Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

29 November 2023

Post No. 328

The Week’s Contents

• Festive Shopping and Donations Needed!

• Matching Organisation-Investor Programme – Activity 2 (from 29/11/2023 to 05/12/2023): Matching Organisation’s Project Schedule, Timelines and Milestones with Investor’s Investment Project Design

• Financial Inclusion Project for The Needy

… And much more!

Coming Next Week: Winter E-Discussion on Volunteering with a Focus on

Key Messages

• Festive Shopping and Donations Needed!

Please support CENFACS to help others this Giving Season by generating donations when you shop.

As the Festive Season’s preparation has started, anyone can help raise funds for CENFACS through their shopping without giving any penny. It does not cost them any money to give to charities like CENFACS while shopping, whether online or in-person, and being asked either to tick a box or to name or choose a charity to benefit from their festive shopping activities.

You can turn your Festive Shopping into Donations to CENFACS.

By ticking a box to donate to charity or naming or choosing CENFACS, they can enable CENFACS to receive no-direct cash donations from their shopping; donations which we need to help those suffering from poverty and the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

Please remember that around the festive period millions of shoppers do not claim their points, discounts and rewards. These points, prizes and rewards could have gone to good causes like CENFACS‘ noble ones.

So, it does not cost you as a festive shopper anything if you tick a box or name or choose CENFACS as your favourite charity to receive your points, prizes and rewards which could otherwise become unclaimed, unused and wasted.

This festive season, please do not let these free offers resulting from your shopping go unclaimed or wasted. CENFACS wants them. CENFACS needs your loyalty shopping points, discounts, vouchers, prizes and rewards that you do not want or need.

We need them to help people living in poverty and hardships. These people require them. We are demanding your no-direct cash gift and support through your festive shopping to help them.

Please support CENFACS raise donations for its cause when you buy gifts, decorations, festive items and everything else.

You could help generate donations for CENFACS when you shop this Festive Season.

Would you mind ticking a box or name or choose CENFACS to benefit from your festive shopping activities!

More on ways of supporting CENFACS’ beneficiaries through your festive shopping as well as CENFACS’ Festive Shopping and Donations Project is given under the Main Development section of this post.

• Matching Organisation-Investor Programme – Activity 2 (from 29/11/2023 to 05/12/2023): Matching Organisation’s Project Schedule, Timelines and Milestones with Investor’s Investment Project Design

Both Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisation (ASCO) and Not-for-profit (n-f-p) Investor scored enough points in their individual first stage of the programme. They would like to continue their talks and move to the second round of negotiation, which is Activity 2 of the Matching Organisation-Investor Programme.

This second round of talks consists of agreeing on project schedule, timelines and milestones for ASCO, and on investment project design for n-f-p Investor. To reach an agreement, it is better to understand the match terms, in particular the meaning of project schedule and investment project design.

• • Brief Understanding of Project Schedule

According to ‘coursera.com’ (1),

“Project scheduling is an analytical and data-driven activity that focuses on tasks and timescales”.

It is about planning your project deliveries in terms of dependencies and interdependencies between different projects as well as between various activities. In other words, it consists of building project plan by identifying milestones and bottlenecks for their delivery.

For instance, at this stage 2 ASCO’s minimum tasks to achieve the project goals and the timeline for project critical path need to attract n-f-p investors. ASCO has to convince investors that the project will be completed on time.

• • Meaning of Investment Design Project

To understand investment design project, one may need to know project design. The website ‘projectmanager.com’ (2) states that

“Project design is [a process that defines] the overall project methodology that will be used and an overview of the project. It describes the major deliverables, products or features that will be completed”.

Another explanation of project design comes from ‘wrike.com’ (3) which argues that

“Project design is an early phase of a project where the project’s key features, structure, criteria for success, and major deliverables are planned out”.

From the understanding of these two definitions, one can argue that investment project design is a project design that applies to an investment. It is a process of designing and appraising investment project; a process that helps avoid poor or insufficient investment planning while taking into account constraints on resources and infrastructure.

• • The Match or Fit Test

As part of the match or fit test, n-f-p investor’s investment project design needs to match ASCO’s project schedule, timelines and milestones. 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. However, CENFACS can impact advise ASCO to improve its project schedule, timelines and milestones. CENFACS can as well guide n-f-p investors with impact to ameliorate their investment project design to a format that can be acceptable by a potential ASCO.

The rule of the game remains the same; which is the more investors are attracted by ASCOs’ project schedule, timelines and milestones the better for ASCOs. Likewise, the more ASCOs are willing to adopt investors’ investment project design the better for investors. In this respect, the matching game needs to be a win-win one to benefit both players/gamers (i.e., organisation and investor).

The above is the second activity 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 second activity of Matching Organisation-Investor Programme and/or the programme itself, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• Financial Inclusion Project for The Needy

Financial Inclusion Project for The Needy is a practical response to some of the issues we discussed and raised in the 81st Issue of FACS which focussed on Financial Inclusion for The Needy. Below are the three key elements which highlight this project.

• • What is Financial Inclusion Project for The Needy (FIP4N)?

FIP4N is a poverty-relieving project aiming at working with underserved members of our community so that they can gain access to, and use of quality affordable financial services and products through all means available and affordable for them including digital means.

It is a project of experimental financial poverty reduction that uses deliberative methodology that adds value to any efforts made to help vulnerable people to get out of financial poverty.

As it is said, this financial inclusion project will not only measure access and usage of financial services and products, but it will help in lifting the financially excluded and needy of our community out of poverty and improve their livelihoods.

• • Who Is for?

It is for those lacking the necessities of life, particularly financial inclusion.

Amongst them are:

√ formerly financially excluded

√ financially underserved poor consumers of financial products and services

√ unbanked members of our community

√ those looking for opportunity to reduce financial poverty via financial inclusion

√ those highly indebted and financially excluded

√ the poly-crises impacted people

√ those exclusively relying on cash transactions

√ the financially excluded or underserved poor people

√ those without functional bank account or e-money account

√ financially digitally illiterate and innumerate

√ the older generations unable to handle digitally-enabled transactions and technologies

√ financially excluded by the adverse impacts of the overlapping multiple crises (the lingering effects of the coronavirus, the cost-of-living crisis, etc.)

etc.

Many of these people listed above need financial inclusion programme or project to get included or re-included.

• • Types of Financial Inclusion Support that Project Beneficiaries Can Get

For those members of our community who feel financially excluded and would like to navigate their way out of financial exclusion poverty, CENFACS can work with them to explore ways of coming out of it.

We can work with them under our Advice-, Guidance- and Information-giving Service by providing to them the following types of support:

√ Conducting needs assessment on financial inclusion matter

√ Agreeing an action plan on financial inclusion matter

√ Working together on impact monitoring and evaluation about financial inclusion actions to be taken

√ Signposting project beneficiaries to organisations working on financial inclusion for those in need

√ Supporting them to access financial education (literacy, numeracy and digital)

√ Giving information on the reduction of gender disparities in financial inclusion

√ Suggesting way of improving their financial history

√ Guiding them on consumer protection on matter relating to financial inclusion

Etc.

If you are a member of our community, you can ask us for basic support regarding your inability to access and use affordable financial services and products. We can work with you on this matter.

To ask support regarding financial inclusion matter or just to enquire about the FIP4N, please contact CENFACS.

For those who want more support on financial issues, we would like to inform them that we have a number of campaigns (e.g., Financial Stability Campaign) we are running on these issues; campaigns which they can join.

Extra Messages

• Activity of the Festive Season: How to Make your Triple-Value-Initiative Activity Raise Money for Good Causes

• Impact Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Development and Action Plan about Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household (29 & 30 November 2023)

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Transition and Translation of Skills Development into Income Generation

• Activity of the Festive Season: How to Make your Triple-Value-Initiative Activity Raise Money for Good Causes

You can help CENFACS raise funds it needs for its noble causes while you are undertaking your Triple Value Activity or All Year-Round Project. How can you do it?

If you are Running or Organising a Run Activity to Reduce Poverty in 2023, you can dress like a Santa and raise money depending on the challenge (e.g., running laps or distances) and ask people around you to donate accordingly.

Each person can donate to join in and/or others can sponsor each person running. You can organise a virtual or in-person run.

If you are Playing the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief, you can organise a festive tournament and ask participants and your audiences to the tournament to donate.

If you are Voting your 2023 African Poverty Relief Manager, you can set up a knowledge challenge in the form of Questions-Answers to find out your 2023 African Poverty Relief and Development Manager. You can ask people who would like to attend or participate or watch the challenge to donate.

With some inspiration, the above shows that it is possible to raise funds for CENFACS’ noble causes while applying any of the three Triple Value Initiatives (or All Year-Round Projects).

However, before embarking on raising funds via Triple Value Initiatives, you need to discuss the matter with CENFACS so that together with you we can plan How to Make your Triple-Value-Initiative Activity Raise Money for Good Causes.

To discuss the possibility of raising funds for good causes via Triple Value Initiatives (or All Year-Round Projects), please contact CENFACS.

• Impact Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Development and Action Plan about Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household (29 & 30 November 2023)

Through this ending November month of Skills Development, we have focused on Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household, in particular on the skills relating to the following areas and weeks:

~ data collection and descriptive insights for week1

~ data organisation and diagnostic insights for week 2

~ data storing and predictive insights for week 3

~ data sharing and prescriptive insights for week 4.

In order to know the progress and achievements made as well as the 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 Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household

We are now carrying on with the systematic process of observation, recording, collection and analysis of information regarding our 4-week work on Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household in order to get its impact or at least its output. This routing process will help to examine the activities of the data skills developed and identify bottlenecks during the process to see if they are in line with objectives we defined.

Also, we are undertaking the sporadic activity to draw conclusion regarding the relevance and effectiveness of the data and insight skills presented. This activity will contribute to the determination of the value judgement regarding the performance level and attainment of defined objectives for Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household.

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 Skills Development month.

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 three areas:

(a) The overall “Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household”

(b) Any of the data and insight skills they have been interested in or used in the context of running their household

You can share your feelings, thoughts, takeaways and insights with us by:

∝ Phoning

∝ Texting

∝ E-mailing

∝ Completing the contact form with your feelings and thoughts.

• • Learning Development and Action Plan for Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household

As part of keeping the culture of continuous learning and professional development within CENFACS, we are examining what the running of Skills Development and Skills Focus 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 Skills Development 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 skills gap that need to be filled up in 2024 and beyond. They can as well have their own action plans on how they would like to take forward the contents of Skills Development month. And if they have a plan and want us to look at it, we are willing to do so.

The plan could be on the above-mentioned data and insight skills presented throughout this month. In particular, we can look at how any household making our community wants to make a plan for them or would like CENFACS to work with them on their chosen area of data skills.

Those who have some difficulties in drawing such a plan, we can for instance suggest them to undertake their own data monitoring.

• • Monitoring Your Data

To do your own data monitoring, you need to understand what is about.

According to ‘splunk.com’ (4),

“Data monitoring is observing and tracking data to verify whether it is accurate, quality-ensured, and integrated. Doing so can help you identify and address issues, make better decisions, and maintain the reliability of data-driven processes”.

You can monitor your household data to detect anomalies and trends. You can as well link this monitoring exercise to the previous weekend home works that made our Data and Insight Advocacy and Skills project.

Have an issue to raise regarding the monitoring of your household data and want to share with CENFACS, please get in touch.

Have an action plan for your skills development 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.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses Transition and Translation of Skills Development into Income Generation

The month of November at CENFACS is of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (i.e., Skills Development Month). The month of December at CENFACS is of Income Generation. To conclude the Skills Development Month (November) and start the Income Generation Month (December), we are discussing the following question:

How can we transit from Skills Development to Income Generation and/or translate Skills Development into Income Generation?

Indeed, we are looking at the means by which we can use the skills and knowledge we have learnt during the Skills Development Month to generate income. To be more specific, throughout the Skills Development Month, we presented Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household. We are now exploring ways of using these skills to generate income in December or in the future.

So, CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum’s discussion is on how to make the skills (i.e., Data and Insight Skills to Manage Your Household) we developed so far generate income. Putting it in other terms, are data and insight skills income generation skills?

For example, can the mastery of data sharing and prescriptive insight skills help a poor household to generate or increase its income or get social prescription it needs?

These are the transition and translation we are talking about. This e-discussion is also about how education and training can help reduce financial poverty expressed as the lack of income or sufficient income to make ends meet.

Those who would like to share with us and others their experience in terms of the linkages between data and insight skills formation and development on the one hand, and income generation on the other hand, they are welcome to share.

Those who do not experience to share, but are just interested in this discussion can join in and or contribute with their views by contacting CENFACS’ be.Africa, which is a forum for discussion on matters and themes 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)

• Achats et dons festifs sont requis!

S’il vous plaît, soutenez le CENFACS pour aider les autres en cette saison des dons en générant des dons lorsque vous magasinez.

Alors que les préparatifs des fêtes de fin d’année ont commencé, tout le monde peut aider à collecter des fonds pour le CENFACS en faisant ses achats sans donner un centime. Il ne leur en coûte rien de donner à des organismes de bienfaisance comme le CENFACS lorsqu’ils magasinent, que ce soit en ligne ou en personne, et qu’on leur demande de cocher une case ou de nommer ou de choisir un organisme de bienfaisance pour bénéficier de leurs activités de magasinage festif.

Vous pouvez transformer vos achats de Noël en dons au CENFACS.

En cochant une case pour faire un don à une association caritative ou en nommant ou en choisissant CENFACS, ils/elles peuvent permettre à CENFACS de recevoir un don en espèces sans argent comptant direct de leurs achats; dont nous avons besoin pour aider ceux et celles qui souffrent de la pauvreté et des effets persistants de la crise du coût de la vie.

N’oubliez pas qu’à l’approche des fêtes de fin d’année, des millions d’acheteurs (ses) ne réclament pas leurs points, leurs réductions et leurs récompenses. Ces points, prix et récompenses auraient pu être reversés à de bonnes causes comme celles nobles du CENFACS.

Ainsi, cela ne vous coûte rien en tant qu’acheteur/se si vous cochez une case ou un nom ou si vous choisissez CENFACS comme organisme de bienfaisance préféré pour recevoir vos points, prix et récompenses qui pourraient autrement devenir non réclamés, inutilisés et gaspillés.

S’il vous plaît, en cette période de fêtes, ne laissez pas ces offres gratuites résultant de vos achats ne pas être réclamées ou gaspillées. Le CENFACS les veut. Le CENFACS a besoin de vos points de fidélité, remises, bons d’achat, prix et récompenses que vous ne voulez pas ou dont vous n’avez pas besoin.

Nous avons besoin d’eux pour aider les personnes qui vivent dans la pauvreté et les difficultés. Ces gens en ont besoin. Nous demandons votre don en espèces sans argent comptant direct et votre soutien par le biais de vos achats de Noël pour les aider.

S’il vous plaît, soutenez le CENFACS en collectant des dons pour sa cause lorsque vous achetez des cadeaux, des décorations, des articles festifs et tout le reste.

Vous pourriez aider à générer des dons pour le CENFACS lorsque vous magasinez pendant la période des fêtes.

Ça ne vous dérangerait pas de cocher une case ou un nom ou de choisir le CENFACS pour profiter de vos activités de magasinage festives.

Merci d’avance de votre soutien festif!

Main Development

• Festive Shopping and Donations Needed!

Two items cover the contents of this Main Development and CENFACS Festive Shopping and Donations Project, items which are:

∝ Festive season as an opportunity to do something against poverty

∝ No-direct cash donations as a result of your shopping.

Let us summarily look at them.

• • Festive Season as an Opportunity to Do Something against Poverty

Every occasion or season is an opportunity to do something against poverty and hardships. The festive season, which is a great time to share precious moments with your loved ones, is also a period to spread a little extra of that happiness to those who do not have.

We understand that many people including our supporters continue to seriously suffer from the lingering effects of multiple crises of the last three years and are still trying to navigate their way to fully recover from them. However, for people who are already living in poverty, these effects are even intolerable and unbearable for them. There is a reason to support these poor people during this festive season. One of the many ways of supporting them could be with no-direct cash donations through your festive shopping.

• • No-direct Cash Donations as a Result of Your Shopping

CENFACS needs donations from your festive shopping, in particular we need no-direct cash donations, to support those in need. Some festive shoppers who could donate no-direct cash may not understand what it means. This is why it is better we explain the following:

∝ What do we mean by no-direct cash donations?

∝ Types of no-direct cash donations we are talking about and asking for.

• • • Brief explanation of no-direct cash donations

A no-direct cash donation is an amount given as a gift and which is not a direct transfer of cash, cheque, or a debit or credit card. No-direct cash donations should not be confused with in-kind donations. In the context of Festive Shopping, the donor gives money indirectly through their shopping activities. It is about turning festive shopping or any other type of shopping into donations. If there is no shopping, there is no-direct cash donation linked to the shopping.

What are those types of donations that are the result of one’s shopping drive?

• • • Types of no-direct cash donations

There are two types of no-direct cash donations when shopping, which are:

a) No-direct cash donations when shopping at CENFACS Zero-waste e-shop

b) No-direct cash donations via shopping at other shops/stores.

Let us look at each of them.

• • • • Indirectly donate when you shop at CENFACS Zero-waste e-shop at http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

• • • • • SHOPPING or DONATING GOODS at CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store

You can give your unwanted and unneeded goods or pre-loved items to CENFACS’ Zero-waste e-Store, the shop built to help relieve poverty. You can buy second hand goods and bargain priced new items and much more.

You can do something different this Festive Season by SHOPPING or DONATING GOODS at CENFACS’ Zero-waste e-Store. You can even make this e-store better.

You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:

√ DONATE unwanted pre-loved GOODS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store during the festive period and beyond

√ SHOP at CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store to support good and deserving causes of poverty relief during the festive period and beyond.

Your SHOPPING action and or GOODS DONATIONS will help to the Upkeep of the Nature and to reduce poverty.

CENFACS Zero-waste e-Shop is open for both online festive purchase and goods donations.

Festive shoppers can help raise free funds for CENFACS‘ noble cause every time they shop at CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store.

Please do not hesitate to donate goods or purchase what is available at CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store.

Many ordinary people and families are struggling to make ends meet at this challenging time as the economy is still sideways from a full recovery from the cost-of-living crisis. Many of them do not know how they are going to make ends meet; let alone how they will meet their festive expenses as prices and bills are still higher compared to their real disposable incomes. They need help. We need support as well to help them come out poverty and hardships.

Amongst the goods to donate, we are asking net-zero goods as well.

• • • • • Donation of NET-ZERO GOODS this Festive Season

You can donate carbon neutral or net zero greenhouse gas emissions goods to help reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and poverty, while creating an opportunity to save non-renewable natural resources. This type of donation can boost the circular economy and improve the upkeep of the nature.

CENFACS’ Zero-waste e-Store needs your support for Festive SHOPPING and DONATIONS.

To donate or purchase goods, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

• • • • Indirectly donate when you shop with other stores/shops

You can help CENFACS raise funds through your festive shopping to other shops and stores, whether online or in-person. You can do it via the 8-themed tools mentioned below.

The 8-themed ways of turning your shopping into donations to CENFACS in the lead up to the year-end include

1) Raise free funds for CENFACS with your online shopping

2) Choose CENFACS as a donation recipient of some of the profits raised from online shopping

3) Donate your unwanted and unused points and cashback to CENFACS as your chosen charity from your loyalty shopping rewards or good causes’ gift cards

4) Pass to CENFACS no-direct cash won from shopping surveys; cash you do not require or want

5) Name CENFACS as your favourite deserving cause if it happens that you have the opportunity to click the online option “donate cashback to charities”

6) Give away to CENFACS any vouchers received or earned from your shopping; vouchers you do not need or want

7) Hand out to CENFACS any proceeds from unwanted or unneeded prize draw or award from your shopping

8) Donate any unwanted excess points of your loyalty card from online shopping apps that may support good causes.

However, turning shopping into donations does not mean one cannot donate cash. Of course, they can. If you choose to directly donate cash, CENFACS will happily accept your cash donations.

You can use and or get informed about a variety of ways that many stores and shops offer to support charities through customers’ shopping, particularly during the festive period. You can use them to support CENFACS‘ noble cause of poverty reduction via your shopping action without directly giving money.

As long as your no-direct cash donations fall within our gift acceptance agreement or criteria, there should not be a problem. CENFACS will acknowledge and thank you for your no-direct cash contributions to its mission and causes.

Please remember CENFACS when you do your Festive Shopping.

To sum up, you can both indirectly donate when you shop at CENFACS Zero-waste e-Store and with other stores/shops.

To indirectly donate to CENFACS through CENFACS’ Zero-waste e-Shop, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

To indirectly donate to CENFACS via your shopping activity to other shops and stores, please check or ask them if they have any scheme that support charities. Sometimes, they may propose you it themselves at their counters.

Thank you for considering our ask for no-direct cash donations via your festive shopping activities.

For any queries and/or enquiries about CENFACS’ Festive Shopping and Donations Project, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://www.coursera.org/gb/article/project-plan (accessed in November 2023)

(2) https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-design-in-project-management (accessed in November 2023)

(3) https://www.wrike.com/project-management-guide/faq/what-is-project-design-in-project-management/ (accessed in November 2023)

(4) https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/learn/data-monitoring,html# (accessed in November 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.

Festive Shopping and Donations Needed!