Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
26 March 2025
Post No. 397
The Week’s Contents
• Spring Relief 2025: Focus, Activities, Projects and Programmes
• Climate Action 4 – In Focus from 24 to 30/03/2025: Lithium; Water Harvesting Techniques
• Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity
… And much more!
Key Messages
• Spring Relief 2025: Focus, Activities, Projects and Programmes
Last Spring Relief, we Built Forward Better Together to a Greener, Cleaner, Safer, Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Future within the context of Squeezed Household Spending. This Spring Relief, we will be moving forward to protect the gains or legacies of our Building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society. In this process of building upon progress, we shall as well launch new initiatives.
In Spring Relief 2024, we also reset and changed our system of poverty reduction. After resetting our poverty reduction system, we now need to reinstall and restore the contents and settings of our system of poverty reduction to get it to a usable state. Where the system or its parts needed change, we are required to stabilise, test, communicate, continuously monitor and maintain system elements to ensure the new system functions as intended and address any new or outstanding issues or bugs that may arise.
So, this Spring Relief 2025, we are going to move forward to protect the gains or legacies of our Building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society. We are as well going to reinstall and restore the contents and settings of our system of poverty reduction to get it to a usable state; while stabilising, testing, communicating, continuously monitoring and maintaining the elements of our new system.
The above makes the theme for this Spring Relief 2025, theme which is moving forward to protect the gains or legacies of our Building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society.
The announcement of Spring Relief’s theme comes with that of activities, projects and programmes making it or the notes composing this theme. We have provided, under the Main Development section of this post, the activities, projects and programmes we have selected to make this Spring – Spring Relief 2025 Season.
For further details about Spring Relief 2025 Season, please go to the Main Development section of this post and read more about it.
• Climate Action 4 – In Focus from 24 to 30/03/2025: Lithium; Water Harvesting Techniques
This fourth climate action covers lithium as one of the metals needed for low-carbon technology and sustainable water management via water harvesting techniques. This action will be taken around the following headings:
~ Lithium as a metal needed for low-carbon technology
~ What are water harvesting techniques?
~ Working with the Community on lithium and water harvesting techniques
~ A final word about Climate Actions 2025.
Let us explain each of these headings.
• • Lithium as a Metal Needed for Low-carbon Technology
Lithium as a metal needed for low-carbon technology can be explained in many ways. One the ways of explaining it comes from the website ‘carbonbrief.org’ (1), which argues that
“Lithium, a soft, silvery-white metal which is also the lightest in the periodic table, is a crucial ingredient of lithium-ion batteries. These are used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles (EVs), now their biggest consumer. The lithium-ion battery is the battery of choice for most car makers, including Tesla, BMB, Ford and Nissan”.
However, its extraction and processing can be environmentally intensive, requiring sustainable solutions. There are reasons for which lithium is important metal for low-carbon technology. Amongst these reasons, we can mention four of them:
1) Powering electric vehicles (with lithium-ion batteries) and storing energy
2) Electrification of transportation (meaning the reduction of carbon emissions from transportation)
3) Renewable energy integration (e.g., stabilisation of electricity grid)
4) Growing demand of lithium due to transition to low-carbon economy.
This week’s action is about highlighting the above-mentioned benefits of lithium as a critical metal for low-carbon technology and energy transition. The action is also on how these benefits can reach the poor, especially in African countries (like the Democratic Republic of Congo) where this scarce resource is found and represents an object of covetousness and conflict, but does not sometimes benefit the local population where it is mined.
• • What Are Water Harvesting Techniques?
According to ‘agrifarming.in’ (2),
“Techniques for collecting and managing rainfall and surface runoff sustainably are referred to as water harvesting techniques. These cutting-edge techniques are crucial in solving the global problem of water scarcity”.
The website ‘agrifarming.in’ also mentions the following benefits deriving from water harvesting techniques: reduced flooding, water quality improvement, energy savings, financial savings, climate resilience, community empowerment, water access in remote areas, carbon green spaces, reduced water stress, etc.
Within the literature about water harvesting, the following properties have been highlighted making it a climate technology:
σ It helps communities adapt to changing rainfall patterns and droughts while ensuring access to water during dry periods (climate adaptation property)
σ It lowers energy consumption and emissions associated with water treatment and distribution (climate mitigation property)
σ It improves water security for both domestic and agricultural use (water security property)
σ It enhances resilience of communities and ecosystems to climate variability and extreme weather events (enhanced resilience property)
σ It increases agricultural productivity in dryland areas (food security and economic resilience property)
σ It is a relatively simple, low-cost, and accessible technology (cost-effectiveness property).
The above-mentioned properties of water harvesting techniques clearly speak for themselves about why action is needed to harvest water.
• • Working with the Community on Lithium and Water Harvesting Techniques
The all purpose of writing this note is to guide our action. In other words, what is key here is to take action. The note is only a guided principle.
For instance, taking action together could be on the following:
~ how to help our community members to find out how the benefits of lithium-ion batteries can be expanded to those in need
~ advocating for sharing and transferring technologies between Africa and the rest of the world, including technologies linked to lithium and water harvesting techniques
~ educating the members of the CENFACS Community who are unaware of help deriving from taking a water harvesting drive and motivating them to do it
~ explaining the benefits of water harvesting techniques
~ reducing and/or ending poverty linked to the lack of access to lithium-ion batteries and water harvesting technologies.
Those members of our community in the UK and Africa-based Sister Organisations willing to work with CENFACS on Lithium and Water Harvesting Techniques as well as on Poverty Reduction linked to them; they can take climate actions with us.
For any queries or enquiries about Climate Action 4 and Climate Actions Month, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
This note for Climate Action 4 ends this Week’s Climate Action contents.
• • A Final Word about Climate Action 2025
Climate action is about action, not words only. We have only written these notes to guide us and galvanise our action. This is because to take action, one needs a roadmap or simply to say how they are going to conduct this action.
As said above, the notes on Climate Action 4 conclude this Week’s Climate Action contents without ending our March 2025 Climate Actions. There will be impact monitoring and evaluation on 31/03/2025 to wrap up Climate Action March 2025.
For any other queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Climate Action Month, the theme of ‘Low-carbon and Climate Technologies and Poverty Reduction’ and the All Four Climate Actions; please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity
This week, we are dealing with the second part of Economic Inclusion Programme for Households, which is Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity. The first part is/was Economic Inclusion for Households’ Resilience. In the first part, we worked with households to strengthen their ability to manage risk and respond to and cope with sudden overwhelming shocks.
This second part will be covered under the following headings:
~ What is economic inclusion?
~ What is economic inclusion programme?
~ What is opportunity?
~ What is Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity?
~ The topics we have selected to highlight this second part.
Let us look at these headings.
• • What Is Economic Inclusion?
Economic inclusion can be defined in many ways. Amongst the definitions we found is the one provided by ‘oxford-review.com’ (3), which explains it in the following terms:
“Economic inclusion refers to creating equitable access to financial resources, opportunities, and support systems that enable individuals and communities, especially those historically marginalised, to participate fully in the economy. It emphasises breaking down economic barriers and ensuring everyone, regardless of background, has access to quality education, employment, entrepreneurship opportunities, and financial resources”.
Another view on economic inclusion comes from the World Bank (4) which sees it as
“The gradual integration of individuals and households into broader economic and community development processes” (p. 195)
These definitions will be used in our Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity by looking how opportunities can be created or how households can seize the opportunities available to them in order to reduce or escape from poverty and hardships.
• • What Is Economic Inclusion Programme?
According to the World Bank (op. cit.),
“Economic inclusion programmes, which are also known as productive inclusion programmes, refer to bundles of coordinated, multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households, and communities to sustainably increase their incomes and assets”.
CENFACS‘ Economic Inclusion Programme for Households consists of working with households making the CENFACS Community in order to strengthen their resilience against intermittent shocks and stressors, while seizing economic opportunities deriving from these shocks and stressors. The latter being the random and unpredictable sometimes significant events – in the form of electric shocks – that can disrupt the normal functioning of an economy as well as households’ economic life.
• • What Is Opportunity?
The same World Bank explains that
“Opportunity is the capacity of households in economic inclusion programme to capture and capitalise on investments that improve livelihoods and build human capital and one that they would otherwise miss” (p. 197)
Households need opportunity or capacity to reduce poverty and the adverse impacts of climate change, to enhance their economic status, to access well paid jobs, to better raise their children, etc.
From what it has been argued about opportunity, it is possible to explain Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity.
• • What Is Economic Inclusion Programme for Households’ Opportunity (EIP4HO)?
It is a set of projects or activities newly designed by CENFACS in order to work with households making its community so that they can create their own opportunities or capture the available opportunities and capitalise on investments that improve their livelihoods and build their human capital.
The programme will help them either create their own opportunity or seize opportunities that are available so that they can gradually and better integrate into processes that will enable them to reduce or end poverty.
EIP4HO will be helpful to households.
• • • Helpfulness of EIP4HO
The programme will be helpful for the economically weak households and or those households that would like find opportunity of improving their economic inclusion skills and understanding. It will be useful for them as follows:
√ to better access economic support
√ to gain tips to facilitate asset accumulation
√ to diversify their income streams
√ to strengthen their socio-economic and environmental networks
√ to improve their access to financial services and income transfers
√ to enhance their access to credit facilities
√ to boost their savings plan
√ to expand and vary their chance to capture economic opportunities
√ to move forward toward greater economic health and wellbeing
etc.
To enable them to enjoy the above-stated benefits, we are running four activities as highlighted below.
• • • Four Activities Making EIP4HO
They include the following:
1) Increasing opportunity to access and afford digital technologies for households
2) Promoting access to well paid job opportunities
3) Enhancing self-employment/income-generating opportunities
4) Improving households’ opportunity for adaptive safety net schemes.
As the above figure shows, these activities will run from every Wednesdays of April 2025. They will be approached from the perspective of households rather than from the point of view of those who manage the economy. There will a short break during the Easter Holiday (from 16 to 22 April 2025).
• • • Activity 1: Discussion on Accessibility to and Affordability of Digital Technologies (From 02 to 08/04/2025)
The discussion is about how ordinary households making our community can better access and afford the opportunity provided by digital technologies.
For instance, at the moment many aspects of life are digitally run. This means that everybody, including households are required to be equipped with technologies to be able to manage aspects of their households. Having a smart phone or continuous access to digital technology has become today’s modus vivendi. Can all households making our community access and afford these technologies to run their daily lives? Those who cannot access and/or afford them, what help is available for them?
Those members of the CENFACS Community who may be interested in the discussion can contact CENFACS.
For any queries and or enquiries about this discussion or EIP4HO, please communicate with CENFACS.
Extra Messages
• Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project – Activity 5 (from 26/03 to 01/04/2025): Matching Organisation’s Follow-up and Further Assessment with Impact Investor’s Monitor
• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) – Step/Workshop 6: Starting the Organisation of Your Play, Run and Vote Projects
• Land Restoration and Drought Resilience Programme: Open for Applications
• Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project – Activity 5 (from 26/03 to 01/04/2025): Matching Organisation’s Follow-up and Further Assessment with Impact Investor’s Monitor
The last episode of our 5-week Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project is about Matching Organisation’s Follow-up and Further Assessment with Impact Investor’s Monitor.
Because ecosystems can take years to adjust and adapt, there is a need to have a follow-up management for a successful restoration. ASCO has to reveal its follow-up maintenance needs and how it will know what will work and not work to inform future restorations. Similarly, the N-f-p Impact Investor will want to assess the project’s performance across ecological, social and economic parameters.
Knowing what each of the parties (i.e., Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisation and Not-for-profit Impact Investor) has to do, they have continued to work to ensure that their talks result in agreement. The points they have already scored are enough for them to tackle this last episode.
They seem to be using different words at this stage, but they could be talking about the same thing. ASCO is using the concept of follow-up while the N-f-p Impact Investor is employing the word ‘monitor or monitoring’. To clarify the matter, we need to explain the difference and indifference between project follow-up and project monitoring as the two parties approach this last stage.
Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisation (ASCO) is coming to the negotiating table with the proposal to follow up and carry out further assessment prior to any agreement. The Not-for-profit (n-f-p) Impact Investor is bringing to the same table its monitor.
To approach this last part of the matching talks, we have organised our notes as follows:
σ The Difference between Project Follow-up and Project Monitoring
σ Negotiation over Follow-up, Further Assessment and Monitor
σ Negotiated Agreement
σ The Match or Fit Test
σ Concluding Note on Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project.
Let us explain each of these headings.
• • The Difference between Project Follow-up and Project Monitoring
Project follow-up and project monitoring have something in common; just as they have some differences. What is common between them is that both project follow-up and project monitoring involve keeping track of a project’s progress.
They are different as project monitoring is the ongoing process of tracking metrics and tasks to ensure the project stays on schedule with budget and meets requirements; whereas project follow-up focuses on assessing project outcomes, identifying areas for improvement and ensuring objectives were met after the initial phase. This difference can be expressed in their focus, purpose and activities conducted for each.
Knowing what unites and separates project follow-up and project monitoring, it makes easy to speak about the negotiation.
• • Negotiation over Follow-up, Further Assessment and Monitor
The negotiation will between the contents of follow-up and further assessment to be presented by ASCO and monitor to be proposed by the N-f-p Impact Investor. Let us uncover what each is bringing to the negotiating table.
• • • ASCO’s Project Follow-up and Further Assessment
To explain what it is going to happen, let us first explain follow-up, then further assessment.
• • • • What is project follow-up?
Project follow-up can be defined in various ways. If one considers the field of project management, a project follow-up can be explained, according to ‘knowledgehut.com’ (5), as
“The process of monitoring and evaluating the outcomes of a project or plan as well as managing and communicating its performance”.
From the perspective of knowledgehut.com’, to conduct effective project follow-ups, ASCO will follow eleven steps:
1) Define follow-up objectives
2) Establish follow-up criteria
3) Collect and data and information
4) Analyse and evaluate
5) Identify improvement opportunities
6) Communicate findings
7) Take corrective actions
8) Monitor progress
9) Engage stakeholders
10) Document lessons learned
11) Repeat follow-up activities.
At this point of the negotiation, the N-f-p Impact Investor may want to know if ASCO has a follow-up action plan (that is, a strategic framework designed to ensure the continuous monitoring and assessment of tasks or goals after their initial implementation).
According to ‘meetjamie.ai’ (6), this type of plan focuses on measuring progress, making necessary adjustments, and guiding ongoing efforts to achieve sustained success.
With reference to this plan, the N-f-p Impact Investor will be keen in knowing if ASCO has a strategic map that will track and evaluate the advancement of particular tasks or objectives following the initial execution. ASCO needs to demonstrate that it has such map or something similar.
• • • • What is project assessment?
The perspective retained here for project assessment comes from ‘vasundhara.io’ (7),which explains that
“Project assessment is the systematic process of assessing a project’s progress, performance, and impact. It involves analysing different aspects such as goals, resources, execution, and outcomes to determine the project’s success”.
ASCO can demonstrate that its Land Restoration Project has been or will be assessed in accordance to the above definition or other relevant one. ASCO can categorise its project assessment into pre-project assessment, mid-project assessment and post-project assessment.
If ASCO can show that it is able to better follow up and further assess the Land Restoration Project, then this can reinforce its glimmer of hope in these matching talks.
• • • N-f-p Impact Investor’s Monitor
The N-f-p Impact Investor has entered this last episode with its monitoring file or monitor. What is project monitoring?
According to ‘plane.so’ (8),
“Project monitoring is defined as the process of tracking, reviewing, and regulating the progress and performance of a project to ensure it stays on course and meets the objectives outlined in the project plan”.
The N-f-p Impact Investor can decide to appoint a project monitor to oversee the project on their behalf, acting as their ‘eyes and hears’ to ensure it progresses according to plan and budget. The project monitor will track the project’s metrics, progress and associated tasks to ensure everything is completed on time, on budget, and according to project requirements and standards.
To be sure that the project will be properly monitored, the N-f-p Impact Investor will be interested to know if ASCO has the key performance metrics to measure that tasks will be completed on time and within budget.
In addition, ASCO will need to explain how it will not deviate from its plan early, and how it will make adjustments to keep the project within its scope, schedule, and budget.
ASCO can prove that it has a plan for regular reviews of the project’s status, and will track key performance indicators and will assess the quality of deliverables.
• • Agreement
In order to reach an agreement, both participating parties need to approve processes over Follow-up, Further Assessment and Monitor. If there is no approval in any of these processes, the matching talks may not go further. In other words, there should be an agreement between ASCO’s Follow-up and Further Assessment (FFA) and N-f-p Impact Investor’s Monitor. If there is a disagreement, then the talks/negotiations could be subject to match or fit test.
• • The Match or Fit Test
As part of the match or fit test, the n-f-p Impact Investor’s view on ASCO’s FFA must be matched with the information coming out of ASCO’s FFA.
The match can be perfect or close in order to reach an agreement. If there is a huge or glaring difference between the two (i.e., between what the investor wants and what ASCO is saying about its FFA, between what the investor would like the phase of FFA to indicate and what ASCO’s FFA is really saying), the probability or chance of having an agreement at this fifth round of negotiations could be null or uncertain.
However, if this happens there is still a chance as CENFACS can step in to advise ASCO and guide n-f-p Impact Investor on their approaches to Land Restoration Project.
• • • Impact Advice to ASCO and Guidance to n-f-p Impact Investor
CENFACS can impact advise ASCOs to improve the presentation of the FFA they are bringing forward. CENFACS can as well guide n-f-p Impact Investors to work out their expectations in terms of the FFA to a format that can be agreeable by potential ASCOs. CENFACS’ impact advice for ASCOs and guidance on impact investing for n-f-p Impact Investor, which are impartial, will help each of them (i.e., investee and investor) to make informed decisions and to reduce or avoid the likelihood of any significant losses or misunderstandings or mismatches.
However, to reduce or avoid this likelihood both parties need to follow the rule of the matching game.
• • • The Rule of the Matching Game
The rule of the matching game is the more impact investors are attracted by ASCO’s FFA the better for ASCOs. Likewise, the more ASCOs can successfully respond to impact investors’ level of enquiries and queries about the FFA the better for investors. In this respect, the matching game needs to be a win-win one to benefit both players (i.e., investee and investor).
The above is the fifth stage or activity of the Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project.
Those potential organisations seeking investment to set up a land restoration project in Africa and n-f-p impact investors looking for organisations that are interested in their giving, 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.
• • • CENFACS’ Hub for Testing Hypotheses
The Hub can help to use analysis tools to test assumptions and determine how likely something is within a given standard of accuracy. The Hub can assist to
√ clean, merge and prepare micro-data sources for testing, modelling and analysis
√ conduct data management and administration
√ carry out regression analysis, estimate and test hypotheses
√ interpret and analyse patterns or trends in data or results.
For any queries and/or enquiries about this fifth stage/activity of Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• • Concluding Note on Matching Organisation-Investor via Land Restoration Project
To close this project, let us recognise that although this project has been based on a 5 essential stages of restoration projects and 5-step process of ecological restoration, there could be more than five stages in any land restoration project lifecycle.
The match probability can be high or average or low depending on how much ASCOs’ needs meet Not-for-profit Impact Investors’ interests.
CENFACS is still available to work with ASCOs that are looking for Impact Advice and Not-for-profit Impact Investors who need Guidance with Impact so that the former can find the investment they are looking for and the latter the organisation to invest in, and both of them can realise their respective Easter dreams.
To work together to make your matching dream come true by finding your ideal investee or investor, please contact CENFACS.
• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –
Step/Workshop 6: Starting the Organisation of Your Play, Run and Vote Projects
After negotiating and agreeing the terms of your all-year-round project, you can now start organising it.
• • Organising Your All-year Round Projects
This is the step from which you start to put in place your organisational structure. In project planning parlance, you will identify the roles and responsibilities (as shown in the table below) of each person to be involved in the project in order to facilitate the coordination and implementation of the project activities.
• • An Example of Organising Your All-year Round Projects
Let say you would like to Run for Poverty Reduction and you want to undertake it as a group in your local area. You decide to set up a running group and to name it as “All-year-round Runners’ Group”.
To start your organisation, you will proceed with the points below.
• • • Create a Basic Organisational Structure
You can create a basic organisational structure that identifies your project personnel, creates a management and delivery teams, and assigns roles and responsibilities including coordination. In practical terms, you will have to decide on the following:
Who is (are) going…
∝ to be first at the meeting/gathering point each time the running takes place?
∝ to hold the contact number/details of the group to keep everybody on board?
∝ to keep the attendance register?
∝ to check that everybody is fit and well to run?
∝ to lead or coordinate the run?
∝ to deal with health and safety of the group?
∝ to sort out the equipment if any?
∝ to care for people belongings while they are running?
∝ to make sure that everyone is countable after the Run?
∝ to record your Run event (e.g., filming it, using camera on your phone, a video or voice recorder, etc.)?
∝ to check that everyone leaves the meeting/gathering point safely after the event?
etc.
Depending on your skills, knowledge, experience and resources; you may add more roles and responsibilities.
You can even include a fundraising element into your running activity.
• • • Including a Fundraising Element into Your Run
If your Run involves any fundraising activity, you need to decide who will volunteer to undertaking fundraising responsibility (or everybody in the group). You can decide how much to raise each time you run without making it as an obligation since the aim of your Run is not to raise money. The aim of your Run is to impact poverty, the health and wellbeing of group members.
• • • Impact Reporting on Your Run
If you would like to report on your Run, you need to appoint someone to produce a report. You can decide everyone of your members reports on their own Run session/activity. In fact, it is a good idea to report on your Run. This is one of the ways of capturing and sharing the impact you are making on yourself, on the group and others. In monitoring and evaluation jargon, it is called impact reporting.
• • • Monitoring and Evaluating the Performance of Each Runner and Giving a Prize
If your group is going to select the best runner of the year 2025 and give a prize/reward accordingly; then you need to organise yourself to monitor and evaluate the performance of each runner against your given performance criteria throughout the year, and decide by the 23rd of December 2025 who is the group’s best runner of the year 2025.
For those who would like to dive deeper into Start Organising their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
• Land Restoration and Drought Resilience Programme (LRDRP): Open for Applications
Our LRDRP has already started and applications are open for those ASOs that would like to apply. The following summarises LRDRP:
What is LRDRP?, key aspects of LRDRP, projects making LRDRP, areas CENFACS can work in together with ASOs and applying to LRDRP.
Let us look at these summaries.
• • What Is LRDRP?
LRDRP is a series of planned SMART projects to be undertaken with ASOs; projects that focus on combating desertification and building resilience against drought while promoting sustainable land management practices. It is also an agenda for work with ASOs that are specialised in or would like to work on land restoration, drought resilience and ecological poverty reduction.
• • Key Aspects of LRDRP
They include land restoration, water management, and community engagement. These main aspects of LRDRP are essential in designing projects or responses to land degradation and drought issues.
• • Projects Making LRDRP
LRDRP is specifically crafted to work with Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisations (ASCOs) that are working or would like to embark on restoration projects in areas like healthy soils, resilient crops, nutritious foods, sustainable land restoration, etc.
• • Areas CENFACS Can Work in Together with ASOs
CENFACS‘ intervention will be at the levels of restoration project planning and development, fundraising and resource development, monitoring and evaluation, and project reporting.
At all these levels of intervention, there will be metrics, tools and key performance indictors to guide and operationalise our intervention.
• • Applying to LRDRP
We are ready to work with Africa-based Sister Organisations that are willing to embark on this programme.
For those ASOs that would like us to get involved in LRDRP, they should not hesitate to apply to the programme or communicate with CENFACS.
For any further queries or enquiries about LRDRP; please also contact CENFACS.
Message in French (Message en français)
À paraître ce printemps 2025 : Le numéro 87 de FACS qui s’intitulera « Les Organisations Caritatives Africaines et Le Financement de la Lutte contre le Changement Climatique et de la Réduction de la Pauvreté en Afrique »
Pour collecter des fonds afin de faire face aux problèmes de changement climatique et de pauvreté, les Organisations Caritatives Africaines (OCA) font face à toutes sortes de défis et d’obstacles. Pourtant, il est nécessaire de mettre en œuvre des objectifs de réduction du changement climatique et de la pauvreté.
Par exemple, le rapport de ‘greenfinanceplatform.org’ (9) indique que
« Les gouvernements africains se sont engagés à mobiliser environ 10 % de leurs besoins au niveau national, ce qui laisse un immense déficit – environ 80 % ou 2,5 milliards de dollars – dans le financement de la lutte contre le changement climatique nécessaire pour atteindre les objectifs d’atténuation et d’adaptation au changement climatique en Afrique ».
De plus, avec toutes les coupes qui ont été faites ici et là dans les pays développés en ce qui concerne leurs budgets d’aide au développement, ces coupes ne peuvent qu’exacerber le déficit de financement de la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique. Il y a donc un déficit de financement pour les questions climatiques ; tout comme il y a un vide d’aide financière pour la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique.
Qu’il s’agisse du climat ou de la réduction de la pauvreté, les Organisations Caritatives Africaines ont besoin de financement pour poursuivre et soutenir leur mission tout en améliorant la vie des personnes dans le besoin. Elles ont besoin d’un financement climatique pour aider à atténuer les impacts du changement climatique et à s’y adapter; tout comme elles ont besoin de financement pour s’attaquer aux causes profondes et aux conséquences de la pauvreté en Afrique. Ceci fait l’objet du 87e numéro du FACS.
Le 87e numéro du FACS traitera des stratégies et des outils que les Organisations Caritatives Africaines (OCA) utilisent ou peuvent utiliser pour entreprendre la planification et la budgétisation climatiques, ainsi que pour formuler leur offre d’investissement afin de rechercher et d’obtenir ou de mobiliser des fonds.
Il étudiera comment les OCA tentent d’accéder à des fonds par le biais d’institutions locales dotées de capacités et d’autonomisation où elles opèrent. Ceci sans ignorer les efforts qu’elles peuvent faire pour travailler avec le secteur privé ou à but lucratif sur les questions de changement climatique. En d’autres termes, le 87e numéro du FACS examinera comment les OCA tentent de collaborer et de s’associer avec d’autres pour améliorer leurs capacités et les questions de coordination relatives au financement sur la lutte contre le changement climatique.
Le 87e numéro traitera également du financement de la réduction de la pauvreté. En effet, obtenir un financement climatique n’implique pas nécessairement d’obtenir des financements pour la réduction de la pauvreté. C’est pourquoi le 87e numéro s’intéressera également à l’utilisation d’instruments financiers qui permettent aux OCA d’accès aux fonds et de répondre aux besoins de leurs utilisateurs et des locaux. À cet égard, le 87e numéro vérifiera s’il y a un alignement entre la stratégie des OCA en matière de financement du climat et le financement de la réduction de la pauvreté. Et s’il y en a, où cet alignement mène.
Le 87e numéro analysera la relation entre le financement de l’action climatique et le financement de la réduction de la pauvreté. Plus précisément, il mettra en évidence l’interdépendance entre le changement climatique et la pauvreté. On sait que le changement climatique peut exacerber la pauvreté en provoquant des catastrophes naturelles, l’insécurité alimentaire et les déplacements, tandis que la pauvreté peut rendre les personnes et les communautés plus vulnérables aux impacts climatiques.
Loin d’être un catalogue de défis et d’obstacles, le numéro 87 examinera s’il y a des améliorations dans les stratégies de financement des OCA en ce qui concerne les questions de changement climatique et de réduction de la pauvreté. En particulier, le 87e numéro portera sur les points suivants :
σ l’intégration entre la stratégie de financement de l’action climatique et la stratégie de financement de la réduction de la pauvreté, étant donné qu’il existe des synergies entre le changement climatique et les initiatives de réduction de la pauvreté
σ le modèle de collaboration entre les OCA et tous les autres acteurs pour mobiliser le financement de l’action climatique et le financement de la réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable
σ l’alignement entre le financement de l’action climatique et le financement de la réduction de la pauvreté
σ l’amélioration de la planification des projets des OCA qui reflète non seulement les besoins du climat, mais aussi ceux de la pauvreté en Afrique
σ le suivi des fonds climatiques et des fonds pour la réduction de la pauvreté et le développement durable
σ l’élaboration de cadres de travail qui incluent à la fois l’investissement climatique et l’investissement d’impact dans la réduction de la pauvreté
σ l’amélioration de la planification et de la coordination entre les projets de lutte contre le changement climatique et les projets de réduction de la pauvreté
etc.
Pour en savoir plus sur ce nouveau numéro, veuillez continuer à consulter les messages entrants du CENFACS ce printemps 2025. Pour réserver une copie papier de ce 87e numéro du FACS, veuillez contacter le CENFACS avec vos coordonnées postales.
Main Development
• Spring Relief 2025: Focus, Activities, Projects and Programmes
We can present Spring Relief 2025 by re-explaining its Focus and highlighting its Activities, Projects and Programmes. This is without forgetting the meanings or properties of the kind of building we would like to erect. So, the following items covers Spring Relief 2025:
σ Spring Relief 2025 Focus
σ Key Terms Embodying Our Spring Relief 2025
σ Spring Relief 2025 Activities, Projects and Programmes
Let us briefly uncover the above-mentioned items.
• • Spring Relief 2025 Focus
This Spring Relief 2025, we are going to move forward to protect the gains or legacies of our Building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society. We are as well going to reinstall and restore the contents and settings of our system of poverty reduction to get it to a usable state; while stabilising, testing, communicating, continuously monitoring and maintaining the elements of our new system.
So, the theme for this Spring Relief 2025 is moving forward to protect the gains or legacies of our building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society.
To reinstall and restore the contents and settings of our system of poverty reduction, we need activities, projects and programmes. To stabilise, test, communicate, continuously monitor and maintain the elements of our new system; it requires activities, projects and programmes as well. But, before we unveil these activities, projects and programmes; let us highlight the key terms embodying our Spring Relief 2025.
• • Key Terms Embodying Our Spring Relief 2025
They are the terms we can use after resetting and changing our systems of poverty reduction. These terms are given below.
• • • Key terms after a system reset
Depending on the way one has reset its system, they may use the steps they find the most suitable for them after resetting. In the context of Spring Relief 2025, we are going to utilise the following steps, which are commonly used in the information, technology and communication environment: reinstallation, restoration, reconfiguration of settings and updates of software. The words or expressions used for these steps make up the key terms after our system reset. Let us highlight these terms.
• • • • Reinstall
After resetting your poverty reduction system, the contents of this system will removed. You will need to put them in place and make them ready for use again or the reset ones.
• • • • Restore
You need as well to bring these contents back to a normal or proper state, or restore them from a back-up.
• • • • Reconfigure settings
You will need to reset these contents to their default values and to your preferences.
• • • • Updates of our system for poverty reduction
When doing reset, please make sure to check for and install any available updates.
The above-mentioned expressions or words or verbs are the ones we shall use after resetting our poverty reduction systems. There are also relationships between them in order to make our reset system better work.
• • • Key terms after a system change
Following the type of change initiated to the system, one can use the steps they feel appropriate to them after system change. For the convenience of our Spring Relief 2025, we are going to employ the steps that are familiar with what happens in the information technology and communications systems. To be precise, we are using the following steps: stabilisation and verification, communication and training, ongoing maintenance and improvement. The terms used for these steps constitute the key terms or terminology after our system change. Let us briefly explain these terms.
• • • • Stabilisation and verification
There are about testing the new system to ensure it correctly functions and meets the requirements, tracking the system’s performance and identifying any potential problems, and addressing any issues or bugs that arise during the initial phase of operations.
• • • • Communication and training
It is about communicating the change to all relevant stakeholders (e.g., project users and beneficiaries, Africa-based Sister Organisations, funders/donors, volunteers and other supporters, etc.), explaining how to effectively use the new system, and documenting all the changes made to the system.
• • • • Ongoing maintenance and improvement
It is about ensuring the system is kept up-to-date with security patches and updates, continuously monitoring the system’s performance and optimising it as needed, gathering feedbacks to identify areas for improvement, maintaining and updating the relevant documentation to the system.
The above key terminology will be part of the activities, projects and programmes we have planned to deliver this Spring. What are those activities, projects and programmes?
• • Spring Relief 2025 Activities, Projects and Programmes
CENFACS is delighted to present its New Season’s (Spring) Collection of Selected Activities, Projects and Programmes with a choice of relief and climate smart services. For each of these activities, projects and programmes; you will find climate resilient development ambition as well as user-friendly and –centred relief. They are designed with the scents of inclusivity, cleanness, safety, sustainability, resilience and opportunity.
These are the activities, projects and programmes to rebuild lives, infrastructures and institutions as we move forward better together greener, cleaner, inclusive and safer towards a net-zero world. They are free, but we do not mind donations. The more you donate, the more we can help relieve lives.
Please find below the selection of Spring Relief 2025 Activities, Projects and Programmes.
• • • April: Protection Month
There will be two initiatives to deliver and sustain protection in April 2025, which are:
Protection of Women and Children against Extreme Weather Events, and Protection of Household Assets.
a) Women and Children Projects (3W & PPS Reflection Day):
Reflection on Protection of Women and Children against Extreme Weather Events (Protection project)
On our Reflection Day, we will reflect on ways of tackling extreme weather events. What are extreme weather events?
According to the World Economic Forum (10),
“Extreme weather events (floods, heatwaves, etc.) are those leading to the loss of human life, damage to ecosystems, destruction of property and/or financial loss due to extreme weather
events. Includes, but is not limited to: land-based (e.g. wildfires), water-based (e.g. floods), and atmospheric and temperature-related (e.g. heat-waves) events, including those exacerbated by climate change.” (p. 77)
The same World Economic Forum tells us extreme weather events are the second-most severe risk over the short term and consistent concern amongst the groups it surveyed.
Our Reflection Day will try to look at what can be further done to protect and give sense of security to women and children from this second-most severe risk. In particular, we shall reflect on ways of tackling extreme weather events.
Additionally, we shall reflect on rebuilding trust and a sense of shared values out of the life-threating context of the impacts of extreme weather events on our network and system of protection in the process of moving forward to protect the legacies of our Building-forward-better-together work while building upon progress to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society.
b) Protection of Household Assets (Protection and Asset Management project)
Protecting household assets involves safeguarding household possessions and financial resources from potential risks like lawsuits, creditors or unexpected, often achieved through strategies like asset protection trusts or insurance. Even a poor household/family has assets that need protection.
It is known that poor people and households often lack financial resources and wealth. However, they can still possess valuable assets like physical possessions, skills, and social connections, which could be critical for reducing vulnerability and enhancing the quality of their livelihoods.
Because of that, we shall look at measures to protect poor households’ real estate (e.g., house or land), financial assets (e.g., bank accounts, savings, investments, retirement accounts, etc.), personal property (e.g., jewellery, art, furniture, and other valuables) and business assets (business and income-generating activities are part of household assets if owned by households).
• • • May: Stories Telling Month
The plan for May 2025 is made of two main features:
Stories Telling and Sharing project, and the continuation of our Rebuilding Africa project/campaign.
a) All in Development Stories (Volunteer’s Stories Telling & Sharing project)
Tell Your Story after Resetting and/or Changing the System – Tell it!
Entries for Stories on Poverty Relief and Development for May 2025 (May Stories) are now open. To tell and share your story of change for change to CENFACS, please contact CENFACS for story telling terms and conditions.
This year’s All in Development Stories will be “two horses” ones. They will be about how people and communities are trying or have tried to reinstall, restore, reconfigure and update things in their life to reduce or end poverty or simply improve their life. They will also be about how people and communities are trying or have tried to stabilise, test, communicate, monitor and maintain things in their life to reduce or end poverty or simply improve their life.
This coming May, we shall run two types of stories: after-system-reset stories and after-system-change stories.
a.1) After-system-reset stories are the tales of reinstallation, restoration, reconfiguration and updating of our system of poverty reduction or life.
a.2) After-system-change stories are the accounts of stabilisation and initial testing, ongoing maintenance and support, continuous improvement and adaptation, documentation and knowledge management, and maintenance of our system of poverty reduction or life.
b) Rebuilding Africa: Monitoring, Adapting and Learning of Africa’s Systems for Poverty Reduction with Communities and Africa-based Organisations (Advocacy programme)
In our work on Rebuilding Africa, we shall work with communities in Africa and Africa-based Organisations to continuously monitor, adapt and learn from challenges, ensuring that Africa’s systems for poverty reduction remain robust and capable of thriving in the face of future uncertainties and threats.
This work will involves continuous monitoring, adaptability and flexibility, learning from experience, cultivation of adaptable leaders, thriving a cycle of resilience, anticipation, coping and adaptation, and resilience as a state of being.
Therefore, we shall have two types of rebuilding work as highlighted below.
b.1) Broad Monitoring, Adapting and Learning of Africa’s Systems for Poverty Reduction with Communities and Africa-based Organisations (ASOs) will be based on the broad aspect of the rebuilding work.
b.2) Specific Monitoring, Adapting and Learning of Systems for Poverty Reduction with Communities and Africa-based Organisations (ASOs) where our ASOs operate will specifically deal with the specific aspects of the rebuilding work (like monitoring, adapting and learning of community members’ system of poverty reduction).
• • • June: Creation & Innovation Month
The plan to work on creations and innovations will around natural resources or critical minerals for energy transition and the loss of assets value.
a) Creations and Innovations relating to the use of critical or strategic natural resources or minerals for energy transition and poverty reduction (Creation and Innovation project)
Forming from nothing ideas or introducing changes to move forward together will be the main activity during the month of June 2025. These creative ideas and innovative ways of working will enable to find the means to meet the level of ambition we have for the kind of sustainable development and future we want, which we hope will help achieve a more equitable and inclusive society.
Using our experience, skills, knowledge and talents to find techniques, technologies and new methods to deal with the use of critical or strategic natural resources or minerals for energy transition (like aluminium, cobalt, copper, lithium, platinum, etc.) and poverty reduction will not be enough unless we create and innovate to prevent or at least to mitigate future crises. It means there could be another need to bring into existence ideas and introduce changes and new methods to address future crises if they happen when they happen.
In practical terms, we shall work on creations and innovations that make critical or strategic minerals to reduce poverty by creating jobs for those in need, generating income for the poor, focussing on artisanal and small-scale mining of these minerals to create opportunities for local people and communities.
b) Creations and Innovations to deal with the loss of value of households’ assets (Creation and Innovation project)
Loss of asset value of poor households is the decline in the worth of their possessions. This decline can push them further into poverty, particularly but not limited to asset-based poverty, or prevent them from escaping from this type of poverty.
This is why it is better to create and innovate to tackle households’ loss of asset value by implementing a robust asset management plan. Such plan will consider strategies like depreciation, impairment testing and asset disposal.
Creations and innovations to tackle the causes of asset loss (e.g., distress sales, health shocks, lack of savings, low-income and high costs, inefficiency or inadequacy, etc.) will be conducted to help reduce asset-based poverty.
The above summarises the programmes, projects and activities we have planned to deliver this coming Spring. To request further information about Spring Relief 2025 Activities, Projects and Programmes; please contact CENFACS.
Note:
The above initiatives are only a selection of what we have planned for Spring Relief Season 2025. We may introduce new initiatives and or upgrade the existing ones depending on the circumstances as we have from time to time to respond to emergencies and urgent humanitarian issues like we did with the sanitary crisis (the coronavirus) and the cost-of-living crisis crisis. In which case, we shall let you know.
Also, in every work we do to try to help reduce poverty, there is always a cost to bear. If you could help alleviate some of our costs, we would more acknowledge your support than just appreciate your gesture.
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• References
(1) https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-these-six-metals-are-key-to-a-low-carbon-future/ (accessed in March 2025)
(2) https//www.agrifarming.in/top-19-water-harvesting-techniques-what-is-water-harvesting-and-benefits-of-it# (accessed in March 2025),
(3) https://oxford-review.com/the-oxford-review-dei-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dictionary/economic-inclusion-definition-and-explanation/ (accessed in March 2025)
(4) https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/4f94ee11-7ff7-48c5-954d-eBad37083572/content (accessed in March 2025)
(5) https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/project-management/project-follow-up (accessed in March 2025)
(6) https://www.meetjamie.ai/blog/follow-up-action-plan (accessed in March 2025)
(7) https://vasundhara.io/blogs/project-assessment-process-definition-methods-steps (accessed in March 2025),
(8) https://plane.so/blog/what-is-project-monitoring (accessed in March 2025)
(9) https://www.greenfinanceplatform.org/research/climate-finance-africa-oveview-climate-finance-flows-challenges-and-opportunities# (accessed in March 2025)
(10) https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2025/ (accessed in March 2025)
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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 AND BEAUTIFUL 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 2025 and beyond.
With many thanks.
