Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
30 August 2023
Post No. 315
The Week’s Contents
• CENFACS Annual Review 2022/2023
• Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services – Trending Topic in Focus on 30 & 31/08/2023: Impact Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Development and Action Plan
• Happiness and Healthiness Journal – Creative Activity No. 6: Create Your Journal of Freedom to Choose and Capabilities
… And much more!
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER 2023:
Key Messages
• CENFACS Annual Review 2022/2023
CENFACS Annual Review 2022/2023 is a snapshot of what we did between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023. As it is stated, it is neither a statutory annual report nor an annual return.
It is a summary of the year 2022/2023 in the life of CENFACS that reports back to our supporters, users, members and other stakeholders the impact we have made; impact through stories, quantitative and qualitative data.
The review highlights accomplishments made and recollects milestones for the above stated year. It uncovers trends and insights about the changes that affected our noble cause of poverty reduction.
It outlines some highlights from our 2022 Year-in-review Report while including our achievements made by the end of June 2023.
It is as well a performance review and annual review story of our finances.
It is finally the impact story of building forward better together cleaner, greener and safer in the era of rising costs of living.
For more on this review, please read under the Main Development section of this post.
• Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services – Trending Topic in Focus on 30 & 31/08/2023:
Impact Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Development and Action Plan
Any activity or action to be successful needs impact monitoring and evaluation to know that it has been executed as planned and the changes that may happen over time as a result of this activity or action. In order to know the progress and achievements made as well as to examine our performance against objectives, we are carrying out two exercises:
a) Impact Monitoring and Evaluation
b) Learning Development and Action Plan.
Let us explain what these two exercises are about.
• • Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services
We are now carrying on with the systematic process of observation, recording, collection and analysis of information regarding our 4-week work on Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in order to get its impact or at least its output. This routing process will help to examine the activities developed and identify bottlenecks during the process to see if they are in line with objectives we defined.
To monitor our Trending Activities, we have been routinely gathering information on all aspects when we have been following the Direction of Poverty Reduction via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services. We are now examining what these follow-up actions have achieved or will achieve in relation to the aims and objectives we set up for them. This monitoring has enabled us to keep an eye on the progress made so far. In our approach to impact monitoring and evaluation, we included the four actions took in relation to Services provided by Marine and Coastal Ecosystems; services which are: Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting Services.
Besides this impact monitoring activity, we are as well conducting evaluation for learning purpose. This impact evaluation will help us to learn something from these actions. It will also assist to check the actual outcomes against the objectives we set up for trending activities. When this evaluation for learning is completed, we shall carry out an impact evaluation to find out how working with the community would have some influences in the long term on them in using the above mentioned services in order to reduce poverty and or get more results on poverty reduction.
We are undertaking the sporadic activity to draw conclusion regarding the relevance and effectiveness of these services. This activity will contribute to the determination of the value judgement regarding the performance level and attainment of defined objectives for Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services.
The findings from this Impact Monitoring and Evaluation will help to figure out what has been achieved through this work and give us some flavour about the future direction of our trending activities.
As part of this Impact Monitoring and Evaluation exercise, we would like to ask to those who have been working with us throughout the last four weeks to share with us their feelings and thoughts about these two areas:
(a) The overall “Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services“
(b) Any initiative taken by you in the way of helping to Follow the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services.
You can share your feelings and thoughts with us by:
∝ Phoning
∝ Texting
∝ E-mailing
∝ Completing the contact form with your feelings and thoughts.
• • Learning Development and Action Plan from Following the Direction of Poverty Reduction this Summer via Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services
As part of keeping the culture of continuous learning and professional development within CENFACS, we are examining what the running of Trending Activities have brought and indicated to us. We are particularly looking at the learning and development priorities and initiatives. In this exercise, we are considering the action points and plan we may need to make in order to improve or better change the way in which we deliver our services and work with users.
For those who have been following the running of the Trending Month with us, this is the time or opportunity they can add their inputs to our learning and development experience so that we can know the knowledge gap that need to be filled up. They can as well have their own action plans on how they would like to take forward the contents of Trending Activities month. And if they have a plan and want us to look at it, we are willing to do so.
Have an action plan for your trending activity and want CENFACS to look at it, please do not hesitate to contact us. To add your input to our exercise on learning, development and action plan; just contact CENFACS.
• • Views from Those Who Have Been Acting with Us and/or Following Us
One of the monitoring and evaluation indicators/tools we are using is to collect the views from those who have been acting with us and/or those who have been following us. In this respect, we would like to ask them to tell us their feelings about the four actions taken relating to the four services as highlighted in the following simple questions. They can provide their feelings in the form of a review or feedback or testimony. The results of their feelings will help to improve future trending activities.
Those participating to this survey can tick one box (ranging from 0 to 10) for each trending activity. Ticking the box will indicate to us how satisfied they are with the delivery experience about each action taken. All the completed survey forms should be sent to CENFACS by mid-September 2023.
Those who want to provide feelings and would like to request the details about these activities prior to their response, they are free to make their request to CENFACS.
Thank you for considering our demand of feelings and for your support.
It will be good that those who would like to provide their feelings to do them by mid-September 2023.
• Happiness and Healthiness Journal, Creative Activity No. 6: Create Your Journal of Freedom to Choose and Capabilities
The last episode of our Summer series of Journal of Happiness and Healthiness is about Freedom to Choose and Capabilities. It is about writing on the things that have expanded your freedoms (i.e., liberty or independence) and opened more choices for you to find your own development paths according to socially acceptable values rather than being prescribed to follow a particular path. As Armarthya Sen (1) explains in the following words:
“Freedom implies not just to do something but the capabilities to make it happen”.
Yet, the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic, extreme temperatures and the cost-of-living crisis have restricted the freedom to choose, incapacitated people, and limited the choice one can make about their happiness and healthiness over Summer 2023. Despite these restrictions, limitations and incapabilities; one can create or write a journal of freedom or unfreedom to choose to reflect their conditions and circumstances of life brought by these lingering effects.
• • Create or Write a Journal of Freedom or Unfreedom to Choose and Capabilities for Any Life Circumstance
To reflect the above-mentioned restrictions or limitations or even incapabilities, one can create or write a journal of freedom or unfreedom for the things that have made them to feel happy, healthy, capable and free during this Summer 2023. Alternatively, one can consider journaling the things that have made them unhappy, unhealthy, incapable and confined this Summer 2023.
Since, the work of CENFACS is on poverty reduction, one can as well think of writing a journal that explains the freedom and ability they have to choose solutions to reduce or end poverty and hardships. Such a journal can include things like being able to choose items within the basic necessities of life (e.g. kinds of food, shelter, education, information, health, etc.).
For example, one can write about fostering their own or people’s competence to make their own choices to exercise their own agency or about the freedom to meet their own needs. One can as write on deficit in freedom to choose.
You can create your journal for any aspects of Summertime linked to freedom to choose. You can explain your experiences, feelings and thoughts in terms of happiness and healthiness about freedom to choose and capabilities over this Summer of the lingering effects of the coronavirus, changing climate and the enduring cost-of-living crisis.
In short, you can create or write a journal of the following:
∝ Things that have made you to feel happy, healthy, free and capable over this Summer 2023
∝ Things that have made you unhappy, unhealthy, incapable and confined over this Summer 2023
∝ Explaining the freedom and capability you have to choose solutions to reduce or end poverty and hardships over this Summer 2023.
• • Impact Record and Share of Your Journal of Freedom to Choose and Capabilities
You can impact record your thoughts, feelings, experiences, souvenirs and memories in relation to happiness and healthiness regarding the freedom to choose and capabilities. This can be recorded in your journal and be shared by the end of Summer 2023.
To impact share the contents of your happiness and healthiness journal relating to happy, healthy, capable and free livelihoods during this Summer 2023 as well as to help build a better Summer holiday experience, you can contact CENFACS.
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER 2023:
Extra Messages
• Combination of Goals of the Season and the Month: Reduction of Two-dimensional Poverty –
• Support for Those Who Continue to be Impacted by the Cost-of-living Crisis
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses the Impact of Intra-BRICS Trade on Poverty Reduction in Africa
• Combination of Goals of the Season and the Month: Reduction of Two-dimensional Poverty –
Reduction of Poverty Linked to the Lack of Happiness and Reduction of Social Poverty
Our Goal of the Season (Summer Season of Happiness and Healthiness) can be combined with our Goal of the Month of August 2023. They do not need to be separately treated.
Indeed, during this Season of Happiness and Healthiness at CENFACS, we have been trying to explore together steps and ways of helping our members to find happiness, healthiness and wellness. This has been done through Happiness and Healthiness Projects and other Summer initiatives we offered so that they could navigate their way to happiness and healthiness.
During this month of August which is ending soon, we have been helping to reduce social poverty experienced by the members of our community.
The two works (for the season and this month) can be combined to help reduce a two-dimensional poverty. It is possible to simultaneously reduce poverty linked to the lack of happiness and healthiness as well as social poverty.
The above is our combined poverty reduction goal for the season and this month, which we are asking to our audiences and supporters to help promote.
• Support for Those Who Continue to be Impacted by the Cost-of-living Crisis
How to avoid negative coping strategies during this time of enduring cost-of-living crisis
There are positive and negative coping strategies to deal with stressful situations like the cost-of-living crisis. Some of our users know this distinction between the two. Others are not aware.
Those who are not aware and would like to work with CENFACS, we can support them so that they find the right coping strategies linked to their situation during this challenging time of the enduring cost-of-living crisis. Before going further about our work with users on coping strategies, let us re-explain these strategies.
• • Coping Strategies or Mechanisms
Coping strategies or mechanisms are defined by the World Health Organisation Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action (2) as
“Remedial actions undertaken by people whose survival and livelihood are compromised or threatened”.
For example, during the current cost-of-living crisis, many people including CENFACS‘ users are resorting to remedial actions in order to mitigate the adverse effects of the enduring cost-of-living crisis. However, not all these actions or strategies could be positive. Some of them could be negative.
• • Negative Coping Strategies or Mechanisms
They are negative activities that people can use to obtain the means of livelihood (e.g. income, food, energy, water, shelter, etc.) during the time of crisis, disruption or disturbance like the cost-of-living crisis. These negative activities can temporarily enable them to access basic life-sustaining needs.
Examples of such negative activities could include: taking out loans from informal moneylenders, distress sale of household assets, child labour, contracting disproportional loans compared to earning capacity, gambling, secrecy of information on your financial hardship, etc.
Many users of these negative strategies do not realise that negative coping strategies can lead to further financial stress and possibly to further poverty in the long term. They can make the crisis to settle in the longer term. To avoid the settlement of the crisis in the long term, CENFACS is offering a pre-autumn advisory service to those who would like to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
• • Pre-autumn Advisory Service for the Impacted of the Cost-of-living Crisis
The service is designed to support and enable the community to deal with or withstand stressful situations like the enduring cost-of-living crisis. Through this service, CENFACS will…
∝ Conduct a needs assessment of users’ needs to cover the cost of living
∝ Review any unsuccessful or negative coping strategies or mechanisms that users have taken so far to deal with the cost-of-living crisis
∝ Evaluate the results of these strategies
∝ Explore and identify the appropriate positive coping strategies for the applicants to the service
∝ Develop action plan for a revised or new coping strategy
∝ Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan for the revised or new coping strategy
∝ Work with them and effectively help them to avoid negative coping strategies during this time of enduring cost-of-living crisis.
For those members of our community who have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and who are struggling with their coping strategies or mechanisms relating to the cost-of-living crisis, they are welcome to contact CENFACS with their queries or enquiries. Our service on this matter covers various aspects of cost (e.g. rising costs and prices of food, energy, fuel, accommodation, transport, etc.) forming the cost-of-living crisis.
If you are impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and needs support, CENFACS would be happy to work with you via its advisory service.
• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses the Impact of Intra-BRICS Trade on Poverty Reduction in Africa
BRICS (that is the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) has recently invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to join them as full members. There could be a positive impact between these countries through trade relations and other areas of cooperation. However, it is difficult to predict that these trade creation and development effects amongst the BRICS members will have automatic effect on poverty reduction in Africa. Perhaps, the future will tell if there will be.
Some observers see BRICS as a simple opposition to the G7 (group of seven industrial nations) and which has geo-economic and geo-political global ambition; ambition which could be distant from the needs and preoccupations of ordinary Africans. Others think that ordinary Africans need to do more by themselves than to rely on the trickle down effects of the BRICS trade policy and development.
Because of the uncertainty of BRICS’ intra-trade creation effects on poverty reduction in Africa, CENFACS’ be-Africa Forum e-discusses the Impact of Intra-BRICS Trade on Poverty Reduction in Africa. In particular, the forum is trying to debate the following questions:
q) Is a paradigm shift in international financing and development cooperation by BRICS also a change in terms of poverty reduction in Africa?
q) Does the economic rise of the BRICS mean more poverty reduction or less poor in Africa?
q) How can many of the BRICS projects (such as BRICS Multi-Development Bank, Financial Technology Partnerships, Infrastructure Development, Security, etc.) benefit the poor in Africa?
q) How can small and medium-sized not-for-profit African organisations get their share out of the geo-economic drive and strategy of the BRICS?
Those who may be interested in answering these questions can join in and or contribute by contacting CENFACS’ be.Africa, which is a forum for discussion on matters of poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa and which acts on behalf of its members in making proposals or ideas for actions for a better Africa.
To communicate with CENFACS regarding this discussion, please use our usual contact details on this website.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Le Forum ‘Une Afrique Meilleure’ de CENFACS discute en ligne de l’impact du commerce intra-BRICS sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique
Les BRICS (c’est-à-dire le bloc économique du Brésil, de la Russie, de l’Inde, de la Chine et de l’Afrique du Sud) ont récemment invité l’Argentine, l’Égypte, l’Éthiopie, l’Iran, l’Arabie Saoudite et les Émirats Arabes Unis à les rejoindre en tant que membres à part entière. Il pourrait y avoir un impact positif entre ces pays par le biais des relations commerciales et d’autres domaines de coopération.
Cependant, il est difficile de prédire que ces effets sur la création de commerce et le développement entre les membres des BRICS auront un impact positif sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique. Peut-être que l’avenir dira s’il y en aura.
Certain(e)s observateurs/trices voient dans les BRICS une simple opposition au G7 (groupe des sept nations industrielles) et qui a une ambition géo-économique et géopolitique mondiale; une ambition qui pourrait être éloignée des besoins et des préoccupations des Africain(e)s ordinaires. D’autres pensent que les Africain(e)s ordinaires doivent faire plus par eux(elles)-mêmes que de compter sur les retombées de la politique commerciale et du développement des BRICS.
En raison de l’incertitude des effets de la création du commerce intra-commercial des BRICS sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique, le Forum ‘Une Afrique Meilleure’ de CENFACS discute de l’impact du commerce intra-BRICS sur la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique. En particulier, le forum tente de débattre des questions suivantes:
q) Un changement de paradigme dans le financement international et la coopération au développement par les BRICS est-il également une mutation en terme de réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique ?
q) L’essor économique des BRICS signifie-t-il plus de réduction de la pauvreté ou moins de pauvreté en Afrique ?
q) Comment de nombreux projets BRICS (tels que la Banque Multi-développement des BRICS, les partenariats de technologie financière, le développement des infrastructures, la sécurité, etc.) peuvent-ils bénéficier aux pauvres en Afrique ?
q) Comment les petites et moyennes organisations africaines à but non lucratif peuvent-elles tirer leur épingle du jeu, de l’impulsion et de la stratégie géo-économiques des BRICS?
Ceux ou celles qui pourraient être intéressé(e)s à répondre à ces questions peuvent se joindre à nous et / ou contribuer en contactant le Forum ‘Une Afrique Meilleure’ de CENFACS, qui est un réseau de discussion sur les questions et thèmes de réduction de la pauvreté et de développement durable en Afrique et qui agit au nom de ses membres en faisant des propositions ou des idées d’actions pour une Afrique meilleure.
Pour communiquer avec le CENFACS au sujet de cette discussion, veuillez utiliser nos coordonnées habituelles sur ce site.
Main Development
• CENFACS Annual Review 2022/2023
This review aims at those who are interested in the work that CENFACS does to get a glimpse of what happened during the financial year 2022/2023. It is a summary of our activities, performance, achievements and accounts for the financial year 2022/2023.
The following contents make this review:
∝ Theme of CENFACS’ 2022/2023 Annual Review
∝ Annual Review Summary 2022/2023.
Let us uncover these contents.
• • Theme of CENFACS’ 2022/2023 Annual Review
The theme for this review is building forward better together in the context of the lingering effects of the coronavirus, fall in real disposable household incomes and extreme temperatures.
• • Annual Review Summary 2022/2023
The summary of our annual review 2022/2023 is presented under the following four headings:
∝ Activities Review
∝ Key Produce or Achievements of the Year
∝ Financial Performance Review
∝ Thank you
Let us review the activities, achievements and financial performance of the year.
• • • Activities Review
The Activities Review highlights what we did via the following undertakings:
food security, financial management of crises, financial security, generational impact analysis of the coronavirus on children, data skills to run your households, reduction of illicit financial and arms flows, making carbon markets work for the poor, building forward better relationship with nature, creative and innovative ideas for actions for a better Africa, culture of insurance in Africa and making influence work for humanitarian relief in Africa.
Let us look back each of these activities we did.
• • • • Key Takeaways of the Year
The points or facts to remember about 2022/2023 from within and around CENFACS are as follows.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of food security
The continuous rise in food prices meant increased threat level and risk to food security of our members, especially for those who were already food poor. Where there is threat, there is also opportunity. Our Africa-based Sister organisations used this opportunity to help bring food security to their users and communities. Their support helped to almost cut half hunger amongst their users and communities.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of financial management of crises
The lingering effects of the coronavirus, the enduring cost-of-living crisis and climate crisis had financial bearing on our project beneficiaries and users. Skilful financial management of these crises became a way of winning the battle against these crises. Thanks to the crisis response skills in financial management provided, especially a true leadership’s skills, many of our members were able to managed these crises.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of financial security
Many of our users were not exactly aware about their financial security number or passive income. After working together with them, many of them realised how it was easy to find their financial security number or passive income, and how much peace of mind some of them got when they discovered that their income could cover their living expenses and debts while creating savings for emergencies.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of generational impact analysis of the coronavirus on children
In the process of building forward, we further considered the fact that COVID-19 put or held back a generation of children for what they supposed to do. We worked and analysed with users the generational impact of the coronavirus on children. This work or analysis included, but was not limited to, their children and African children.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of data skills to run your households
Thanks to the campaign work carried out with users, we were able to share and enhance the storage, security, process, insight and analytics skills of some of the households making our community.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of advocacy for the reduction illicit financial and arms flows
It was helpful to our users to plead together for the proportion of the proceeds from the reduction of illicit financial and arms as well as the return of stolen assets to be allocated to reduce poverty to support poor households.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of making carbon markets work for the poor
2022-2023 year’s story was further of acting together with our supporters on carbon markets to reduce or end greenhouse gas emissions while making the same markets work for the poor. Linking the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and of poverty via carbon markets created interest within CENFACS community members on net zero ways of supporting them/the poor.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of mobilising for birds’ useful life for us
2022-2023 was also a year of building forward better relationship with nature. Through the ‘Mbulu‘ project and ‘A la une‘ (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) campaign, we tirelessly worked with the community and others outside our community to raise awareness of the upkeep of endangered bird species like Africa Grey Parrots, Congo Peafowl, Dwarf Honeyguide, African Green Broadbill and Grossley’s Ground Thrush.
∝ 2022-2023 as a year of creative and innovative ideas for actions for a better Africa
Together with our members we thought and discussed while making proposals on issues that mattered most to those living in poverty in Africa. A number of proposals made have been turned into policy actions by our Africa-based Sister Organisations and those who in position to influence change on the ground in Africa. These proposals include ways of broadening local contribution to local charitable causes, not-for-profit investing for impact in Africa, ways of creating and innovating more resilient and sustainable systems for children in Africa to withstand future climate and economic impacts, etc.
∝) 2022-2023 as a year of promoting the culture of insurance in Africa
Through this promotion, our Africa-based Sister Organisations were able to enhance their beneficiaries’ customs, ideas and art of deciding how much insurance to buy for a well-defined risk. They were able to improve the same beneficiaries’ experiences, perceptions, knowledge, attitude and understanding of insurance.
∝ 2022-2023 as year of making influence work for humanitarian relief in Africa
Making influence support endangered and in some circumstances destroyed lives as the events below were unfolding in the following places and regions is another takeaway:
√ Africa’s Food Crises-impacted Poor Who Needed Influence
√ Children in the Horn of Africa Who desperately Wanted to Avoid Famine
√ Food Insecurity Hotspot African Countries
√ Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts in Africa
√ Children in Need in the Eastern Part of the Democratic Republic of Congo
√ The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Who Needed Influence
√ The People of Central African Republic Who Needed Influence to Stop the Worsening Humanitarian Crisis They Were Experiencing
√ The People of Lake Chad Basin Who still Needed Support
√ The Victims of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Forgotten Crisis.
With the support of the community in terms of data and stories from these places or regions of CENFACS‘ operation, we made together appeal so that lives and livelihoods could be saved from civil violence, attacks, gender-based violence, severe climate conditions, other life-threatening and destroying conditions (such as the coronavirus) and the cost-of-living crisis.
In total, we launched nine humanitarian relief appeals. As a result of these appeals, there have been some support to the sufferers of these events while there is still much to be done.
There are many good and positive results to take away from this financial year, although we limit ourselves to the above key takeaways mentioned.
• • 2022/2023 Key Produce or Achievements
We would be indebted if we end this review without mentioning or adding to the above Activities Review these three achievements: Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023, a New Generation of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, and a new Hub for Hypotheses Testing (H-tests Hub).
Concerning Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023, a number of potential not-for-profit investors have shown interest in impact investing in Africa-based Sister Organisations linked to CENFACS.
Regarding New Nature Projects and New Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, activities (such as advocacy, workshop, discussion group, survey, etc.) held so far have enabled participants to reconnect with nature and use nature-based solutions to deal with the adverse impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
As to H-tests Hub, it has generated a lot of enquiries from our members and their social networks (that is., families and friends) on how the hub can help young people making our community, particularly students working on development and poverty issues, in their educational work and academic research tasks.
• • • Financial Performance Review
The following is the summary of our receipts and payments for the year ending 30 June 2023.
After our cash funds picked up in the first six months of the last financial year (2021/2022) and returned to the road of growth in the next six months period that followed, it continued its ascending trend. For this financial year (2022/2023), we have recorded a net increase of 12% in our cash funds. This increase was possible as the savings made on payments accounts (on items such as in-person networking and meetings, transport and travel, postage stamps, outreach, printing and photocopying, and overseas budget) started to pay off.
On the payments side, rise in the costs of living meant increase in our costs, except for the printing and photocopying account. As we were in the period of removed in-person coronavirus restrictions, we resumed some activities linked to in-person matter.
As a result, the following costs and posts relating to in-person activities increased: transport and travel, stationery and books, and postage stamps. Our communication costs also went up; reflecting our desire to stay on track with stakeholders and to keep our members engaged with our charitable cause. The stubborn inflationist period also meant for us a rise in the costs of renting and utilities.
We carried on investing in online and virtual means of working to deliver efficiencies across CENFACS. The additional investment made started to gradually and shyly appear, amid the lingering effects of the coronavirus and the enduring cost-of-living crisis. We continued to feel the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis in the running of our activities while we managed to control the late appeared lingering effects of the coronavirus.
On the fundraising and receipts side, the challenge to raise the funds needed to meet the level of needs in the community remained. This could be partly explained by the cumulative effect of the lingering effects of the coronavirus and the enduring cost-of-living crisis which continued to drive uncertainty to many individual donors. We have also to admit that the fundraising campaign for our post-coronavirus restructuring and build forward better programmes is still struggling to generate the funding required to meet needs in the community.
Despite these hampering factors or struggle, our cash funds have kept their ascending trends as said above. In accounting terms, we managed to increase our receipts. Our receipts nearly underscores an increase of 7%. This increase and the savings made on payments resulted in a positive net balance of our receipts and payments account for the year.
We hope that the fruits of the above mentioned programmes will fully appear in the new financial year (2023/2024) and beyond. We can as well expect that the rebound of our cash funds will steadily continue and be further noticeable in the financial year 2023/2024.
• • Thank you
The work of CENFACS is a collective endeavour that relies upon the voluntary contribution of others, a key to our success. As such, there is a number of people and organisations who contributed to the realisation of our financial year 2022-2023.
We would like to indiscriminately acknowledge them. Without their helpful and altruistic support, we would not be able to achieve the above. We are grateful to our volunteers, users, members, website/blog readers and supporters.
We would like to thank all of them for their unwavering commitment and impactful support for helping us to voice and bring once again our poverty reduction message into the world in development, especially at the very daunting time of the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the enduring cost-of-living crisis and continuing climate crisis.
Many thanks for making 2022-2023 another deservingly memorable year at CENFACS and for being there for those in need.
More details about CENFACS Annual Review 2022/2023 can be requested.
_________
• References
(1) https://asiancenturyinstitute.com/development/333-armartya-sen-on-deveptas-freedom (accessed in August 2023)
(2) https://apps.who.int/disasters/repo/5517.pdf (accessed in August 2023)
_________
• Help CENFACS Keep the Poverty Relief Work Going this Year
We do our work on a very small budget and on a voluntary basis. Making a donation will show us you value our work and support CENFACS’ work, which is currently offered as a free service.
One could also consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.
Additionally, we would like to inform you that planned gifting is always an option for giving at CENFACS. Likewise, CENFACS accepts matching gifts from companies running a gift-matching programme.
Donate to support CENFACS!
FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ NOBLE CAUSES OF POVERTY REDUCTION.
JUST GO TO: Support Causes – (cenfacs.org.uk)
Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.
Thank you as well to those who made or make comments about our weekly posts.
We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support throughout 2023 and beyond.
With many thanks.
