of Matching Organisation-Investor Programme and/or the programme itself, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• E-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet (05/12/2023 to 05/01/2024)
As the year wraps up, our e-discussion, which is on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet, has already started. The e-discussion is about volunteering to eliminate poverty while preserving the planet. In other words, it is about keeping hand in hand the goal of ending poverty and that of preserving the planet in our model of volunteering.
The e-discussion resonates with the Paris Agenda for People and the Planet set up in June 2023 in Paris (9) and its four principles to achieve a world where poverty is eliminated and the planet preserved. The four principles of the Paris Agenda are
1) No country should have to choose between fighting poverty and fighting for the planet
2) Country ownership of transition strategies
3) The need for a financial stimulus with more resources to support vulnerable economies lifting their population out of poverty while protecting the planet
4) An international financial system that delivers more: the role of private capital.
Our e-discussion, which takes stock of this Pact, will explore ways of driving forward nature-positive approach to our voluntary work and action. As the World Economic Forum (9) puts is,
“Nature-positive approach enriches biodiversity, stores carbon, purifies water and reduces pandemic risk. In short, a nature positive approach enhances the resilience of our planet and our societies”.
To e-discuss Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet as well as drive forward nature-positive approach to our voluntary work and action, we have organised the following plan of work.
As shown on the above table, we shall look at the following points during our e-discussion:
√ Volunteering for not to choose between the fight against poverty and the fight for the planet
√ Volunteering to keep the ownership of transition strategies (e.g., energy transition strategies) between different people, including poor people
√ Volunteering to find resources to support vulnerable people
√ Volunteering to scale up private capital flows or funds to Africa to transform poor people’s lives and reduce inequalities.
As we are nearing 2024, volunteering for poor people and the planet will help to enhance actions for the protection and restoration of natural processes, ecosystems and species. It will as well contribute to reduce poverty induced by the harms of the planet.
To e-discuss about Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet, please contact CENFACS.
• Campaign on Financial Capacity and Capability for Households
This campaign is about working with poor households in four areas of financial empowerment as highlighted below.
1) Managing financial matters and financial aspects of festive events
Under this first area of financial empowerment, the campaign will help poor households to build or develop their financial control through financial measures such as household budgeting, savings policy, surplus funds policy, credit transactions analysis, etc.
2) Development of financial knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours
In this second area of work, the campaign will contribute to beneficiaries’ understanding of the causal effects of financial knowledge and education – like financial literacy, numeracy and digital – on financial behaviour, as well as on the influence of learning capacity on financial confidence and financial behaviour.
3) Making life-saving financial decisions
Regarding this third area of action, the campaign will assist beneficiaries in their capacity to make financial decisions as it will provide scope for financial capacity testing and assessing the capacity to make financial decisions.
4) Investing in financial capacity and capability goals to better start off 2024
As to the fourth area of financial empowerment, the campaign will motivate beneficiaries to devote their efforts in financial goals that can help them mitigate financial difficulties and prepare themselves to enter 2024 with meaningful financial capacity and capability.
Those who are looking forward to start 2024 in a better shape in terms of financial capacity and capability, they can join this campaign. To participate and or support this campaign, please contact CENFACS.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Dons Festifs en Espèces Sans Achat Direct
La semaine dernière, nous avons fourni – dans le cadre du projet ‘Achats et Dons Festifs ou Dons Festifs avec Achats‘ du CENFACS – un certain nombre de dons en espèces non directs que ceux ou celles qui souhaitent soutenir le CENFACS par le biais de leurs achats de Noël peuvent fournir.
Cette semaine, nous élargissons les dons non directs en nous concentrant sur ceux qui n’ont pas d’achats dans le cadre du projet ‘Dons Festifs Sans Achats’ du CENFACS. En d’autres termes, nous mettons en évidence d’autres moyens de soutenir le CENFACS sans donner directement de l’argent et sans faire d’achats sur le magasin en ligne du CENFACS et dans d’autres magasins ou boutiques.
Quels sont les moyens auxquels on peut penser ou trouver pour soutenir le CENFACS sans avoir à donner directement de l’argent et sans faire d’achats sur la boutique en ligne du CENFACS et dans d’autres magasins ou boutiques?
• • Dons festifs sans directement donner les espèces et sans achats
Il existe 12 façons/outils thématiques pour faire un don sans magasiner pendant cette saison et ce mois festifs. Il s’agit notamment de:
1) S’inscrire à une déclaration d’aide aux dons à partir de laquelle le CENFACS peut gagner 25 pence supplémentaires pour chaque 1 £ que vous donnez
2) Nomination du CENFACS pour un don lors d’événements festifs de collecte de fonds et de dons caritatifs
3) Sélection du CENFACS comme organisme de bienfaisance préféré pour les dons provenant des revenus publicitaires
4) Don planifié ou don testamentaire si vous décidez de faire un don majeur au CENFACS au-delà de votre vie
5) Si vous jouez en tant que donateur de diffusion en direct pour de bonnes causes et de collecte de fonds, vous pouvez également soutenir le CENFACS via des actifs de jeu lorsque vous, en tant que collecteur de fonds pour le jeu, pouvez prendre l’initiative de collecter des fonds pour le CENFACS via des jeux vidéo ou des événements de jeux vidéo diffusés en direct où les téléspectateurs peuvent se connecter
6) Des outils d’IA (Intelligence Artificielle) pour générer des revenus ou automatiser la génération de revenus
7) Si vous êtes un collecteur de fonds pour les jeux et que vous pouvez aider le CENFACS à collecter les fonds dont il a besoin grâce à votre capacité de collecte de fonds pour les jeux
8) Si vous menez des campagnes ou des activités de jeux et de diffusion en direct dans le cadre d’une campagne de collecte de fonds en direct, vous pouvez vous souvenir du CENFACS dans vos campagnes
9) Les billets numériques peuvent aider le CENFACS si vous pouvez vendre des billets sur les plateformes de médias sociaux via un site d’événement pour aider le CENFACS à collecter des fonds; surtout si quelqu’un qui assiste à votre événement peut vous aider à collecter des fonds en achetant un billet de collecte de fonds
10) Les objets de collection numériques peuvent être un moyen de soutenir le CENFACS pour ceux ou celles qui les ont dans leur portefeuille, car ils peuvent être achetés, échangés et vendus sur un marché d’égal à égal; tout comme ils peuvent être utilisés pour financer des organisations dans le besoin
11) Faites des dons en crypto-monnaie, car les crypto-actifs peuvent contribuer à la mission du CENFACS si vous êtes un partisan ou un passionné ou un donateur soucieux de la crypto-monnaie et peuvent aider le CENFACS à collecter des fonds pour ses nobles causes ainsi qu’à développer un programme de philanthropie cryptographique
12) Les jetons non fongibles, qui peuvent être acceptés en tant que dons, sont des jetons uniques et non interchangeables par rapport aux actifs cryptographiques et un moyen par lequel vous pouvez utiliser pour augmenter les fonds pour le CENFACS.
Il pourrait y en avoir davantage, car le don de ressources à des causes caritatives est une industrie en pleine croissance. Si vous en connaissez d’autres, n’hésitez pas à les utiliser pour aider le CENFACS à accéder à des fonds pour ses nobles causes.
Ainsi, ceux ou celles qui n’ont pas pu faire de dons en espèces non directs par le biais de leurs achats, ils/elles peuvent toujours faire un don via les dons en espèces sans direct mentionnés ci-dessus sans faire de courses d’achat.
En demandant des dons en espèces non directs avec et sans achats, nous ne voulons pas dire que l’on ne peut pas donner en espèces. Ils/elles le peuvent et s’ils/elles choisissent de faire un don direct en espèces, le CENFACS acceptera volontiers leurs dons directs en espèces.
Pour soutenir le CENFACS sans donner directement de l’argent (avec ou sans achats) et/ou en faisant un don direct en espèces, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.
Merci d’avoir pris en considération notre demande de dons en espèces non directs sans activités de magasinage festives.
Pour toute question et/ou demande de renseignements sur le projet ‘Dons Festifs Sans Achats’ du CENFACS, n’hésitez pas à contacter le CENFACS.
Main Development
• Festive Guide and Income Generation Month
We have two major items making the Festive Guide and Income Generation Month, which are:
∝ Festive Guide
∝ December as an Income Generation Month.
Let us briefly explain each of them.
• • Festive Guide
Inside this guide, there are three main listings: Season’s Relief, Festive Services and Gifts of Peace.
• • • Season’s Relief
At CENFACS, the Season’s Relief comes with a theme and bundle of initiatives.
• • • • Season’s Relief Theme
The theme for Season’s Relief which would carry us throughout the entire festive period is Sustainable Peace. The Festive Season, which is part of the worldwide celebration, kicks off in December for CENFACS and ends by the 31st of January in the New Year.
During the Festive Season, we normally start the Season of Light. The Season of Light is one of the four seasons of CENFACS Development Calendar. It is the Winter season which goes on until the third week of March in the New Year and is featured by Winter Lights and Light Projects or Light Appeals.
During this Season of Light, we shall carry out work about light (or energy) and poverty reduction since the global climate community has committed itself to energy transition strategies while energy poor people in Africa are still dependent on fossil fuels.
• • • • Season’s Relief Initiatives
The following are the selected December 2023 initiatives or Season’s Initiatives for Relief:
∗ Festive Income Builder, Booster & Calculator, In Focus for 2023: Financial Capacity and Capability
∗ Community Value Chains: The CENFACS Community and Its Influence on Poverty Reduction
∗ Volunteering in 2024: Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet
∗ Thanking 2023 Year Makers & Enablers
∗ Gifts of Peace (Edition 2023/2024)
∗ Run, Vote & Play for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development (Action-Results 2023).
The above-mentioned projects would make the first part of Season’s Relief as being announced above. Some of them intertwine between our monthly and seasonal development calendars. All will depend whether one is reading our development calendar on a monthly or seasonal basis.
To support and or enquire about the Season’s Relief, please contact CENFACS.
• • • Festive Services
These services are made of two types of projects: regular and festive projects.
• • • • Regular or on-going projects
They are continuous including during the festive period. The project known as All-year Round Projects (Triple Value Initiatives) is one of them.
• • • • Projects for the festive occasion only
They are projects which are specially designed for that occasion. The project Community Value Chains is one of them.
Both types of projects are included in our December 2023 programme and planned to be delivered during the month of December 2023.
• • • Gifts of Peace
These are CENFACS Wintry Gift Appeal initiative to support people living in poverty in Africa.
CENFACS’ Winter Gift of Peace to Africa is indeed …
√ A festive life-sustaining support that helps to reduce poverty and bring sustainable peace
√ A festive giving to acknowledge and do something about poverty over the festive period, which is also an occasion to trans-give and think of those who are not as fortunate as others
√ A festive means to support those who don’t have peace because of poverty, particularly in the developing regions of the world like Africa.
Since Africa is still struggling with the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the enduring cost-of-living crisis, there are many of these people, who are recipient of projects and programmes run by our Africa-based Sister Organisations, who desperately need support.
However, we must acknowledge that this is a challenging time for both those who support and those who receive that support. Many factors have impacted people’s donation behaviours. The same or similar factors have increased demand of support for those in need. To respond to the demand of help from those who receive support, we will be launching CENFACS’ Winter Gift of Peace to Africa, a Winter Appeal, by the end of Autumn 2023.
In meantime, those who would like to have for more information about this seasonal appeal, they need to contact CENFACS.
• • December as an Income Generation Month for CENFACS
December is a month of Income Generation, Record Tracking and Winter Lights at CENFACS.
• • • December as Income Generation Month
December is the Income Generation month according to CENFACS monthly development calendar and planner. It is the month during which we advocate and provide tips, hints and other types of advisory support on how to generate additional income to cover shortage in regular income, by using other avenues within the boundaries of the law and order.
This additional income can enable multi-dimensional income poor children, young people and families (C, YP & Fs) to exercise their basic human right to celebrate the end of the year in their own way and right.
However, this December 2023 of Income Generation will be mostly about Financial Capacity and Capability as we highlighted in this year Edition of Festive Income Boost. This is to help C, YP & Fs to find enough income capacity and capability to better manage financial aspects of festive events, to develop financial knowledge and skills, to make life-saving financial decisions and to invest in financial capacity and capability goals.
We will be working with them during the festive season to find ways of building and developing the financial capacity and capability. So, supporting multi-dimensional poor C, YP & Fs in this way is the right cause to undertake.
Equally, where possible generating, building and boosting their incomes to exercise their human right to a decent end-of-year celebration is not only a one-off or seasonal business to make ends meet; but can also become an additional way of building and developing the capacity and capability to reduce and end income poverty.
They are poor not only because of lack of income but also due to their lack of support to build and develop financial capacity and capability as well as to generate enough income to cover their needs and nurture these capacity and capability.
As part of festive support, our Edition 2023 Festive Extra Income Builder, Booster and Calculator would be available for those who need it. We launched this resource earlier in Autumn in order to enable those in need of the resource to get the tips, hints and strategies they need to early start exploring ways of better managing their financial affairs and making life-saving financial decisions while finding ways of boosting their income and generational economy.
Besides this resource, we planned two periods of work on financial capacity and capability programmes and schemes starting from the first of this month as follows.
• • • 01 to 07/12/2023: Financial Capacity and Capability Programmes (FCCP)
FCCP is a set of structured activities designed to help users to better manage financial aspects of festive events, to develop financial knowledge and skills, to make life-saving financial decisions and to invest in financial capacity and capability goals
As a result, we will be working on how people and families can be involved a series of structured activities or small projects to
σ invest in realistic goals about financial capacity and capability
σ manage financial aspects of festive events
σ make financial knowledge and skills positively impact on their financial behaviour
σ take sensible life-saving financial decisions
σ where possible generate little extra income in order to reduce poverty.
Through these activities, we hope beneficiaries will become
√ better in their financial behaviour
√ good financial decision makers
√ better financial managers
√ extra income earners
√ financially confident
etc.
• • • 08 to 14/12/2023: Financial Capacity and Capability Schemes (FCCS)
FCCS helps to work with users so that they can elaborate a systematic plan of future action about their financial capacity and capability for a week or month or year (2024). Through this exercise, we shall use some financial capacity and capability tools to work with users (e.g., Debt to income ratio formula).
Briefly, we will be working on how people and families having the issues of financial capacity and capability can work out systematic plans for future action to improve their financial capacity and capability, and where possible generate income in order to reduce continuing poverty and hardships. In particular, we will make sure about what scheme is workable or unworkable for them.
In the end, we hope that the financially incapacitated or incapable people and families can develop their own individual working FCCP and FCCS plans or policies to establish financial capacity and capability and generate little extra incomes not only for the festive period, but also beyond the festive time. In doing so, they can improve their intergenerational economy and transfer accounts.
• • • December as Record Tracking Month
December is also the time of record tracking on our All-year Round Projects (or Triple Value Initiatives), particularly
√ CENFACS Poverty Relief League (The African Nations Poverty Relief League)
√ Run to Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2023
√ Vote your African Poverty Relief and Development Manager of the Year 2023
We expect those who took part and or organised activities on our behalf about these projects to come forward, report and share with us their actions, results and experiences about the three stars or bests of 2023 (Best Country, Best Runner and Best Manager). We can count on them to tell us their Winner of CENFACS Trophy of the Year.
• • • December as the start of Winter Lights Season
As said above in our Festive Guide, December is finally the month we start CENFACS Winter Lights Season, the first season of our development seasonal calendar. The Season of Light, which kicks off around Mid-December, includes the Gifts of Peace.
Each year, we produce an edition of the Gifts of Peace that makes up our final fundraising campaign and last humanitarian appeal of the year. This year, we are doing the same for our last humanitarian appeal or fundraising campaign of 2023.
Peace is the festive theme we choose at CENFACS to spread the joy of Season’s Relief to those in need, especially at this time of the enduring cost-of-living crisis. We try to help their wishes of relief become true with the Gifts of Peace, by putting a smile on their face with relief notes.
With the enduring effects of high costs of living, many of them cannot find the smiles they need for relief. One can hope that the Gifts of Peace will bring back the lost smiles.
To support the Edition 2023/2024 of Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS.
• • • CENFACS Community Value Chains Celebration
As part of the Season of Light is the CENFACS Community Value Chains celebration. This celebration generally closes our seasons at the end of the year and concludes our yearly development calendar and planner, while marking the end of civil year at CENFACS.
It is an end-of-year eventful project enabling us to look upon us again as a community of shared vision, values and beliefs which connect us as human chains with a purpose of reducing and ending poverty amongst us, and of enhancing sustainable development as well.
This year we shall again focus on ourselves as a Community of Influential People. It will be about the influence we have on poverty reduction as well as on meeting the needs of those are looking for help that make us a community of influencers that helps match responses to those needs.
• • • Sustainable Volunteering: 05/12/2023 to 05/01/2024
To carry the CENFACS Community into the New Year, our discussion on Sustainable Volunteering, which has already started, is scheduled to take place from 05 December 2023 to 05 January 2024. The discussion theme for this year is on Volunteering in 2024 for Poor People and the Planet.
• • • CENFACS into 2024
To take the other two domains (International and Fund) of CENFACS into 2024 and engage with stakeholders, we shall develop nature-positive projects and programmes as well as those with nature-based solutions to poverty.
For any enquiries or to support CENFACS in the month of December 2023 and in the New Year, please contact CENFACS.
Before closing this week’s post, we would like to inform all our audiences and stakeholders that the above planned programmes, projects and activities can be reviewed. If there are any significant changes in terms of the eruption of a major event or crisis or shock, we shall revise our initial festive plan and activate our contingency plan.
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• References
(1) https://www.igo-global.com/dictionary/operational-challenge-in-hybrid-organisations/59060 (Accessed in December 2022)
(2) https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/measuring-poverty (Accessed in December 2022)
(3) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08ac8e5274a27b200077d/Shiree-IGA-Guidance-Note.pdf (accessed in December 2023)
(4) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2028/10/05/five-principles-to-follow-if-you-want-to-influence-others/ (accessed in December 2023)
(5) https://monday.com/blog/project-management/the-end-all-guide-to-project-implementation/ (accessed in December 2023)
(6) https://www.unpri.org/asset-owner-resources/crafting-an-investment-strategy-step-5-implementation/409.article (accessed in December 2023
(7) https://www.coursera.org/articles/implementation-planning (accessed in December 2023)
(8) https://www.financestrategists.com/wealth-management/investment-management/investment-monitoring/ (accessed in December 2023)
(9) https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2023/06/23/the-paris-agenda-for-people-and-the-planet (accessed in December 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 until the end of 2023 and beyond.
With many thanks.
