Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!
27 December 2023
Post No. 332
The Week’s Contents of the Last Post of 2023
This year-end post, which is the 52nd one, is about covering the events of the year 2023 from the perspective of recapping the year for CENFACS’ audiences, followers, beneficiaries and supporters; as well as from the point of view of CENFACS’ contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development. It highlights the outstanding points of our year-in-review campaign and uses retrospective data. The main contents of this post are as follows.
• 2023 Year-in-review Impact Report
• Year-end Triple Action Givings: Peace, Hope and Difference
• Year-end Advice-giving Service
… And much more!
Festive Season’s Key Messages
• 2023 Year-in-review Impact Report
The above mentioned report is an evaluation of what happened in this ending year (2023). It is not an annual report or an annual return. It is CENFACS‘ performance highlights and lowlights as well as insights, challenges, successes and learnings throughout 2023.
The report, which is a brief summary of 2023, will help to learn what went well and what did not go well within and around CENFACS, as well as how we can engage our charitable objects in 2024 and beyond.
The report helps to communicate connections with all of you who worked with us and/or helped us in our beautiful cause of poverty reduction. It is an impact report as it explains the effect or impression made by work we undertook with users and beneficiaries with the help of our supporters; effect or impression on those who needed support and help on their way towards relief or poverty reduction.
Under the Main Development section of this post you will find key highlights of this 2023 Year-in-review Impact Report.
• Year-end Triple Action Givings: Peace, Hope and Difference
• • What is the Season’s Relief Triple Action Giving?
It is about fighting poverty and hardships in a number of fronts over the Festive Season, particularly by helping…
(a) to bring peace,
(b) to create hope
(c) and to make a difference.
Let us briefly explain each of the three givings (that is, peace, hope and difference).
• • • Peace via the Gifts of Peace
Our celebratory theme for the Season’s Reliefs is Peace and continues to be alive to the end of this season. The Gifts of Peace, which are one of CENFACS‘ festive favourites, are the set piece of the Season’s Reliefs that provides the absence of conflicts within ourselves as well as between us and others.
In terms of projects and programmes in Africa, the Gifts of Peace try to support poor people and communities so that they can navigate their ways towards freedoms from wars, armed conflicts, disease disturbance and disorder from natural events.
For those who are looking for fundraising appeals or projects to fund as festive gifts over this festive time, Gifts of Peace as an appeal is a valuable proposal they could consider. They can try any of the 12 Gift Ideas to reduce poverty and sustain development in the Gifts of Peace making our year-end campaign. They can unwrap their Gift of Peace for those in need this festive Season.
To enquire about and or fund the Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS.
• • • Hope through the Gift of Light
Our theme for the Season of Light is Hope and is still featuring what we have planned to achieve over this season. The Gift of Light helps to bring hope to those who are in the darkness and need some lights to see life through other ways.
Regarding the projects and programmes in our sphere of operation in Africa, we try to work – through the Gift of Light – with hopeless, desperate and destitute people and communities so that they can rebuild confidence and faith in themselves and continue to believe that they can find light and move away from darkness in the future.
• • • Difference by means of Charity e-Store – Zero Waste Store
Shopping and donating goods at our Charity e-Store is the third giving.
We are asking goods donors and buyers to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS SEASON by undertaking these following options:
∝ Safe collection of goods for recycling: We can arrange for goods to be safely collected at an agreed location, day and time under our Recycle and Give policy
∝ Goods buyers can Click and Collect.
Every time you shop at CENFACS’ Zero-Waste e-Store, you make a helpful difference to people in need over this festive time. Amongst these people are those who are trying to fight poverty induced by the cost-of-living crisis.
The above are the Season’s Relief Triple Action Giving. Each of these action givings will help to reduce poverty over the festive period and beyond.
We can only help reduce and possibly end multi-dimensional poverty as well as poverty induced by the cost-of-living crisis if you help us to do so. And this time of the year is a unique opportunity for you once a year to change lives through your invaluable action giving, however small it may be.
Please, don’t miss this marvellous opportunity of the year and the end of the year. There is a high demand for poverty reduction.
To donate goods and/or shop, please go to: http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/
The above-mentioned Year-end Triple Action Giving or Year-end Fundraising Campaign continues until the last day, hour, minute and second of 2023.
For those who would like to donate to our End-of-year Asks and any other festive projects or campaigns or even causes before 2023 ends, please do not hesitate to donate. You can still make a helpful difference before the last second of 31/12/2023.
To donate, just contact CENFACS with your donation by any of these means of communications: text, phone, e-mail and contact form on this website.
• Year-end Advice-giving Service
The Festive Season’s Arrangements below explain that we are in holiday break until the 5th of January 2024. However, some of our projects and campaigns are either self-running or designed to run throughout the holiday season like the festive holiday. One of these holiday projects is the Advice-giving one.
Indeed, during the festive period not everybody or member of our community can afford to celebrate on the New Year’s Eve. There are people who still need accommodation, food, income, guidance, support, help against loneliness, etc. They may also need life-saving support of various kinds to cope and survive while other people, the lucky ones, are busy preparing themselves for the New Year’s Eve festivities.
Because of this on-going need and demand within the community, we have maintained a minimum level of advice-giving service to e-work with those who desperately need advice to reduce poverty or any type of hardships they are facing and do not have anywhere else to ask for help and advice, especially at this challenging time of the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
If you are one of our members and facing serious hardship during the festive period, you can e-contact CENFACS for advice, guidance, information and support.
If you are not one of our members and would like to discuss this year-in-review advice project, please still e-contact CENFACS.
Festive Season’s Extra Messages
• Festive Season’s Arrangements: from 23 December 2023 to 5 January 2024
• Help for Your Year-in-review Accounts
• E-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet, and Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme
• Festive Season’s Arrangements: from 23 December 2023 to 5 January 2024
The following are the arrangements we have made for the above stated period.
• • Queries and Enquiries
During the festive holidays, we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 5th of January 2024. However, our All-in-Development Winter e-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet is still on until the 5th of January 2023 as planned.
• • Opening Hours and Days: 24/7
We are open online 24 hours and 7 days of week.
• • Visits
You can only visit us online.
• • Festive Donations
Our festive campaigns highlight not only the projects and activities that are related to CENFACS’ demand, but also and mostly to the needs and asks of those living in poverty around this time of the year and of the continuing disruption of the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
Those who want to donate to our fundraising campaigns and projects (such as Gifts of Peace and Influence Gift) are welcome to do so.
Their festive support or donations will help bring a Blaze of Hope and Peace to those in need, particularly at this challenging time of the cost-of-living crisis.
As well as donating, there are other ways one can support. These other ways range from spreading the message about CENFACS’ work and campaigns to visiting our online store for shopping.
All the above initiatives can create magical reliefs during this Festive Season and disturbing moment of the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
• • Season of Light
Although our Season of Light has just kicked off, some of our services and activities (such as advocacy, in-person fundraising events, etc.) as well as development campaigns are scaled down until the 5th of January 2023.
• • What’s on from 23 December 2023 to 5 January 2024!
Since 23 December 2023 we have broke for the festive holidays. However, there are projects that are essential including in festive times. One of them is advice-giving one, which will still be run online.
This is because evidence shows that in any difficult moments of human history or crisis, the poorest always suffer. They also suffer during the happiest times of the festive celebrations. They do not have festive celebration as such, just as they could be the ones bearing the brunt of the most negative socio-economic effects of the festive celebrations. Many of them need support which includes advice at any time.
• • Delays Regarding Call and E-mail Responses
People should expect delay from us in responding to their calls and e-mails. We heavily rely on volunteers for most of our services, who are sharing the Winter e-discussion with us during this Festive Time. Some of them are already on holiday.
• • Emergency and Exceptions
In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text, phone, e-mail and complete the contact form on CENFACS’ website. We will respond to your message as soon as we can.
We apologize for any inconvenience or upset this may cause.
We thank you all for your invaluable and sustained support during 2023 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year.
We wish you a Very Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Festive Season!
• Help for Your Year-in-review Accounts
How to successfully close your end-of-year personal or family accounts and get prepared for the New Year accounts before the end of financial year
We do not only carry out our own accounts review. We also work with users to review their accounts at the end of each year.
It is theoretically known that the financial year closes in April and the State budget starts in April of each year. For example, the current tax year ends on 5 April 2024 in the UK.
It is a good practice to use the opportunity of the end of the civil year to start to work out the balances of one’s personal or family accounts.
To help those who are struggling to close their year-end accounts of 2023, we will be looking at, from the start of January 2024 when we return, how to successfully close your personal or family financial accounts and prepare your new accounts in the New Year.
It is always a good practice to start early before the deadlines of the financial year!
It is wise to work out your year-end accounts early so that you could enter the New Year with a good understanding of your financial position while keeping financial control on accounts. In doing so, one can know areas of financial improvement to sort out their financial situation in the New Year.
This year-end financial control project or exercise includes income boost and other elements making our campaign to reduce and end income poverty. This is without forgetting the elements of Financial Capacity and Capability Building Programme, Financial Stability Programme/Scheme and Zero Income Deficit Campaign we conducted.
For those who may be interested in this year-end financial control project, they can contact CENFACS in the New Year.
• E-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet, and Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme
• • E-discussion on Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet
Our Winter e-discussion about Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet has so far dealt with volunteering for not to choose between the fight against poverty and the fight for the planet, volunteering to keep the ownership of transition strategies, volunteering to find resources to support vulnerable people, and volunteering to scale up private capital flows or funds to Africa.
We have paused this e-discussion to give ourselves time to reflect on the planned areas e-discussed so far and to have a festive break as many activities are scaled down or close because of festive holidays. After the reflection period and festive break, we shall resume our e-discussion on 04 and 05 January 2024, dates on which we will focus on Impact Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Action Plan 2024.
While our pause is going on, we are asking for support to CENFACS’ All in Development Volunteer Scheme (AiDVS).
• • Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme
For those who would like to support CENFACS’ All in Development Volunteer Scheme (AiDVS). There are many simple helpful and useful ways of adding great value to our voluntary work. Among them, are the 12-themed enhancers or ways of adding great value to CENFACS’ AiDVS, as highlighted in our post of 13 December 2023 (1).
These 12-themed enhancers or ways of adding great value to CENFACS’ AiDVS are:
1) Gift ideas for the best ways of monitoring, evaluating and reviewing projects and programmes in the New Year
2) Money-saving and scrimping tips from scrimpers for AiDVS
3) Festive deals and packages (e.g., seasonal discounts, discount codes, etc.) for AiDVS
4) Festive free coupons, promo codes and vouchers for AiDVS
5) Net-zero or low carbon economic products to protect the environment and nature
6) Digital and media support to better volunteer for a climate neutral and sustainable world
7) Health and safety gifts for healthy and safe volunteering in the New Year
8) Wintry and festive giveaways (e.g., free products, gift cards, free tickets, etc.) to volunteer for net zero greenhouse gas emissions and fossil-free worlds
9) Generative Artificial Intelligence volunteering tools to improve the efficiency of volunteering
10) Festive price bundling for flexible volunteering
11) Distance working and gift technologies (e.g., cloud technology, volunteer management software, apps, virtual volunteering tools, etc.)
12) Net-zero energy saving products to volunteer for poor people and the planet.
To support AiDVS with your wintry or festive gift, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
To e-discuss Volunteering for Poor People and the Planet, please communicate with CENFACS.
Message in French (Message en français)
• Rapport rétrospectif et d’impact de l’année 2023
Le rapport mentionné ci-dessus est une évaluation de ce qui s’est passé au cours de cette année qui se termine (2023). Il ne s’agit pas d’un rapport annuel ou d’un bilan social. Il s’agit des faits saillants et des points faibles de la performance du CENFACS, ainsi que des idées, des défis, des réussites et des apprentissages au cours de l’année 2023.
Le rapport, qui est un bref résumé de l’année 2023, aidera à savoir ce qui s’est bien passé et ce qui ne s’est pas bien passé au sein et autour du CENFACS, ainsi que la façon dont nous avons engagé nos objectifs de bienfaisance en 2023.
Le rapport aide à communiquer des liens avec tous/toutes ceux/celles d’entre vous qui ont travaillé avec nous et/ou qui nous ont aidés dans notre belle cause de réduction de la pauvreté. Il s’agit d’un rapport d’impact car il explique l’effet ou l’impression que nous avons produit par le travail que nous avons entrepris auprès des usagers et des bénéficiaires avec l’aide de nos soutiens; l’effet ou l’impression sur ceux/celles qui avaient besoin de soutien et d’aide sur leur chemin vers l’aide ou la réduction de la pauvreté.
Pour plus de détails sur le rapport rétrospectif et d’impact de l’année 2023 du CENFACS, veuillez contacter CENFACS.
Festive Season’s Main Development
• 2023 Year-in-review Impact Report
How the year 2023 has gone within and around CENFACS
The following contents make this report:
a) A brief Summary of the Year
b) The Theme of 2023 Year-in-review Campaign
c) How Did the Year 2023 Go through from within and around CENFACS?
d) 2023 Key Produce or Achievements
e) Looking Forward to 2024 (or Commitments for the Year 2024)
f) 2023 Gratitude.
Let’s look at each of these contents.
• • The Year’s Brief Summary
Our 2023 poverty reduction story kicked off with the search for the best possible way of positively starting the year with and by those we serve. Our Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisations and their beneficiaries suggested to start with an issue which often is less spoken or dealt with. The issue that came into their mind was the insurance for the poor.
From this issue, our Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisations (ASCOs) demanded to work together with them and their beneficiaries to promote the culture of insurance amongst the different ages and generations of these beneficiaries. In particular, their request was to address the old age poverty which is partly due to the lack of a developed culture of insurance amongst these beneficiaries.
As children in East Africa were experiencing a series of interlinked crises or polycrises (e.g., drought, insecurity and hunger), there was a need to support these children to reduce even to end the impacts of these crises on their lives. To make a positive influence on what was happening to these children, 2023 was dedicated as a Year of Influence.
As a result of this dedication, together with these children and their representative organisations we launched an influencing appeal entitled as the Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Need Your Influence Right Now. We also rolled out influencing appeals for Africa’s Food Crisis Impacted, the Displaced and Hungry Lives in the Eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Earthquake-stricken People of Marrakesh-Safi and the Floods-hit of Libya.
Since the money owed by the poor was not showing any sign of calming in the business cycle of the cost-of-living crisis, we advocated with indebted users for debt reduction, for action to create change for the highly indebted poor users making our community. In our debt reduction advocacy, we faced a dilemma.
The dilemma was how we could help rebuild Africa by working together with our ASCOs while Africa was trying to recover itself from the polycrises and build forward better under the context of insufficient economic growth conditions to reduce extreme poverty. This dilemma did not stop us from undertaking our rebuilding work.
In the process of rebuilding, our ASCOs and ourselves agreed that no one should be left behind. In particular, ASCOs realised that many of their old age beneficiaries heavily relied on their families and community networks as economic security to survive. To enable them to tackle old age poverty, ASCOs worked to ensure sustainable security in the old age.
Addressing old age poverty meant financially including the financially excluded by removing the demand-side constraints on them. This was possible through experimental approach to financial poverty and the use of deliberative practice or methodology.
It also signified building financial capacity and capability across all generations. In this respect, we hope that the tips and hints about financial education, information, communication and technology given would help to improve financial inclusion for all and help in the New Year.
• • Theme of CENFACS’ 2023 Year-in-Review Campaign
The theme for this review is building forward better together greener, cleaner and safer within the context of falling real household disposable incomes from the damaging impacts of the cost-of-living crisis.
• • How did the Year 2023 Go through from within and around CENFACS?
To underline the way in which the year 2023 went from within and around CENFACS, we are going to highlight the key takeaways of 2023 and the contributions we made.
• • • Key takeaways of the year
The points or facts to remember about 2023 from within and around CENFACS are as follows.
∝) 2023 as a year of positive influence to reduce poverty
2023 has proven to be a year of positive influence. We worked with users through a series or set of interconnected influencing tasks or activities (in total, we had 12 Influence Project episodes) with the aim of reducing poverty. These tasks or activities were undertaken each month of 2023 within the requirements and limitations of CENFACS‘ existing and acquirable resources, capacities and assets.
We also worked to find things or factors that could be influenced so that they could positively contribute to the same goal of relieving need hardship and distress amongst our community members throughout 2023.
Additionally, some of these tasks or activities (like lobbying, negotiation, advocacy, etc.) enabled to achieve attitudinal change, procedural change, behaviour change, and policy content change.
The above is evidence of what influence can accomplish to people in need.
∝) 2023 as a year of following the direction of poverty reduction via marine and coastal ecosystem services
This follow-up enabled our users to understand how marine and coastal ecosystem services can help reduce poverty, particularly through provisioning and regulating services they provide.
∝) 2023 as a year of the reduction of grey spaces-induced poverty
2023 has been a year of engaging space to deal with poverty induced or linked to grey space. It has been a year of addressing spatialisation of poverty. We explored with grey space poor ways of reducing or ending this type of poverty. Also, we made efforts with them reduce health hazards from grey spaces.
∝) 2023 as a year of learning and developing self-efficacy skills to refresh ways of tackling crises
Because the nature of crises and risks is changing, there was a need to refresh ways of tackling crises through three Self-efficacy skills – resilience, flexibility and agility. These skills started to help beneficiaries to bounce back from the lingering effects of the coronavirus and the enduring cost-of-living crisis and to grab any job opportunities that were available.
∝) 2023 as a year of advocacy for the world’s smallest creatures via Niamankeke project
Through the ‘Niamankeke‘ 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 insect species like Erikssonia Acraeina (Eriksson’s Copper), Adetomyrma Venatrix (Dracula Ant), Dawn Jewel (Chlorocypha Aurora), African Dung Beetle and Brenton Blue Butterfly.
∝) 2023 as a year of data and insight skills to manage your households
Using free frontline tools of poverty reduction from CENFACS‘ poverty reduction box, we conducted basic data analytics and empowered user households with data and insight skills. Through Data and Insights Advocacy and Skills project, we came together with these households to build data collection, organisation, storing, and sharing skills. We were as well able to develop descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive insight skills.
∝) 2023 as a year of stories of building forward from the cost-of-living crisis
Amongst the stories received, we had 2 great stories of reduction of endemic structural disadvantages and inequalities, 4 remarkable stories of positively transforming human relationships with nature, 3 life-saving stories of dismantling structures of discrimination disadvantaging the poor , and 2 moving stories of building on the moral and legal framework of human rights that places human dignity at the centre of policy and action.
∝) 2023 as a year of creations and innovations to win the battle against crises
Through out this ending year, we worked with users to come out with new and innovative ideas to overcome the fight against crises (such as the cost-of-living crisis, falling incomes, natural disasters and humanitarian catastrophes).
∝) 2023 as a year of Matching Organisation-Investor Programme
2023 will be finally remembered as a year of working with Africa-based Sister Charitable Organisations and Not-for-profit Investors to help them match project planning for the first and investment life cycle for the second. In doing so, the former could find the investment they were looking for and the latter the organisation to invest in, and both of them could start the New Year wit certainty.
• • 2023 Key Produce or Achievements
2023 has been a notable year of poverty reduction produce or accomplishments. It will be known as a year of influencing appeal. It is the year during which we tried to appeal for influence donation. Amongst these influencing appeals are the following ones which received influence donation:
The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa, Africa’s Food Crisis Impacted, the Earthquake-stricken People of Marrakesh-Safi and the Floods-hit of Morocco, the Displaced and Hungry Lives of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Eastern Provinces.
We are thankful to those who donated their influence.
2023 has also been a memorable matching year as we set up a new impact programme – Matching Organisation-Organisation Programme – of working with ASCOs that are looking for not-for-profit investors to invest in them and not-for-profit who would like to invest in such organisations.
The above are just the few selected accomplishments or produce we wanted to share with audiences and supporters in this year-in-review campaign. However, for those who would like get more insights into them and other achievements of the year 2023, they can let us know.
• • Looking Forward to 2024 (or Commitments for the Year 2024)
In 2024, we will be developing projects and programmes of just, orderly and equitable energy transition as well as fossil-free projects and programmes. These projects and programmes with nature-positive and fossil-free contents will be carried out while we are continuing to work on global nature goals and nature-based solutions to poverty; that is nature-based projects to help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.
Besides that, we shall carry on with the financial empowerment programme to impact even more people in 2024 to reduce financial poverty and mitigate the lingering effects of previous, current and incoming crises, with some of the initiatives (like Financial Capacity and Capability Campaign, Financial Controls in 2024).
We shall as well continue to light a Blaze of Hope for every place and everyone who will need it in our identified area of operation.
• • 2023 Gratitude
To end this year-in-review impact report, we would like to continue to thank our poverty reduction producers, enablers and supporters as we did in last week’s post (2).
2023 was a noteworthy year for CENFACS for those who inspired us in responding to local and African needs at the challenging time of the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis. We could not do it without their support.
We thank them for making possible 2023 as another deserving year of poverty reduction and of sustainable development, as well as for what we accomplished together. We hope to achieve more in 2024 and beyond.
For further information or a full story of 2023 and to discuss any issues regarding this 2023 Year-in-Review Impact Report, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.
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• References
(1) cenfacs.org.uk/2023/12/13/matching-organisation-investor-programme-activity-4/(accessed in December 2023)
(2) cenfacs.org.uk/2023/12/20/season-of-light-2023-2024 (accessed in December 2023)
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• Help CENFACS Keep the Poverty Relief Work Going this Year
We do our work on a very small budget and on a voluntary basis. Making a donation will show us you value our work and support CENFACS’ work, which is currently offered as a free service.
One could also consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.
Additionally, we would like to inform you that planned gifting is always an option for giving at CENFACS. Likewise, CENFACS accepts matching gifts from companies running a gift-matching programme.
Donate to support CENFACS!
FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ NOBLE CAUSES OF POVERTY REDUCTION.
JUST GO TO: Support Causes – (cenfacs.org.uk)
Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.
Thank you as well to those who made or make comments about our weekly posts.
We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support until the end of 2023 and beyond.
With many thanks.
