Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on April 5, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

05 April 2023

Post No. 294

The Week’s Contents

• Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income

• Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation (TCPSACI) with Installation Sub-phase (Phase 3.2) and the High Seas Treaty

• Activity/Task 4 of the ‘i‘ Project: Influence Protection

…And much more!

Key Messages

• Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income

This month, our protection work will focus on ways of finding and or enhancing the means, tools and policies to protect incomes and income poor households. Many of income poor households have problem to meet their living expenses. They live at or below the extreme poverty line of $2.15 person per day (based on 2017 purchasing power parities) and or do not simply have earned income to be independent. Adding to their lack of or very limited level of income, there has been a succession of crises (like climate crisis, the coronavirus disaster and the cost-of-living crisis) with cumulative adverse effects. These crises together with their negative effects have made their income situation even worse in living memory. It has been catastrophic for those who do have not solvable income to survive or those living at/below the extreme poverty line or those who always have income problem. The majority of them have their purchasing power falling while the prices and bills for life-sustaining services and goods keep on climbing.

In this painful context of soaring prices and bills, there is a pressing and urgent need to protect falling real household disposable income. Protecting falling real household disposable income is about taking actions to stop incomes falling. This could mean either the income poor households do it by themselves (via self-protection) or someone else do it for them or even they partly do it and others partly do it for them. These are the possible options for them.

The income protection options that we will be working on during this Month of Protection within CENFACS are the most commonly known about income protection for the poor households. However, we shall not stop at these conventional options. Throughout the month of April 2023, we are going to try to go beyond these generic or classic recipes of income protection to explore new and innovative ways of approaching income protection for the poor; ways that reflect the kinds of context or circumstances we have today and will be having tomorrow. Today, we are in the context of skyrocketing prices and bills at a rate and pace that no income poor household can match or follow. Tomorrow, there could be different types of challenges or crises with damaging effects on poor household income.

Both the generic or classical solutions to falling incomes and new approaches are highlighted in our April 2023 action plan to work with the income poor households to protect their falling purchasing power. To find more about this action plan and what is likely to be the Month of Protection within CENFACS, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

• Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation (TCPSACI) with Installation Sub-phase (Phase 3.2) and the High Seas Treaty

Last month, we started the planning process of the 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up. We informed you that the slogan for this 2023 follow-up would be: Dubai Raise Children’s Ambitions and Hopes.

Consisted of the 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up is our plan to engage with the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1), which will be convened in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) from 30 November to 12 December 2023. This engagement or follow up will contribute to TCPSACI.

We hope that the coming Dubai climate gathering will raise climate ambitions and hopes for children. Let us also expect that the voices of youth and future generations will resonate during COP28 as they were included in COP27, and youth-led solutions to climate change will find accommodation in COP28.

Besides the planning process of the 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up, we are reflecting on the High Seas Treaty.

• • What is the High Seas Treaty?

Last month, the United Nations (2) reached an historic agreement on protecting marine biodiversity in international waters. This agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (also known as BBNJ or the High Seas Treaty for others) is about ensuring the protection and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas of beyond national jurisdiction. It is the ocean-related goals and targets linked to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are working on the contents of this agreement or treaty.

• • TCPSACI and the High Seas Treaty

We are working on how the stoppage of the destructive trends facing ocean health can enhance climate protection and stake for children and generations to come. In other words, we are looking at how a healthier, resilient and productive ocean can benefit the current and future generations since the ocean provides water, food, oxygen and climate regulation.

For those who are interested in this piece of work or are doing similar work and would like to talk to us about it, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

For those who have any queries about the 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up and the Phase 3.2, they are free to get in touch with CENFACS.

To find out more about CENFACS’ Compendia of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, please also communicate with CENFACS.

• Activity/Task 4 of the ‘i‘ Project: Influence Protection

This month’s activity or task for the ‘i‘ project is to positively influence protection of the poor, the victims of war and natural disasters as well as the victims of other risks, shocks and crises.

• • What is positively influencing protection about?

It is about maximising the power that persons or factors have to affect target audiences (e.g., those looking for shelter, refuge, cover, safety, care, food, health, etc.) shielding from danger (like homelessness, hunger, insecurity, violence, natural calamity, health disaster, etc.). This can be in local community matter and/or overseas humanitarian aid situation where the protection of the vulnerable, unprotected and events-stricken people and communities is highly regarded and demanded.

• • What one can do to create and or enhance protection of the poor

To create and or enhance protection of the poor, one needs to understand the contextual situation of those who need protection, identify the problems they are facing, find out who have the power to achieve change and explore the way of achieving change.

In this task, it is better to use evidence-based materials to positively influence those who have the power to protect the poor. One can also use a simple and persuasive story and engage those who hold the key to the lack of or less protection of the poor, those who are in the position to do something about poverty. One can use their experience to the real world policy influencing techniques or methods, conduct evidence-informed policy change, and utilise their alliances and networks so that those in need of protection can have it and navigate their way out of poverty linked to the lack of or less protection.

For those members of our community who would like to positively influence protection with us, and who would like to talk to us beforehand; they should not hesitate to contact us.

To contact CENFACS, please use the details provided on the contact-us page of this site.

Extra Messages

• Shop at CENFACS’ Zero Waste e-Store during Easter Giving Season

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) – Step/Workshop 7: Implementing your Play, Run and Vote Projects

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Protection for Women and Children in Africa

• Shop at CENFACS’ Zero Waste e-Store during Easter Giving Season

CENFACS e-Store is opened for your Easter goods donations and goods purchases.

At this time, many people have been affected by the cost of living crisis mostly driven by the hikes in prices of basic life-sustaining needs (e.g., energy, food, transport, housing, council tax, phone, etc.).

The impacted of the cost of living crisis needs help and support as prices and bills have astronomically gone up while real incomes are less for many of those living in poverty.

Every season or every month is an opportunity to do something against poverty and hardships. This April too is a good and great month of the year to do it.

You can donate or recycle your unwanted and unneeded goods to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the zero waste shop built to help relieve poverty and hardships.

You can as well buy second hand goods and bargain priced new items and much more.

CENFACS’ Charity e-Store needs your support for SHOPPING and GOODS DONATIONS.

You can do something different this Season of Goods Donations by SHOPPING or DONATING GOODS at CENFACS Charity e-Store.

You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:

√ DONATE unwanted Easter GOODS, GIFTS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Charity e-Store this April and Spring.

√ SHOP at CENFACS Charity e-Store to support good and deserving causes of poverty relief this April and Spring.

Your SHOPPING and or GOODS DONATIONS will help to the Upkeep of the Nature and to reduce poverty and hardships brought by the cost of living crisis.

This is what the Season of Giving is all about.

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

Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the cost of living crisis.

We need help to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the cost of living crisis.

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

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 7: Implementing your Play, Run and Vote Projects

After making the organisational structure of your chosen Play, Run and Vote Projects, it is now the time to proceed with the Implementation Step.

• • What is an Implementation Step?

There are many definitions within the literature about project implementation. One of them comes from ‘taskmanagementguide.com’ (3) which states that

“Project implementation is a practice of executing or carrying out a project under a certain plan in order to complete this project and produce desired results”.

The above definition indicates that one needs an implementation plan. As an all-year-round project implementor, you can draw up your implementation plan that shows the way you would like to execute and carry out your project.

Having said that Project Implementation is the step you put your project plan into action. You want your all-year-round project to fulfil and accomplish the goals and objectives you have set up for it. It is also the phase during which you can register, review and approve/reject any changes and variations. As an all-year-round project manager of your project, you need to coordinate all project aspects and resources to meet the objectives of the project plan. One of the aspects of the project implementation is change control.

• • What is Change Control in a Project implementation Process?

Drawing from what ‘ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub’ (4) states,

“It is a set of procedures that lets you make changes in an organised way”.

The same ‘ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub’ explains this:

“If you find a problem,… you will need to look at how it affects the triple constraint (time, cost, scope) and how it impacts the project quality… If you evaluate the impact of the change and find it won’t have an impact on the project triple constraint, then you can make the change without going through change control”.

• • An Example of Implementing your All-year Round Projects

Let us take the example of Voting your 2023 International Development and Poverty Reduction Manager.

Your goal is to find a person who will meet the managerial qualities of such a position. Amongst the objectives are the design of a job description and person specification that match with the profile of your ideal International Development and Poverty Reduction Manager of the Year.

In project implementation jargon, you will put approved plan into practice to proceed with the selection of your International Development and Poverty Reduction Manager of the Year. He/she must meet your selection criteria. If you are voting as a group, you could set up a selection panel or recruitment board like you will do it for real job interview. You can start by shortlisting 12 candidates, cutting down your list to 6, then to 3 until you reach/vote the last one, who has scored the best and most results of your jury questions and responded to most criteria.

For those who would like to dive deeper into Implementing their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Protection of and for Women and Children in Africa

How to avoid overlapping crises lead to the reversal of the hard-won gains made on protection and development for women and children in Africa

The first debate of the Month of Protection within CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum of Ideas and Actions will be about finding sustainable paths to preserve the hard-won gains on the road of protection of and for women and children in Africa. Indeed, the overlapping crises (like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, Russia-Ukraine conflict, the cost-of-living crisis, civil insecurity, etc.) have led to multiple adverse consequences across Africa.

Amongst the ripple effects are declining revenue for many States, rising debts, tightening of fiscal manoeuvre, worsening terms of trade, erosion of decades of development gains, increased poverty and economic hardships, in brief looming economic crisis. These crises and damaging consequences are threatening, if not destroying, many of established lives and the hard-won achievements made such as poverty reduction, protection of women and children and so on. They have reverberated in every aspect of life and resulted in increased inequalities and vulnerabilities in Africa. As we all know quite often women and children are the ones who often bear the brunt of these types of crises and damaging consequences.

There could be ways of stopping or avoiding that crises hamper the hard-won gains made on protection of and for women and children in Africa. In the first discussion of the CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum of Ideas and Actions, we shall carry out the following:

a) Explore ways of protecting and consolidating the achievements made in terms of protection of and for women and children in Africa

b) Think of ways of keeping protection for African women and children resilient and ring-fencing in face of the threats and risks from congruent effects of overlapping shocks that Africa is going through right now

c) Investigate the best way of growing protection beyond and despite the damaging consequences of these current overlapping and future shocks.

Those who may be interested in this discussion 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 engage with the CENFACS‘ be.Africa Forum of Ideas and Actions and share what they know and think about protection of and for women and children in Africa in challenging times like now, please contact us by using our usual contact details on this website.

Message in French (Message en français)

• Magasinez à la boutique en ligne Zéro déchet du CENFACS pendant la saison des dons de Pâques

La boutique en ligne du CENFACS est ouverte pour vos dons de produits de Pâques et vos achats de biens.

À l’heure actuelle, de nombreuses personnes ont été touchées par la crise du coût de la vie, principalement en raison de la hausse des prix des produits de première nécessité (énergie, nourriture, transport, logement, taxe d’habitation, téléphone, etc.).

Les impacté(e)s de la crise du coût de la vie ont besoin d’aide et de soutien, car les prix et les factures ont augmenté de façon astronomique alors que les revenus réels sont moindres pour beaucoup de ceux ou celles qui vivent dans la pauvreté.

Chaque saison ou chaque mois est l’occasion de faire quelque chose contre la pauvreté et les difficultés. Ce mois d’avril aussi est un bon et excellent mois de l’année pour le faire.

Vous pouvez faire don ou recycler vos biens non désirés et inutiles à la boutique en ligne caritative du CENFACS, la boutique zéro déchet conçue pour aider à soulager la pauvreté et les difficultés.

Vous pouvez également acheter des biens d’occasion et des articles neufs à prix avantageux et bien plus encore.

La boutique en ligne caritative du CENFACS a besoin de votre soutien pour les ACHATS et les DONS MARCHANDISES.

Vous pouvez faire quelque chose de différent cette saison des dons de biens en MAGASINANT ou en DONNANT DES BIENS à la boutique en ligne de charité CENFACS.

Vous pouvez FAIRE UN DON ou ACHETER ou faire les deux:

√ DONNEZ des BIENS, CADEAUX et PRODUITS de Pâques indésirables à la boutique en ligne de la Charité CENFACS en avril et au printemps;

√ ACHETEZ à la boutique en ligne de charité CENFACS pour soutenir les bonnes et méritantes causes de lutte contre la pauvreté en avril et au printemps.

Vos ACHATS et/ou DONS DE BIENS aideront à l’entretien de la nature et à réduire la pauvreté et les difficultés causées par la crise du coût de la vie.

C’est ce qu’est la saison du don.

N’hésitez pas à faire un don ou à acheter ce qui est disponible sur la boutique en ligne du CENFACS.

De nombreuses vies ont été menacées et détruites par la crise du coût de la vie.

Nous avons besoin d’aide pour les aider à sortir de la pauvreté et des difficultés causées par la crise du coût de la vie.

Pour faire un don ou acheter des biens, veuillez vous rendre à : http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

Main Development

• Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income

The following items will help to approach Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income:

σ Basic Understanding of Real Household Disposable Income

σ Falls in Real Household Disposable Incomes

σ Income Protection

σ Identified Areas of Protection Work and Households to Work with in this April 2023

σ Action Plan for the Implementation of Protection this April 2023

σ Week Beginning Monday 03/04/2023: Income Protection through Savings

σ Other Areas of Protection: e.g., Protection of Flora and Fauna.

Let us briefly explain each of the above items making Protection in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Income.

• • Basic Understanding of Real Household Disposable Income

Disposable income is defined by Christopher Pass et al. (5) as

“The amount of income which a person has available after paying INCOME TAX, NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS and PENSION contributions” (p. 181)

However, disposable income needs adjustment for inflation. After being adjusted for inflation, disposable income becomes real. The website ‘tutor2u.net’ (6) explains that

“Real disposable income is the post tax and benefit income available to households after an adjustment has been made for price changes”.

In other words, changes in prices of goods and services can lead to the increase or fall in real household disposable incomes. In the context of this post, we are dealing with fall in real household disposable incomes.

• • Falls in real household disposable incomes

In recent years, prices and bills keep on rising while real household disposable incomes have failed to match this rising trend. That is to say, incomes are not fully index-linked to keep pace with inflation.

To highlight this fall, the website ‘finder.com’ (7) has revealed that

“The average British adult has £866 in disposable income a month in 2022, which is a reduction of £23 a month from 2020 (£889). Total monthly living costs on average have reached £1,125 with the average rent price being £437 and the average essential spending costs at £688 a month”.

Likewise, the Resolution Foundation (8) found that

“2022 was a year of double-digit inflation that drove a 3.3 per cent – or £800 per household – hit to real disposable incomes, the biggest annual fall in Century”.

The same Resolution Foundation forecasted that

“Household income falls in 2023 will be 3.8 per cent or £880 per household as big as those seen in 2022”.

As a result, living standards are unchanged or getting worse.

According to the Office for National Statistics (9),

“Median household disposable income in the UK was £32, 300 in the financial year ending (FYE) 2022, a decrease of 0.6% from FYE 2021, based on estimates from the Office for Natural Statistics Household Finances Survey… Median disposable income for the poorest fifth of the population decreased by 3.8% to £14,500 in FYE 2022; reductions were also observed in main original income and cash benefits”.

Also, the Office for National Statistics (10) argues that

“The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 9.2% in the 12 months to February 2023, up from 8.8% in January”. This CPIH figure was released on 22 March. The next release will be on 19 April 2023. Yet, the consumer price inflation in the UK was 6.2% in March 2022.

Similarly, the figure released on 22 March 2023 by the Bank of England (11) for the current bank rate was 4.25%, whereas the bank rate was 0.75% in March 2022.

Moreover, The Food Foundation (12) states that

“The percentage of households with children who are experiencing food insecurity was 25.8% in September 2022”.

This percentage of households with food insecure children could be another way of perceiving the fall in real household disposable income.

In meantime, bills like council tax, rent, telephone, transport, etc. have also risen. Although the energy price is capped at £2,500 on the average household energy bill, we are still waiting for the next policy announcement by the UK’s independent energy regulator, Ofgem, on 26 May 2023.

So, real disposable incomes for poor households have not risen to match the raising trends from bills and prices. This is despite income support has been given to those who are eligible. This mismatch between their real incomes and rising prices and bills can only lead to falling real household disposable incomes.

Falling real household disposable incomes can cause serious harms to households, especially to the poorest. This is why protection is needed to protect their incomes.

• • Income Protection

The kind of protection we are talking about is of income. What is income protection? Income protection can be viewed from many perspectives (economic, climate finance, governmental, insurance, etc.). Many of the definitions within the literature have a common ground as they take the insurance view of income protection. Amongst these definitions is the one provided by ‘which.co.uk’ (13) which states that

“Formerly known as permanent health insurance, income protection is an insurance policy that pays out if you’re unable to work because of injury or illness. It is there to help you pay your household bills, mortgage payments, credit card and everyday costs that you can no longer cover”.

However, for income protection to be relevant it has to be index-linked. Index-linked income protection is the one you add an index-link to the income protection. In other words, income protection rises with a measure of inflation (such as the consumer prices index or the retail prices index), each year. Adding an inflationary index-link will obviously increase the premium each year.

Yet, the kinds of households we are dealing with may or may not be able to buy income protection insurance since they cannot afford it. If so, then what is income protection for them? How can we innovate in terms of income protection for the poor households? Can income protection be conceived outside the framework of insurance policy? The answers to these three questions will be provided as we move along our protection notes of the month.

• • Identified Areas of Protection Work and People to Work with in this April 2023

Following some basic research relating to income protection for the poor households, we have identified the following areas and households to work with.

• • • Identified areas of protection work

We have identified four areas of work on income protection which are as follows:

a) Income protection from savings made by households

b) Income protection from statutory bodies like the Government

c) Income protection provided by employers or employer-sponsored income protection plan

d) Income protection sold by insurance companies or organisations.

In the plan for the implementation of protection this April 2023, we will consider the above-stated areas of protection.

• • • Households to work with for April 2023 Protection

We will be working with the following households needing support to protect their real disposable income:

√ Households unable to purchase income protection insurance

√ Those having savings but without income protection policy

√ Those looking for support to improve their income protection policy

√ Those grappling with a reduced income and struggling with bills and prices

√ Those who need income protection to deal with the cost-of-living crisis

√ The severely impacted by inflation (both imported and domestic inflation)

√ Those with less or low real disposable income

√ Those having less flexibility in their household protection budget

√ The income poor households

√ Those extreme poor households or living at or below the extreme poverty line

√ The food and energy poor households

√ Households incapacitated by multi-crises

√ The other poor and vulnerable households

Etc.

Many of these households we have listed could fall under these categories:

~ those looking for a cover on sick pay

~ those searching for savings to protect themselves

~ those surviving on government benefit or support

~ those supported by families or relatives.

To better work with them, an action plan is needed.

• • Action Plan for the Implementation of Protection this April 2023

To implement protection this April 2023, we have selected four key notes, which are given in the table below.

These notes will be developed starting every Mondays of April 2023 as scheduled above.

Also, this plan of protection needs to be combined with the Preview of Projects and Programmes for Spring Relief 2023 (which we released on the 15th of March 2023 in our Post No. 291).

Besides these selected notes and areas of protection, we would like to keep on working on other areas that need particular attention too, like protection of flora and fauna.

Before summarising these other areas of protection, let us look at the first selected key note of our plan, which is Income Protection through Savings.

• • Week Beginning Monday 03/04/2023: Income Protection through Savings

Households can use their savings (or a portion of their income that is not used for consumption or paying taxes) to protect them from any unexpected expenses, loss of job, sickness, retirement, etc. In order to do that they need to create a savings plan that can match their protection plan.

• • • Savings plan

The website ‘bitpanda.com’ (14) explains that

“A savings plan is useful if you want to establish an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses… It involves putting aside a portion of your income over a fixed period of time in order to reach a specific financial goal”.

To set up savings safety net by building an emergency fund, the theory on the matter states that your emergency fund needs to be equivalent to at least three months’ salary or essential outgoings available in an instant-access savings account.

You can use high-yield-savings account or money market account or savings bond or a certificate of deposit to create your savings. The practice suggests to save money using easy-access accounts or fixed-term savings account.

However, setting money aside as savings or sinking funds on a regular basis could be harder even impossible for extremely poor households. In other words, they cannot afford to buy savings plan. But, having a financial plan or saving can help in the wake of an emergency or unpredictable time. Likewise, having a protection plan could be life-saving.

Although it could be difficult or impossible for poor households to save money to take out income protection plan, there could be ways of working with them in order to explore ways of supporting them in case of emergency or unpredictability.

• • Ways in which CENFACS Can Work with the Community regarding Savings and Income Protection

There is a number of ways in which CENFACS can work with the community to boost their income protection to deal with the bad times. These ways of working together include the following ones:

√ Setting up a basic protection plan

√ Building a simple realistic savings plan

√ Getting informed about the current and near-future opportunities to save money

√ Providing them with leads to savings for the poor

√ Advising them on the best possible options to create savings or to move in the direction of savings road

√ Explaining them the savings products and tools offered on the market (like high-yield-savings account, money market account, savings bond or certificate of deposit offered by some financial institutions and banks)

√ Recommending them digital solutions to their savings problems (e.g. online saving plan calculator)

√ Working with them to restructure their accounts to create financial space for savings

√ Adding an inflationary index-link to their income protection plan

√ Helping them to read and understand savings and financial information

√ Advising them on how to react and prepare from financial news, warnings, notices and alert messages about savings and income protection

√ Developing the basic financial skills to interpret the impact of economic indicators (like inflation, interest rate, exchange rate, etc.) on savings

√ Building their financial literacy statistics and numeracy skills to enable them to read financial information pages about savings (e.g. charts, tables, in brief infographics about savings)

√ Organising activities or workshops to help them integrate savings habit in the handling of their household financial affairs and plans

√ Improving their knowledge in terms of the key financial dates to save in the calendar about key policy announcements (for example, the release date of budgets by the Government and how these budgets can impact their savings plans)

√ Motivating them to follow news and information about savings and income protection

√ Asking them to subscribe to free providers of savings and income protection information that touches their life (e.g. free subscription to magazines, papers and websites that provide information about savings and income protection for poor households)

Etc.

All these ways of working with the community will help to protect them and their income. This is because the more informed they are, the more they will find the tools, tips and hints they need in order to create savings or to be on the road to create savings. It is all about working with them to improve the way they can create and manage their income and life in order to overcome future emergencies and unpredictability.

• • Other Areas of Protection

There are many areas that will be highlighted and on which we will be working. One of them is protection of flora and fauna.

• • • Protection of flora and fauna

This month, we shall as well revisit progress made so far in protecting animals and plants. We shall do it by recalling our Build Forward Better Flora and Fauna Projects, which were one of our last XI Starting Campaign and Projects for Autumn.

Indeed, we continue to advocate for the protection of animals (fauna) in Africa and elsewhere in developing world whereby animals get killed, traded and extinct to such extent that some species are at the brink of disappearing.

We are as well extending our advocacy to other species in danger like trees, plans and flowers (flora). It is about building forward these species that are threatened with extinction.

To advocate and raise your voice to protect and build forward better endangered plant and animal species, contact CENFACS.

For any further details about CENFACS’ Month of Protection, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

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• References

(1) https://www.cop28.com/en/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(2) https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/1134157 (Accessed in April 2023)

(3) www.taskmanagementguide.com/glossary/what-is-project-implementation.php (Accessed in April 2023)

(4) https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/projectmanagement/chapter/chapter-17-project-implementation-overview-project-management/ (Accessed in April 2023)

(5) Pass, C., Lowes, B., Pendleton, A. & Chadwick, L. (1991), Collins Dictionary of Business, HarperCollinsPublishers, Glasgow

(6) https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/s-macro-key-term-real-disposable-income (Accessed in March 2023)

(7) https://www.finder.com/uk/disposable-income-around-the-uk# (Accessed in March 2023

(8) https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/new-years-outlook-2023/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(9) https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2022/previous/v1 (Accessed in April 2023)

(10) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices (Accessed in March 2023)

(11) https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-summary-and-minutes/2023/march-2023?trk=public-post-comment-text (Accessed in April 2023)

(12) https://www.foodfoundation.org.uk/publications/new-data-show-4-million-children-households-affected-food-insecurity (Accessed in April 2023)

(13) https://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/life-insurance-and-protection/income-protection-explained-asH217E3fIZQ# (Accessed in April 2023)

(14) https://www.bitpanda.com/academy/en/lessons/what-it-a-savings-plan/ (Accessed in April 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 throughout 2023 and beyond.

With many thanks.

Permalink

Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on March 29, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

29 March 2023

Post No. 293

The Week’s Contents

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023

• Debt Reduction Advocacy

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023

Any 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 action. It requires monitoring to regularly collect and record information. It demands some measures of change from the services and facilities that have been delivered. It necessitates a value judgement on the information gathered during the project. Our Climate Actions 2023 will not escape from these basic principles of project planning cycle.

To monitor our climate actions (Climate Actions 2023), we have been routinely gathering information on all aspects of the climate actions conducted. We are examining what these actions have achieved or will achieve in relation to the aims and objectives we set up for them, in particular in terms of the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor‘. This monitoring has enabled us to keep an eye on the progress made so far. In our approach to monitoring and evaluation for impact, we included four actions into our Climate Actions 2023, which are as follows:

a) Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor (Action 1)

b) Influence Voluntary Carbon Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities (Action 2)

c) Induce Carbon Markets to Be Part of Recovery from the Polycrisis (Action 3)

d) Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor (Action 4).

Besides this monitoring activity, we are as well conducting evaluation for learning purpose. To evaluate the data collected, we are involving participants to our Climate Actions March 2023. This 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 climate actions. 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 their climate action.

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 climate actions taken.

The findings from the Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023 will not be available this month as we are still working on them. However, for those who would like to know more about the way in which we are conducting (the process of) the Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023, they can read under the Main Development section of this post.

• Debt Reduction Advocacy

Debt Reduction Advocacy (DRA) is one the CENFACS initiatives planned for the Light Season 2023 which ended last week. DRA takes stock of our February 2022 work on debt sustainability for the highly indebted poor households, work which includes debt financing, debt relief, debt restructuring and debt distress. In other words, it includes many aspects of debt sustainability work, particularly the debt relief aspect, we carried out in February 2022. We have chosen this time to launch it as many types of support people are receiving are nearing their ends. Yet, prices (especially of food, money and other essentials) and bills (like rent, council tax, transport, etc.) continue to rise. Rising prices and bills can only mean more pressure of all kinds on debtors and borrowers. But, what is DRA?

• • Meaning of DRA

DRA is about taking action to create change in the direction of reduction of the money owed by the poor, especially at this time of the business cycle during which the cost-of-living crisis is not showing any sign of calming. DRA reactivates the debt relief work we did.

Indeed, the cumulative effects of crises (like the coronavirus disaster, the cost-of-living crisis and climate change catastrophe, etc.) have put enormous financial pressure on poor people, families and households. Those who are already indebted within our community in the UK and the communities making our Africa-based Sister Organisations can only feel the pinch even harder. Perhaps, the way to understand the debt situation they are in, the following figures can help to elucidate the matter.

• • Debt Statistics

The following debt statistics covered both the UK and Africa.

• • • Debt Statistics for UK

Regarding the debt situation in the UK, when working out household debt as a percentage of disposable income the ‘commonslibrary.parliament.uk’ (1) states that

“The debt-to-income ratio rose [again] to 136.3% by mid-2017, in Q3 [third quarter] 2022 it was 133.8%”.

Household debt can be understood in the way the ‘data.oecd.org’ (2) defines it as

“All liabilities (including non-profit institutions serving households) that require payments of interest or principal by households to creditors at fixed dates in the future”.

Likewise, according to ‘themoneycharity.org.uk’ (3),

“Total unsecured debt per UK adult in December 2022 was £3,914…

Average total debt per UK household in November 2022 was £65,914″.

Additionally, the website ‘moneynerd.co.uk’ (4) explains that

“In the UK alone, the personal average total debt is [was] £33,410 in March 2022, which is [was] a rise of £1,767 since 2020. That equates [equated] to around 107% of average earnings per adult”.

The above mentioned figures also relate to the members of our community living in the UK.

• • • Debt Statistics for Africa

Concerning Africa’s debt, the website ‘data.one.org’ (5) asserts that

“21 countries in Africa are in, or at risk of, debt distress (58% of assessed countries);

African countries owe US$644.9 billion to external creditors as of 2021;

African countries will pay US$68.9 billion in debt service in 2023;

Debt owed by African countries is equivalent to 24.1% of their combined Gross Domestic Product in 2021″.

Additionally, many African countries (like Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, etc.) are listed as having debt crises among the top five risks identified by the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Executive Opinion Surrey (6).

Much of Africa’s debt is non-concessional and owned by China and private creditors. Africa’s total debt translated into debt per head/inhabitant or per African household can tell you the story of poverty and of those people, families and households in need. It is a challenging story of how our Africa-based Sister Organisations can help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the context of highly indebted project beneficiaries. So, it makes sense to take action to create financial change to recovery from debt should one needs to continue to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in Africa.

• • Taking action to create debt reduction

To take action to create change about debt, one may need to understand debt reduction. As ‘alleviatefinancial.com’ (7) puts it:

“Debt reduction, also known as debt relief, is the process of coming up with a plan to manage debt that you are no longer able to manage on your own. The goal of debt reduction is to help you reduce or eliminate your debt in a quicker and more convenient manner”.

The website ‘lawinsider.com’ (8) argues that

“Debt relief means the release of the outstanding debt. [It also] means the reduction of debt for consideration that is less than the face value of the debt”.

There are different types of debt reduction which include debt settlements, debt consolidation, credit counselling, refinancing and bankruptcy.

Knowing what is debt reduction, it is possible to take action to create change on debt.

• • • Actions to create change for the highly indebted poor

There is an urgent need to take action to create and sustain better change for the highly indebted poor people, families and households (HIPPFH). What change can be done to support them?

By working together with the community members and Africa-based Sister Organisations, we can together take the following actions:

√ Speak truth to power about debt owed by the HIPPFH

√ Select debt relief services that really help the poor

√ Outsource debt relief assistance services that are relevant to our members’ needs and priorities

√ Source information and explore a better a way of dealing with debt relief for Africa-based Sister Organisations working on debt reduction issue

√ Find way of lowering their debt to sustainable or life-saving levels

√ To formulate a strategy to reduce both debts and poverty

√ To incorporate their debt relief plans into Zero Income Deficit policy

√ To advocate the HIPPFH’s cases to be eligible to the forgiveness of a legal obligation, in whole or in part, of debt repayment.

Briefly and finally, our work with HIPPFH would not be about reducing debts, but helping them to help themselves so that debt reduction can lead them towards poverty reduction. In other words, debt reduction for HIPPFH would not just be a pain killer, but a road/journey to poverty reduction and sustainable development. Debt reduction for HIPPFH should be about putting first people – the HIPPFH – at the centre of the economics of debt reduction.

For any queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Debt Reduction Advocacy, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa

This week, CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum is debating Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa. This debate or discussion is part of CENFACS’ Guidance Programme for those who would like to not-for-profit invest in Africa for impact. In other words, the discussion is about how not-for-profit investors can create and sustain an impact through their investments. To positively contribute to this discussion, one may need to understand what is investing for impact.

• • Impact Investing

There are many definitions within the literature about impact investing. For the purpose of this debate, we have selected the definition provided by ‘evpa.ngo’ (9) which states that

“Investing for impact is an impact strategy followed by investors that adopt the venture philanthropy approach to support social purpose organisations maximising their social impact. Investors for impact support innovative solutions to pressing societal issues, providing in-depth non-financial support and taking on risks that most of other actors in the market cannot – or are not willing to take”.

Working on a similar line of reasoning, ‘impactinvest.org.uk’ (10) provides four defining characteristics of impact investing which are:

a) Intentionality b) Evidence and impact data in investment design c) Manage impact performance and d) contribute to the growth of the industry.

• • Engaging with CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum about Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa

By referring to the above stated definition and characteristics, one can engage with the CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum to share what they know and think about Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa. Alternatively, one can use their own definition of impact investing to participate to the discussion.

The outcome from this discussion will be included in CENFACS’ Guidance Programme for Not-for-profit Investing for impact in Africa and support prospective not-for-profit investors who are not fully aware about impact not-for-profit investing. Amongst these not-for-profit investors, are those who would like to not-for-profit invest for impact in some of our Africa-based Sister Organisations.

Those who may be interested in this discussion, they can contact CENFACS to join in and or contribute.

To engage with the CENFACS‘ be.Africa Forum and share what they know and think about Not-for-profit Investing for Impact in Africa, please contact us by using our usual contact details on this website.

Extra Messages

• The Season’s Goal: Reduction of Holiday Poverty or Poverty Linked to the Lack of Means to Enjoy a Decent Holiday Whether at Home or Away from Home.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) – Step/Workshop 6: Starting the Organisation of your Play, Run and Vote Projects

• Zero Income Deficit Campaign

• The Season’s Goal: Reduction of Holiday Poverty or Poverty Linked to the Lack of Means to Enjoy a Decent Holiday Whether at Home or Away from Home.

This Spring 2023, our poverty reduction goal is to work with holiday poor people to explore ways of reducing and possibly ending poverty and hardships they may experience during any holidays (e.g., Christmas, Easter or Summer holidays).

• • Working with the Holiday Poor

How many times we hear stories or worries about how for example kids will face hunger during holiday or there is no much to do for them during holiday or they will go into violence because of lack of opportunity during holiday. Stories, news and worries like these are not the ones we want to hear. We would like to hear great moving stories about kids and all the people making our community doing great things. To stop this type of poverty to happen or exacerbate, one needs to act.

This Spring Season, we shall find ways of working with those individuals, families and households in our community who are likely to face holiday poverty because of various circumstances, but in particular because of lack of means to enjoy a decent holiday whether they stay at home or are away from their home. We hope that working together with them will help them avoid holiday poverty trap or to exacerbate it.

So, the above is our selected goal for this Spring Season.

• • Implications for Selecting Spring Season’s Goal

There are implications once a goal has been identified and selected. Concerning our selected Spring Season’s Goal, its selection implies to us to make sure that we apply it in our real life. We also expect our supporters and audiences to work on the same chosen goal by supporting those who may be suffering from the type of poverty linked to the goal for the season – Holiday Poverty.

For further details on the Season’s Goal and its selection procedure including its support, please contact CENFACS.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 6: Starting the Organisation of your Play, Run and Vote Projects

After negotiating and agreeing the terms of your all-year-round project, you can now start organising it.

• • Organising your All-year Round Projects

This is the step from which you start to put your organisational structure. In project planning parlance, you will identify the roles and responsibilities of each person to be involved in the project in order to facilitate the coordination and implementation of the project activities.

• • An Example of Organising your All-year Round Projects

Let say you would like to Run for Poverty Reduction and you want to undertake it as a group in your local area. You decide to set up a running group and to name it as “All-year-round Runners’ Group”.

You can create a basic organisational structure that identifies your project personnel, creates a management and delivery teams, and assigns roles and responsibilities including coordination. In practical terms, you will have to decide on the following:

Who is (are) going…

∝ to be first at the meeting/gathering point each time the running takes place?

∝ to hold the contact number/details of the group to keep everybody on board?

∝ to keep the attendance register?

∝ to check that everybody is fit and well to run?

∝ to lead or coordinate the run?

∝ to deal with health and safety of the group?

∝ to sort out the equipment if any?

∝ to care for people belongings while they are running?

∝ to make sure that everyone is countable after the Run?

∝ to record your Run event (e.g., filming it, using camera on your phone, a video or voice recorder, etc.)?

∝ to check that everyone leaves the meeting/gathering point safely after the event?

etc.

If your Run involves any fundraising activity, you need to decide who will volunteer to undertaking fundraising responsibility (or everybody in the group). If you would like to report on your Run, you need to appoint someone to produce a report.

Depending on your skills, knowledge, experience and resources; you may add more roles and responsibilities.

Please remember, if your group is going to select the best runner of the year 2023 and give a prize/reward accordingly; then you need to organise yourself to monitor and evaluate the performance of each runner throughout the year and decide by the 23rd of December 2023 who is the group’s best runner of the year 2023.

For those who would like to dive deeper into Start Organising their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• Zero Income Deficit Campaign: Managing and Closing your Year-end Accounts

In focus at the start of Spring 2023: How to successfully close your year-end personal and family accounts and get prepared for the next financial year with new accounts

The current fiscal year is about to end soon and the new one will start from the 6th of April as usual. For those members of our community who are struggling to get a grip on their household accounts, there is still time to work with CENFACS to sort out their accounts. CENFACS can work with them so that they could understand their financial position while keeping financial control on their accounts.

This year-end financial control exercise is still part of CENFACS’ Zero Income Deficit Campaign, which is designed to help our community members to reduce and possibly end intergenerational poverty.

For those who may be interested in this year-end financial control activity, they can contact CENFACS.

For your information, we do not deal with company accounts. We only support our community members who are experiencing some difficulties in handling their household financial accounts and statements (i.e. balance sheet, cash flow statement, surplus and loss account, etc.).

Message in French (Message en français)

• La Campagne sur le Déficit de Revenu Zéro: Gestion et clôture de vos comptes de fin d’année financière

Point de mire au début du printemps 2023: Comment clôturer avec succès vos comptes personnels et familiaux de fin d’année et vous préparer pour le prochain exercice financier avec de nouveaux comptes

L’exercice financier en cours est sur le point de se terminer bientôt et le nouveau débutera à partir du 6 avril comme d’habitude. Pour les membres de notre communauté qui ont du mal à maîtriser les comptes de leur ménage, il est encore temps de travailler avec le CENFACS pour régler leurs comptes. Le CENFACS peut travailler avec eux afin qu’ils puissent comprendre leur situation financière tout en gardant le contrôle financier de leurs comptes.

Cet exercice de contrôle financier de fin d’année fait toujours partie de la campagne ‘Déficit de Revenu Zéro‘ aussi bien de celle des Contrôles Financiers du CENFACS, qui sont conçues pour aider les membres de notre communauté à réduire et éventuellement à mettre fin à la pauvreté intergénérationnelle.

Ceux ou celles qui pourraient être intéressé(e)s par cette activité de contrôle financier de fin d’année peuvent contacter le CENFACS.

Pour votre information, nous ne traitons pas des comptes d’entreprise. Nous soutenons uniquement les membres de notre communauté qui éprouvent des difficultés à gérer les comptes et les états financiers de leur ménage (c’est-à-dire le bilan, l’état des flux de trésorerie, le compte d’excédent et de pertes, etc.).

Main Development

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023

Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Actions 2023 are about tracking the results of Climate Actions March 2023 and their impact. They will be carried out from 29 to 31 March 2023, as announced at the start of March 2023. In accordance with our Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and Budget, we have organised this tracking around these points:

∝ The Four Key Climate Actions Taken

∝ Key Takeaways from Climate Actions March 2023

∝ Monitoring Questions

∝ Outcome-focussed Evaluation Questions.

Let us briefly develop each of the above-mentioned points.

• • The Four Key Climate Actions Taken

To deliver the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor‘, we focused on four key climate actions from every Wednesdays of this month as follows:

∝ Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor (Climate Action 1, held from 01 to 07/03/2023)

∝ Influence Voluntary Carbon Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities (Climate Action 2, held from 08 to 14/03/2023)

∝ Induce Carbon Markets to Be Part of Recovery from the Polycrisis (Climate Action 3, held from 15 to 21/03/2023)

∝ Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor (Climate Action 4, 22 to 28/03/2023).

What can we take away from these actions?

• • Key Takeaways from Climate Actions March 2023

The following are the main ideas to remember from Climate Actions March 2023.

1^st takeaway

Climate projects like reforestation, forest conservation, carbon-storing agricultural practices, etc. in poor communities or areas can help reach out to the poor crowding in these communities.

2^nd takeaway

Putting poverty reduction value on what voluntary carbon credit markets provide is about focussing on the interests of the poor, prioritising concerns of small producers and farmers and evaluating the social impacts of these markets.

3^rd takeaway

Making persuasive efforts towards those operating in carbon markets to occupy the places they deserve in the economic recovery from the simultaneous occurrence of severe catastrophic events (like energy, food, housing, health crises, etc.) can have co-benefits for carbon market players and the victims of the polycrisis.

4^th takeaway

Investing in carbon markets and credits should not limit itself to financial return only; it has instead to go beyond financial yield by including the needs and priorities of the poor in any investment drive.

These takeaways can help to formulate some monitoring questions.

• • Monitoring Questions

Monitoring questions will help to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Our monitoring information or data comes from the audience who participated and/or followed our Climate Actions March 2023. The collection of this information/data has been carried out on a continuous basis since we started these actions on the first of March 2023.

One of the monitoring 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 climate actions taken as highlighted in the following simple questions. They can provide their feelings in the form of a review or feedback or testimonial. The results of their feelings will help to improve future climate actions.

The survey will fulfil the data collection requirements. Those participating to this survey can tick one box (ranging from 0 to 10) for each climate action. 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-April 2023. Therefore, it will be good that those who would like to provide their feelings to do them by mid-April 2023. Their/your responses to this survey will help to measure the change in behaviour that can result from the outputs completed for Climate Actions March 2023.

Those who want to provide feelings and would like to request the details about these actions prior to their response, they are free to make their request to CENFACS.

• • Outcome-focussed Evaluation Questions

Our evaluation audience is the participants or those who followed our Climate Actions March 2023. In order for us to improve on Climate Actions in the future, we have prepared the evaluation questions which we would like members of our audience and followers to respond. Amongst the questions are the following ones we would like to mention and we are inviting climate action followers, participants and audiences to respond:

~ To what extent our Climate Actions meet the overall needs of zero-net path and the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor‘?

~ Did the above-mentioned Climate Actions bring any significant change to your own climate action?

~ What did you find worked and did not work?

~ Can we replicate these actions or what would you like to see for future climate actions?

~ To what extent are Climate Actions March 2023 in line with the needs and priorities of our community?

~ To what extent did Climate Actions March 2023 lead to increased community?

Responding to the above evaluation questions will help in assessing the success of Climate Actions March 2023 in meeting their goal and in reflecting on the lessons learned.

You can directly respond to these evaluation questions by sending your answers to CENFACS at our usual contact details which are on this website.

For any queries or enquiries (including outcome, learning, report and what next) about Climate Actions March 2023, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

Thank you for considering our demand of feelings and for your support.

_________

• References

(1) https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02885/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(2) https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.html (Accessed in March 2023)

(3) https://themoneycharity.org.uk/money-statistics/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(4) https://moneynerd.co.uk/average-personal-debt/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(5) https://data.one.org/topics/african-debt/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(6) World Economic Forum (2023), The Global Risks Report 2023, 18th Edition , Insight Report, Geneva at https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2023/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(7) https://alleviatefinancial.com/debt-settlement/what-is-debt-reduction-and-how-can-it-benefit-me/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(8) https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/debt-relief (Accessed in March 2023)

(9) https://www.evpa.ngo/impact-glossary (Accessed in March 2023)

(10) https://www.impactinvest.org.uk/modules/introduction-to-impact-investing/#resource-section-4 (Accessed in March 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.

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.

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Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on March 22, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

22 March 2023

Post No. 292

The Week’s Contents

• Climate Action 4: Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor

• Coming this Spring 2023: FACS Issue No. 79 which will be titled as Financial Education, Information and Communications for and with the Poor

• ReLive Issue No. 15: Spring Project of Building Forward Better from Reinforcing Shocks in Africa

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Climate Action 4: Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor

The 4th Climate Action is about putting money, time, effort and energy into markets in which verified reductions in carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide equivalents have been registered and recognised; particularly but not exclusively investments that fasten climate action for the poor. In other words, not all carbon credit markets put a particular attention to climate actions taken by the poor. Our focus will be on those markets or credits that consider the poor’s actions on climate change.

Indeed, carbon markets and credits are fundamental to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Investing in these markets and credits can help decarbonisation. However, Climate Action 4 is not only about making money from relatively carbon-asset classes or prioritising returns in these markets. It is not just about making your holdings environmentally friendly or greener portfolio. Then, what is it?

It is instead about making sure that the rise of the price of carbon positively impact actions taken by the poor and poverty reduction. It is about investing in carbon projects or markets that meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2050 while ensuring that climate actions taken by the poor are included. In other words, Climate Action 4 is about making return-seeking investors to be also poverty-reduction producers or minders or compliant. This concerns all investors (that is, corporations, institutional and individual investors). In doing so, this can accelerate climate action taken by the poor.

More on this first key message is explained under the Main Development section of this post.

• Coming this Spring 2023: FACS Issue No. 79 which will be titled as Financial Education, Information and Communications for and with the Poor

Financial education is not a new topic in the field of development or as a way of working with part of the population who is not financially educated. Although, it has been around quite a while, it does not reach all the poorest sections of the population, particularly but not exclusively in Africa. Financial information and communications do not reach everybody.

For several reasons or factors, a large proportion of poor people do not receive the amount of financial educational skills, information tools and communication settings they need in order to make jumps or leaps in poverty reduction. They may not always have access to financial information they need which apparently could be available.

In the 79th Issue of FACS, we shall look at the three areas of poor people’s financial empowerment (that is; financial education, information and communication) in the current setting or landscape of development in Africa. We will explore ways of making financial information designed with/for the poor reach them. In other words, we shall look at the handicaps or hurdles that prevent poor people in Africa to get the financial educational skills, information resources and communications tools they need in order to move out of poverty.

The Issue will focus on the basic functional financial educational skills, the financial information market and the travel of this information to the poor in Africa. In this respect, the means of transportation of financial information and how it is consumed by the poor will also be studied and revealed.

Furthermore, the Issue will highlight how Africa-based Sister Organisations are working with their local poor to bridge the gaps in financial education, information and communication. This is without forgetting the problems they are encountering in trying to reduce poverty linked to the lack of financial skills, financial information and financial communications. Of course, this will be done without ignoring the needs of the financial educationally needy, financial uninformed or under informed and communication poor people.

To read more about this new Issue, please keep checking on CENFACS incoming posts this Spring 2023. To reserve a paper copy of this 79th Issue of FACS, please contact CENFACS with your mailing details.

• ReLive Issue No. 15: Spring Project of Building Forward Better from Reinforcing Shocks in Africa (SPBFBRSA)

The 15^th Issue of ReLive, CENFACS’ Spring campaign for resource development, is a way of working with the victims of a series of severe and mutually reinforcing shocks (like the lingering effects of the coronavirus disaster, the cost-of-living crisis, debt tightening, natural disasters, etc.) so that they can navigate their way towards the reduction or possibly end of the effects of these shocks on them. It is also about Saving, Rebuilding and Sustaining Lives of the victims from these shocks, disasters and destructions.

SPBFBRSA, which is in fact a fundraising appeal, is about adding value to other similar works and efforts which have been already undertaken so that the poorest people and victims of these shocks can start or continue the process of building forward and reclaiming their lives while Africa is still embattled against these shocks.

In the context of SPBFBRSA, the process of building forward will include the following:

√ Implementing systemic changes

√ Building resilient and sustainable systems of poverty reduction

√ Developing long term capital base in critical assets and resources

√ Shifting away from policy and practice that made and kept these people poor

√ Stopping Africa to be a global leader or champion of poverty

√ Investing in carbon markets to unleash capacities and possibilities to reduce poverty

√ Unlocking home-grown solutions to poverty.

You can find more details about the Spring Project of Building Forward Better from the Reinforcing Shocks in Africa under the page support causes at http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

To support and get further information about this project, just contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) Resource, Holiday with Relief – In Focus for Spring 2023 Issue: Finance for Holiday

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 20/03/2023: A Focus Group on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) – Step/Workshop 5: Negotiating and Agreeing your Play, Run and Vote Projects

• ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) Resource, Holiday with Relief – In Focus for Spring 2023 Issue: Finance for Holiday

How to finance your holiday plan without prejudicing other expenses of your household budget

The next Issue of our ICDP Resource entitled as ‘Holiday with Relief’ will focus on funding or financing your holiday.

To pass holiday (like Summer holiday) whether at home or away from home, one needs to find way of financing their holiday. This is because holiday generally costs. Holiday costs can include accommodation, food, travel, insurance, health, etc.

To finance these expenses or costs, it requires to have some savings or take a loan or win a holiday prize if you are lucky or get financial help to cover your holiday costs. Yet, people on low income bracket or with poor income do not have money to save for holiday only and may not be qualified for holiday loan. How are these people going to finance their holiday plan or project?

This year’s Holiday with Relief will look at and bring together the options that could be available to help income poor families or households to fund/finance their holiday plan or budget. In this look, we shall work with these poor families and households by taking a realistic and evidence-based approach to explore ways of funding their holiday without prejudicing other areas of their family/household budget. This is because during and after holiday, there are other expenses to cater for as well.

This year, ‘Holiday with Relief’ will provide wealthy advice, tips and hints linked to financing your holiday. Through this wealth of information, we will try to tackle holiday poverty or poverty linked to the lack of means to enjoy a decent holiday whether at home or away from home.

This resource will be packed with Spring-like poverty-relieving ideas about how to reduce both income poverty while being on holiday. Although the contents of this year’s Holiday with Relief will be for holiday, they can be used at any other time of the year.

To enquire about the 2023 Issue of Holiday with Relief, please contact CENFACS.

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 20/03/2023: A Focus Group on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources

The current e-discussion or focus group is Activity 5 of our Action Plan for the First Series of Activities about Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty which we kicked off since the 20th of February 2023. This last serial activity will centre stage ways of fairly and equitably sharing the monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilisation of genetic resources with indigenous peoples and local communities. For an effective participation to the e-discussion or focus group, one needs to understand genetic resources.

• • What is a genetic resource?

The Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation written by Chris Park (1) defines genetic resource as

“Genetic material of plants, animals, or micro-organisms that is of actual or potential value as a resource for humans” (p. 188)

The same dictionary states that

“Genetic is relating to or carried by genes, hereditary or inherited” (p. 187)

Knowing what genetic resource is, it makes easy to participate in the e-discussion or focus group. To participate one needs to be aware of the problem the group is trying to deal with and the solution he/she can bring to the problem and the group.

• • The problem

The main problem found in many models of access and benefit-sharing about genetic resources is often about who own genetic resources, who can access them and who have the right to benefit from them.

• • The solution

The way to solve this problem is to know who has the authority to give access to genetic resources of the species within a particular area and to fairly and equitably share their benefits.

If you are a user of these genetic resources, how would you fairly and equitably share the monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilisation of genetic resources with indigenous peoples and local communities?

For example, if you are a research student and have access to a genetic site and would like to carry out your research work, how would you share with local people using the same site?

You need to provide your own answers to this question as way of contributing to the e-discussion or focus group. From individual answers given by each participant, the group can formulate the final solution.

• • The next series of nature activities

The above-mentioned e-discussion or focus group concludes our first series of activities featuring the new generation of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, which we have covered in 5 weeks. The next series of nature activities will be announced in due course.

For those who would like to engage with Activity 5 about Access and Benefit-sharing of Genetic Resources and/or any of the previous activities (Activity 1 to 4), they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

For those who would like to find out more about Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, they can also contact CENFACS.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 5: Negotiating and Agreeing your Play, Run and Vote Projects

Step/Workshop 5 contains two tasks: negotiations and agreement.

• • What is negotiation?

Negotiation is part of humans’ everyday life. To explain it, we are going to refer to what ‘pmi.org’ states about it. The website ‘pmi.org’ (2) provides three features about negotiation, which are

“[a] Communication back and forth for the purpose of making a joint decision

[b] A way of finding a mutually acceptable solution to a shared problem

[c] Achieving an ideal outcome: a wise decision, efficiently and amicably agreed upon”.

Negotiation can be hard, soft and principled. As an all-year-round project user, your negotiation needs to end with negotiated agreement to put your all-year-round project into action, whereby there could be a win-win outcome for you and those engaged with you in the negotiation. Negotiation can lead to an agreement.

• • What is an agreement?

An agreement is simply a joint decision after negotiation or discussion, and can be translated into a contract or promise to carry out what has been negotiated or discussed. The agreement helps to outline the terms and conditions between all-year-round project user and the other party.

• • Example of Negotiated Agreement: Your Project about Playing the CENFACS’ League of Poverty Reduction

Let say you want to run a tournament over this coming Easter season with friends or relatives in order to find which African country is making commendable progress in terms of poverty reduction. You need to negotiate with friends and/or relatives the terms and conditions of this tournament. Your negotiation could revolve around the following:

~ the number of African countries making your Easter tournament

~ the criteria or metrics to rate them in terms of performance relating to poverty reduction

~ the analytical period you would like to consider (e.g., 01/01/2023 to 31/03/2023 or first quarter of 2023)

~ the roles each of the participants to the game would like to play

~ the length of the tournament

~ the time and day of the Easter holiday to play

~ the way of recording and communicating your results

etc.

After negotiation, you need to agree on certain terms, conditions and rules to follow during the play.

Depending on your skills, knowledge, experience and resources; you may decide to turn your game into a play station or use a game theory to solve some of the hurdles you may encounter.

For those who would like to dive deeper into the negotiation and agreement relating to their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

Message in French (Message en français)

Projets et Programmes pour le Secours Printanier 2023

Le CENFACS a le plaisir de présenter sa collection de projets et programmes sélectionnés pour la nouvelle saison (printemps) avec un choix de services de secours et intelligents face au climat.

Pour chacun de ces projets et programmes, vous trouverez une ambition de développement résiliente au climat ainsi qu’un soulagement convivial et centré. Ils sont conçus avec les parfums d’inclusion, de sécurité et de durabilité.

Ce sont les projets et les programmes visant à reconstruire des vies, des infrastructures et des institutions pour que nous avançons mieux ensemble plus verts, plus propres et plus sûrs vers un monde à zéro émission nette.

Ils sont gratuits, mais si quelqu’un(e) décide de faire un don, leur don ne nous dérange pas. Plus vous donnez, plus nous pouvons aider à réduire la pauvreté.

Veuillez trouver ci-dessous la sélection des projets et programmes pour le Secours Printanier 2023.

Avril : Mois de la protection

Il y aura deux initiatives pour assurer et maintenir la protection en avril 2023 :

a) Protection et sécurité géoéconomiques des femmes et des enfants

b) Protection contre la baisse du revenu disponible réel des ménages.

Mai : Mois du conte d’histoires

Le plan pour mai 2023 comporte deux caractéristiques principales:

a) Projet de narration et de partage d’histoires

b) La poursuite de notre projet/campagne ‘Reconstruire l’Afrique’.

Juin : Mois de la création et de l’innovation

En juin, nous traiterons des initiatives suivantes:

a) Créations et innovations de lutte contre la crise ou celles qui aident à la lutte contre la crise du coût de la vie

b) Créations et innovations de gestion de crise, c’est-à-dire celles qui aident à gérer la période de lutte contre la crise du coût de la vie.

Ce qui précède résume les programmes, projets et activités que nous avons prévu de mettre en œuvre au printemps prochain. Pour obtenir de plus amples informations sur les projets et programmes de Secours Printanier 2023, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

Main Development

• Climate Action 4: Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor

The following notes will help in taking Climate Action 4:

σ What is investing in carbon credit markets?

σ What is accelerating climate action for the poor?

σ Types of carbon investors required

σ Accelerating climate action with and for the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations

σ Carbon-related assets and green funding for climate action.

Let us look at each of these notes.

• • What is investing in carbon credit markets?

It is about putting money, effort, time and energy in a market in which carbon emission allowances are traded. This market is carbon credit if there is the removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (i.e., tCO₂e) from the atmosphere. In these markets, carbon is an investment asset class. And investing in carbon markets can help decarbonise. This is whether it is about first or second market trading in carbon offsets. Investing in carbon markets should not be only a tool to accelerate low carbon development; it has to fasten climate actions for the poor as well.

• • What is accelerating climate action for the poor?

Climate action is an activity of engaging and putting ideas into practice to deal with any natural or induced change in the long term average weather conditions of a place, especially when this change adversely affects people’s and communities’ lives and livelihoods. This action can be fastened for the poor. There are many ways of fastening it. One way of fastening it is to ensure that investing in carbon markets and credits does not limit itself to financial return only; it should instead go beyond by including the needs of the poor in any investment drive.

For example, investing in the world’s three largest carbon sinks or tropical rainforests (like the Amazonia in Brazil, the Congo basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the forests of Indonesia) to preserve their vast forests threatened by exploitation and agriculture can help to accelerate climate action for the poor.

To be more specific, Southeast Asia has 15 per cent of the world’s tropical forests and contain the world’s highest concentration of blue carbon stocks. They also hold the highest potential for added key biodiversity co-benefits. Investing in Southeast Asian forests can help decarbonise.

Equally, investing in the newly set up Africa Climate Risk Facility and African Carbon Markets Initiative (3) can also help fasten climate action for the poor. For instance, carbon investors can invest in Egypt’s carbon credit market.

The above-mentioned examples are just the few ways of accelerating climate action for the poor.

• • Types of carbon investors required

Carbon market investors can be of variant types or calibre. They can be corporations, institutional and individual investors. There are investors (particularly financial ones) who provide valued-added services such as liquidity, helping in price discovery, matching supply and demand, making market to happen, etc.

There are investors who are interested in these markets because of carbon offsets. There are others who are return seekers and would prioritise returns. There are other more aiming at the environmental friendliness of their portfolios.

In the context of these notes, the kind of investors we are interested in are those who keep the net-zero objective in their portfolio while helping to accelerate climate action for the poor. Those who are making their holdings greener or environmentally friendly while contributing to fastening climate action for the poor.

• • Accelerating climate action with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs)

Accelerating climate action with the community and ASOs is about bridging the gaps between climate actions and ambitions in both cases.

• • • Accelerating climate action with and for the community

Accelerating climate action with and for the community is about staying climate-conscious at all times. This action includes

√ Raising awareness of the the attractiveness of carbon

√ Helping the community to learn about the prices of carbon-related assets

√ Explaining and re-explaining net-zero policy commitments and the co-benefits attached to them

√ Discussing nature-based offsets (e.g., those generated from tree-planting schemes)

√ Information about insurance products to protect against carbon offset invalidation

√ Advising about the current market value for key carbon markets and products

√ Finding with and for the community the compensation available from the international community to reduce deforestation

Etc.

• • • Accelerating climate action with and for Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs)

Accelerating climate action with and for ASOs is about exchanging knowledge, tools and skills about investments in carbon markets. Areas of exchange could be the following:

√ Supporting ASOs to know and learn more about the types of carbon-related investments like carbon mutual funds, green bonds and organisations, carbon credit futures, etc.

√ Analysing trends about where carbon-related investments are going (for example, investments in funds that are considered to be low-carbon, fossil free funds, etc.)

√ Advising and finding information for them on investments made in carbon-credit-related organisations, organisations with operations at low impact on the environment, organisations making voluntary greenhouse gas emissions reductions or net-zero pledges

√ Finding ways of increase for the value of Africa’s tropical forests to climate and people

√ Working on the development of fossil energies to provide solutions to climate change

√ Analysing the effects of the growth of the carbon credits market on poverty reduction.

For example the website ‘marketwatch.com’ (4) states that

“The carbon credit market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period between 2023 and 2029… Carbon credit market size is projected to reach multimillion UD$ by 2029”.

We can analyse or discuss how this rise or size of the carbon credit market is going to impact poverty reduction in Africa in the future.

The above are just the few ways of accelerating or enhancing climate action with and for ASOs.

• • Carbon-related assets and green funding for climate action

Just as investors can use cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens to fund projects, carbon investors can use carbon-related assets or offsets to fund climate action projects. They can fund CENFACS‘ climate action initiatives or our ASOs. They can as well finance climate poverty reduction projects.

To round out, climate action is about action, not words only. We have only written these notes to guide us and galvanise our action. This is because to take action, one needs a roadmap or simply to say how they are going to conduct this action.

The notes on Climate Action 4 conclude this Week’s Climate Action contents without ending our March 2023 Climate Actions. There will be impact monitoring and evaluation from 29 to 31/03/2023 to end the Climate Action March 2023.

For ASOs and those members of our community who are interested in the fourth action of our Climate Action Month, action which is Invest in Carbon Credit Markets that Accelerate Climate Action for the Poor; they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

For any other queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Climate Action Month, the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’ and the fourth action; please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) Park, C. (2011), Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York

(2) https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/negotiating-project-outcomes-develop-skills-6781 (Accessed in March 2023)

(3) https://fsdafrica.org/press-release/leveraging-the-african-insurance-industry-to-create-resilient-african-economies/# (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/carbon-credits-market-statistics-2023-industry-demand-prominent-players-strategies-size-swot-analysis-and-forecast-2029-2023-01-11 (Accessed in March 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.

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.

Permalink

Rebuilding and Renewing Lives, Infrastructures and Institutions…

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on March 15, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

15 March 2023

Post No. 291

The Week’s Contents

• Spring Relief 2023: Rebuilding and Renewing Lives, Infrastructures and Institutions in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes

• Climate Action 3: Induce Carbon Markets to Be Part of Recovery from the Poly-crisis

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Phases A and B of the Building Process from the Coronavirus Impacts

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Spring Relief 2023: Rebuilding and Renewing Lives, Infrastructures and Institutions in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes

The Winter Season of Light, which is ending this coming Tuesday, gives us an opportunity to bring some lights and hopes to those in most need so that they can find the reasons to believe in life again. The Season of Light tackles poverty as a lack of hope and expectations. However, our work does not stop there.

Spring is the Season of Rebirth and Rejuvenation. We call it Spring Relief within CENFACS. Generally, the key theme for Spring within CENFACS is Rebuilding or Renewing Lives, Infrastructures and Institutions. In other words, Spring Relief is the season of rebuilding from what has been destroyed by wars, natural disasters, bad economic management, mistakes of the past, other disasters (like the cost-of-living crisis, health crisis of Ebola or COVID-19), etc.

We need to rebuild in order to reduce poverty, stop its re-appearance and avoid the emergence of new types of poverty and new generations of poor people. We want to move away from the endemic structures and institutions of disadvantage, discrimination and inequality towards the poor. During this period, we take the challenge of working with those in need to rebuild their lives, infrastructures, buildings, development of relationships, communities, etc. from damages, losses and worse changes experienced or caused.

So, the key words for the Spring Season are rebuilding and renewing. We shall come back on these words at different occasions as we step into Spring and progress towards its end; especially with our advocacy project of Rebuilding Africa.

• • Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer this Spring Relief 2023

In order to build forward, it is wise to take into account the context of doing it and how to exactly build forward.

• • • Context of building forward this Spring 2023

Last Spring, our focus was to rebuild and sustain lives, infrastructures and institutions within the contexts of rising prices of energy and food.

This Spring 2023, we are going to help reduce poverty and rebuild lives within the context of Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes. But, what is real household disposable income.

~ Basic understanding of real household disposable incomes

Disposable income is defined by Christopher Pass et al. (1) as

“The amount of income which a person has available after paying INCOME TAX, NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS and PENSION contributions” (p. 181)

However, disposable income needs adjustment for inflation. After being adjusted for inflation, disposable income becomes real. The website ‘tutor2u.net’ (2) explains that

“Real disposable income is the post tax and benefit income available to households after an adjustment has been made for price changes”.

In other words, changes in prices of goods and services can lead to the increase or fall in real household disposable incomes.

~ Falls in real household disposable incomes

In recent years, prices and bills keep on raising while real household disposable incomes have failed to match this raising trend. That is to say, incomes are not fully index-linked to keep pace with inflation.

To highlight this fall, the website ‘finder.com’ (3) has revealed that

Likewise, the Resolution Foundation (4) found that

“2022 was a year of double-digit inflation that drove a 3.3 per cent – or £800 per household – hit to real disposable incomes, the biggest annual fall in Century”.

The same Resolution Foundation forecasted that

“Household income falls in 2023 will be 3.8 per cent or £880 per household as big as those seen in 2022”.

As a result, living standards are unchanged or getting worse.

According to the Office for National Statistics (5), the figure released on 15 February 2023 for the consumer price inflation in the UK was 10.1%, compared to March 2022 when it was 6.2%.

Similarly, the figure released on 02 February 2023 by the Bank of England (6) for the current bank rate was 4%, whereas the bank rate was 0.75% in March 2022.

Regarding food inflation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (7) states that

“The FAO Food Price Index averaged 129.8 points in February, a marginal 0.6- percent decrease from January but 18.7 percent down from its peak in March 2022. The decline in the index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, reflected drops in quotations for vegetable oils and dairy products that more than offset a steep rise in sugar prices”.

So, real disposable incomes for poor households have not risen to match the raising trends from bills and prices. This is despite income support given to those who are eligible. This mismatch between their real incomes and rising prices and bills can only lead to falling real household disposable incomes.

Falling real household disposable incomes can be an impediment in the process of building forward. Given these context and impediment, how can we build forward?

• • • How to exactly build forward in the current context

Build Forward has here to be perceived from what the United Nations (8) argue about it, which is:

“Build Forward means not only that no one is left behind but that people living in poverty are actually encouraged and supported to be in the front, engaging in informed and meaningful participation in decision-making processes that directly affect their lives”.

We are going to refer to this definition to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer from the Damaging Impacts of the Cost-of-living Crisis. We will be doing it with the green, clean, inclusive and safe economies in our mind set.

This 2023 process of Building Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer relates to the cost-of-living crisis. It has to be differentiated from the building process from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This is despite there are some similarities between the two processes.

Therefore, the theme for this Spring Relief 2023 is still “Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer”, but within the context of Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes from the Damaging Impacts of the Cost-of-living Crisis.

The announcement of Spring Relief’s theme comes with that of projects and programmes making it or the notes composing this theme. We have provided under the Main Development section of this post a selection of projects and programmes which will make this Spring – Spring Relief season.

As we have just announced, it is a selection. Consequently, one should expect the introduction of new activities and the continuation of on-going initiatives like our All-year Round (or Triple Value) projects. That is also to say, there will be additional projects and programmes as we progress throughout this coming Spring season.

• Climate Action 3: Induce Carbon Markets to Be Part of Recovery from the Poly-crisis

The 3rd Climate Action is about persuading carbon markets to play an active part in regaining better condition from the simultaneous occurrence of several crises (energy, food, health, housing crisis, etc.). To conduct this 3rd Climate Action, we have organised the following notes:

σ Basic understanding of key terms for Climate Action 3

σ Being part of recovery from the poly-crisis

σ Carbon market inducements to inducement to lower greenhouse gas emissions and poverty

σ How CENFACS can work with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on the inducement of carbon markets.

• • Basic Understanding of Key Terms for Climate Action 3

This action is based on our understanding of these three words: inducement, recovery and poly-crisis. We have not included carbon markets because they have been explained in Climate Action 1.

a) Market inducement

Chambers Combined Dictionary Thesaurus (9) defines inducement as

“Something which is persuasive or which influences or encourages certain behaviour” (p. 650).

Using this dictionary definition, it is possible to persuade markets in which players (or emitters) are working with allowances of carbon emissions (or credits) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to play an active part in the recovery from the poly-crisis without making untrue statements.

You can induce brand loyalty; just as you can encourage players on the carbon markets to play their fair role in the recovery processes. This inducement should not be an end of itself. It should lead to poverty reduction.

b) Net-zero recovery

There are many ways of recovering from any crisis. The kind of recovery that is treated in Climate Action 3 is a phase in the business cycle following a economic depression; phase characterised by the picking up of demand, fall in stock levels while output and employment increase. The kind of recovery we are looking for in our Climate Action 3 is a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions one. This net-zero recovery is obtained by achieving a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.

c) Poly-crisis

Introduced for the first time by Edgar Morin and Anne Brigitte Kern (10), poly-crisis means for the two co-authors the following:

“Interwoven and overlapping crises, complex inter-solidarity of problems, antagonisms, crises, uncontrollable processes, and the general crisis of the planet”.

After this introduction of poly-crisis in 1999, there have been many definitions relating to it. One of its definitions comes from the website ‘mcgregor-boycall.com’ (11) which states that

“Poly-crisis is the simultaneous occurrence of severe catastrophic events. Building on this most experts agree that it tends to refer specifically, not just to a situation where multiple crises are coinciding, but one where the crises become even more dangerous than each disaster or emergency on their own”.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a catastrophic disaster for the world; just as the cost-of-living crisis is a disaster for those living in poverty. This is without forgetting climate change events, which have become recurrent in recent years. These crises appear even more dangerous than each disaster or emergency on their own.

We are going to combine these key definitions or terms to conduct our Climate Action 3.

• • Being Part of Recovery from the Poly-crisis

To recover from the cost-of-living crisis, the lingering effects of the coronavirus disaster and climate catastrophe; it requires intervention or actions from many players. In that recovery process, carbon markets can be an effective part or contributor.

However, for these markets to be an effective part, it could demand some persuasive efforts to make towards those operating in these markets to occupy the places they deserve in the recovery from the poly-crisis. So, inducing these carbon markets to do their bit in the recovery from the poly-crisis can be a climate action to take this Season. This inducement can be at the levels of sellers, buyers, the product and price offered in these markets.

• • Carbon Market Inducements to Inducement to Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Poverty

It is argued that carbon markets would accelerate actions to combat climate change and deliver much-needed co-benefits for nature and people. It will be good if the same action can result in poverty reduction.

Inducing carbon markets can help lower greenhouse gas emissions and poverty. It is possible to encourage markets in which carbon emission allowances are traded to assist in reducing poverty. It is feasible for companies limiting their emissions of carbon dioxide to also engage in the work of poverty reduction.

• • How CENFACS can Work with the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on the Inducement of Carbon Markets

Lifting people and ASOs beyond their everyday lives of poverty and helping them take stock of their difficult situation while connecting them to solutions to poverty will always be at the heart of CENFACS. In this lifting mission, we can work with them on inducing carbon markets to help them reduce poverty and hardships.

For ASOs and those members of our community who are interested in the third action of our Climate Action Month, action which is Induce Carbon Markets Be Part of Recovery from the Poly-crisis; they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

For any other queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Climate Action Month, the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’ and the third climate action; please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of Phases A and B relating to the Building Process from the Coronavirus Impacts

In 2021, we set up a Build Forward Better Programme to help us in the process of coming out from the coronavirus pandemic crisis. Through this programme, beneficiaries would make steady progress in their journey and work of reconstruction from the COVID-19 impacts while preparing to stay resilient to future similar shocks and crises. What is Build-Forward-Better Programme?

Build Forward Better Programme is a set of projects and activities designed with the aim to ensure that the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic sits on sound and sustainable foundations that build back better the poverty reduction gains hard-won so far and help beneficiaries to move forward better and greener.

The programme was scheduled for two years (March 2021 to March 2023) depending on the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, with a possibility of rolling it out. By the end of this March 2023, the programme will reach its planned end.

To enable us get the full extent of what this programme has enabled us so far to achieve, we are conducting Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of the two phases of this programme (Phases A and B).

For who may interested in this Impact Monitoring and Evaluation activity and would like to enquire about it, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 13/03/2023: Arts and Design Activity about Valuing Nature’s Contributions

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –Step/Workshop 4: Appraising your Play, Run and Vote Projects

• End-of-season Reminder!!!

The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Need Your Influence Right NOW

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 13/03/2023: Arts and Design Activity about Valuing Nature’s Contributions

There could be disputes over what is value and what is not value. Despite these disputes, it is right to argue that nature gives something valuable to humans/people. That something valuable can be anthropocentric, bio-physical, economic, good quality of life, etc. This is why one can speak about nature’s contributions to people. What do we mean by that?

• • Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP)

To understand NCP, let us refer to what the website ‘sciencedirect.com’ (12) says about it, which is:

“NCPs are all the positive contributions or benefits, and occasionally negative contributions, losses or detriments, that people obtain from nature. It resonates with the use of the term ecosystem services, and goes further by explicitly embracing concepts associated with other worldviews on human-nature relations and knowledge systems (e.g., nature’s gifts in many indigenous cultures)”.

One can refer to this definition to carry out arts and design activity showing how they value nature’s contributions in their life.

• • Arts and Design Activity about Valuing Nature’s Contributions

You can use your creative skills to create or draw the beauty of nature in giving to humans or yourself.

For example, you can draw and/or design the following:

~ part of your natural local park that help you to have a picnic, sunbathing or just to relax

~ the tomatoes plants or any food you grow in your garden

~ an area of African rainforest and how it is important as carbon sink for the humanity

~ animals’ habitat and how this habit can help in storing carbon and retaining soil

~ medical plants that help cure diseases

~ the river or channels that cross through the area you live or travel

etc.

The above are only the few amongst millions of ways of expressing your feelings in arts and design about nature’s contributions to your life. You can do it on paper or online or any other suitable means or formats.

Your art and design work can be an object or draw/design on paper or online or digital means. You can share your art and design work with CENFACS and others within the community.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 4: Appraising your Play, Run and Vote Projects

To carry out this step/workshop 4, we are going to briefly explain what this step/workshop is about and give an example about it.

• • About Appraising your Play, Run and Vote Projects

It is about assessing the feasibility, viability and potential impact of a proposed project. It means that an all-year-round project user will proceed with the following:

identify the project, screen it, scope it, analyse its market, technically study it as feasible, assess its financial viability and its economic impact, analyse risks, examine environmental and social impact and report its appraisal.

Because All-year Round Projects are such small and practical initiatives, there is a need to simply the appraisal relating to it. To simply the matter, we are going to limit to financial appraisal.

• • Example of Financial Appraisal: Your Project about Running for Poverty Reduction

Let say you want to run 4 km.

You have two options.

~ Option 1

You could simply get out your home start running without thinking of any financial appraisal.

~ Option 2

You can conduct a basic financial appraisal by asking yourself if you need to buy a bottle of water, a pair of trainers, a clock or watch to time yourself, the frequency of your run activity (e.g., once a week or every particular day of the week), decide whether you want run alone or as a group, etc.

You can even work out how much it costs to run in open space like a park compared to a close space such as a gym.

You can as well assess the benefit of running in terms of your health and general wellbeing.

In this second option, you can carry out more appraisal and come out with a sort of financial plan in terms of basic costs and benefits of running.

For those who would like to dive deeper into the appraisal of their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• End-of-season Reminder!!!

The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Need Your Influence Right NOW

You can help halve poverty in East Africa; you can help halve poverty for and with children at risk of loosing their life because of the detrimental effects of the poly-crisis on them.

You can donate your Influence to halve poverty in East Africa.

To donate, please contact influential persons (or those having the keys) to reduce or solve the detrimental effects from the crises that the East African children are suffering from and make these persons reduce or end these negative effects on them.

You can as well influence the things or factors that determine these crises in order to create lasting favourable conditions towards an end to years-long crises, like the conflicts or economic crises in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

Please also let CENFACS know about your influencing work or contribution you are or will be making and its outcome on behalf of the children or peoples of East Africa.

To let us know, you can contact CENFACS as follows:

*over phone

*via email

*through text

*by filling the contact form on this site.

On receipt of your message or influencing donation, CENFACS will contact you for record and thank you for any influencing donation made. However, should you wish your influencing support to remain anonymous; we will respect your wish.

There are only 7 days remaining for this Winter 2023 appeal.

For further details about this appeal/Gift of Light and or to support, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

Thank you in anticipation for your willingness to give your Positive Influence and help save the lives of the Polycrisis-impacted East African Children, especially but not exclusively those living in the polycrisis-affected areas of Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

Message in French (Message en français)

• Budget d’action pour le climat pour les ménages / familles

Un ménage ou une famille ordinaire peut déterminer quelle part de ses revenus peut être affectée à des dépenses pour l’action climatique. Le ménage ou la famille donnée peut planifier pendant une certaine période combien dépenser afin de réduire par exemple ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre.

Dans leur budget de dépenses d’action climatique, le ménage ou la famille peut planifier le montant dont il a besoin pour atteindre les objectifs climatiques suivants:

√ Encourager la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre à l’intérieur

√ Adopter une énergie verte, sûre et propre (pour la cuisson et le chauffage)

√ Utiliser des appareils électriques efficaces

√ Comparer et contraster les combustibles fossiles à l’énergie durable en termes d’économie et de santé

Etc.

Pour plus d’efficacité, tous ces petits objectifs seront résumés dans un budget d’action pour le climat.

Ainsi, pour enrichir nos Journées d’action pour le climat, nous travaillerons sur les éléments du budget ménage/famille relatifs au climat et où des actions peuvent être prises au niveau du ménage/famille afin de réduire les enjeux climatiques (tels que la pollution de l’air intérieur).

Pour ceux/celles qui voudraient travailler avec le CENFACS sur le budget de leur ménage afin d’agir en faveur de la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, ils/elles sont plus que bienvenus pour contacter le CENFACS.

Main Development

• Spring Relief 2023: Rebuilding and Renewing Lives, Infrastructures and Institutions in the Context of Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes

To cover the contents of Spring Relief 2023, we have planned the following two items:

σ What is in focus for Spring Relief 2023?

σ Preview of Projects and Programmes for Spring Relief 2023.

Let us summarise each of these items.

• • What is in focus for Spring Relief 2023?

The focus is on the work to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer.

• • • Work to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer

The rolling out of another work to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer for this Spring 2023 is to deal with the continuing cost-of-living crisis. The first time we put in place Build Forward Better Together Programme was to work on ways of moving out from the coronavirus pandemic and its legacies.

The current work to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer has some similarities and differences with the one we applied to the coronavirus pandemic.

In both cases, if we are going to build forward together; we need to build a greener, cleaner and safer world so that future generations will not have the fulfilment of their needs compromises. In other words, we need to adopt green, clean and safe pathways for poverty reduction and net-zero carbon emissions development.

The difference between the two is that Build Forward Better Together Programme for the coronavirus pandemic focussed on health and economic crises. Contrariwise, the Work to Build Forward Better Together relating to the cost-of-living crisis will concentrate on prices and incomes crises; that is the cost of living crisis. The cost of living here has to be understood as defined in Collins Dictionary of Business written by Christopher Pass et al. (op. cit.) in these terms:

“Cost of living is the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy as measured by a representative PRICE-INDEX” (p. 143)

We cannot ignore the contexts in which we need to build forward. The current context is of the cost-of-living crisis. It is in this context of the cost-of-living crisis that we will try to build forward during this Spring 2023.

So, during this Spring Relief 2022 CENFACS is going to work with the community in the UK and organisations in Africa to build forward better together from the collateral damages generated by the cost-of-living crisis. There have been asymmetrical or uneven distributional effects from this crisis. Those living in poverty are the ones bearing the brunt of this crisis.

This Spring 2023 Building forward better, which is a new roll-out, is about correcting the asymmetrical effects from the cost-of-living crisis since many of our community members have been unevenly hurt during this crisis.

In order to build forward better, one needs a programme or a strategy or a roadmap. This is why we are rolling out this second type of Build Forward Better Together Work. To deliver this seasonal work, one needs as well a set of activities during the work’s lifespan.

This work to Build Forward Better Together Work is part of our Campaign to End Poverty Induced by Rising Costs of Living.

• • • Campaign to End Poverty Induced by Rising Costs of Living

Campaign to End Poverty Induced by Rising Costs of Living is one of the legacies of CENFACS Starting IX Projects from Autumn 2022.

The Campaign to End Poverty Linked to Rising Costs of Living is an organised series of actions to gain support for the cost-of-living poor so that something can be done for them. These actions need to result in change, particularly the reduction and end of poverty led by the cost-of-living crisis. The latter is now a barrier for many poor.

It takes a long time for a crisis like the current cost-of-living crisis to end. Because of that, it is better to have short-, medium- and long-term actions; actions that can stemmed from a strategy to end crisis.

During this coming Spring 2023, we shall work to Build Forward Better Together Greener, Cleaner and Safer from the damaging effects of the cost-of-living crisis, while Campaigning to End Poverty Induced by Rising Costs of Living.

• • Preview of Projects and Programmes for Spring Relief 2023

CENFACS is pleased to present its New Season’s (Spring) collection of selected projects and programmes with a choice of relief and climate smart services. For each of these projects and programmes, you will find climate resilient development ambition as well as user-friendly and –centred relief. They are designed with the scents of inclusivity, safety and sustainability.

These are the projects and programmes to rebuild lives, infrastructures and institutions as we move forward better together greener, cleaner and safer towards a net-zero world. They are free but we do not mind donations. The more you donate, the more we can relieve.

Please find below the selection of Spring Relief 2023 Projects and Programmes.

• • • April: Protection Month

There will be two initiatives to deliver and sustain protection in April 2023:

Geo-economic Protection and Security for Women and Children, and Protection against Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes.

a) Women and Children Projects (3W & PPS Reflection Day):

Reflection on Geo-economic Protection and Security for Women and Children (Protection project)

On our Reflection Day, we will reflect on the crisis and risk linked to interstate economic confrontations and rivalries in recent years and how they could lead to geo-economic warfare. These rivalries, if they escalate, can pose concern about protection and security vulnerabilities for many people, especially but not exclusively for women and children living in poverty.

Our Reflection Day will try to look at ways of protecting and securing women and children from increasing geo-economic clashes and the proliferation of new geo-economic weaponization in the new protection and security contexts.

Additionally, we shall reflect on the effects of the geo-economic conflicts on our network and system of protection in the process of building forward better together greener, cleaner and safer.

b) Protection against Falling Real Household Disposable Incomes (Protection and Income project)

Prices and bills keep on raising while real household disposable incomes have failed to match this raising trend. In other words, incomes are not fully index-linked to keep pace with inflation and living standards unchanged. There is a need to protect falling real household disposable incomes.

• • • May: Stories Telling Month

The plan for May 2023 is made two main features:

Stories Telling and Sharing project, and the continuation of our Rebuilding Africa project/campaign.

a) All in Development Stories (Volunteer’s Stories Telling & Sharing project)

Tell your Story of Building Forward Better from the Cost-of-living Crisis – Tell it!

Entries for Stories on Poverty Relief and Development for May 2023 (May Stories) are now open. To tell and share your story of change for change to CENFACS, please contact CENFACS for story telling terms and conditions.

This year’s All in Development Stories will be about how people and communities are trying or have tried to build forward better from the cost-of-living crisis.

This year’s stories are those of:

∝ reduction of endemic structural disadvantages and inequalities

∝ positively transforming our relationship with nature

∝ dismantling structures of discrimination disadvantaging the poor

∝ building on the moral and legal framework of human rights that places human dignity at the heart of policy and action.

They are the tales of physical, social, environmental and economic building forward better.

b) Rebuilding Africa: Build Forward Better with Communities and Africa-based Organisations (Advocacy programme)

There will two areas in our advocacy to rebuild Africa, which are as follows.

b.1) Building Forward Better Together with Communities and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) will be based on wellbeing economy, inclusiveness and safety to manage the struggle to come out of the cost-of-living crisis. It is about advocating to manage struggle.

b.2) Building Forward Better Together with Communities and ASOs will be about navigating their ways to improve in those areas where the cost-of-living crisis has brought a new window of opportunities and scope to learn and develop. It is an advocacy work to go beyond struggle and plan future.

• • • June: Creation & Innovation Month

Creation and innovation are needed to manage the struggle against the cost-of-living since prices of energy and food started to rise from March 2022. Likewise, to build forward better, creation and innovation should be the response.

This June, we shall deal with creations and innovations that help that struggle as well as those that help manage the period of struggle against the cost-of-living crisis.

a) Creations and Innovations to manage the struggle against the cost-of-living crisis (Creation and Innovation project)

Forming from nothing ideas or introducing changes to manage struggle against the cost-of-living crisis and move forward together will be the main activity during the month of June 2023. These creative ideas and innovative ways of working will enable to find the means to meet the level of ambition we have for the kind of sustainable development and future we want.

Using our skills, knowledge and talents to find techniques, technologies and new methods to deal with the currently pressing and immediate needs of the cost-of-living crisis period may not be enough unless we create and innovate to prevent or at least to mitigate future crises. It means there could be another need to bring into existence ideas and introduce changes and new methods to address future crises if they happen when they happen.

b) Creations and Innovations to deal with falling real household disposable incomes (Creation and Innovation project)

The current fall in real household disposable incomes means that one needs to find some creative and innovative ways of dealing with this fall if one wants to avoid the deepening of income poverty. It also means one may work out to develop an alternative in terms of ideas, skills and new knowledge to meet the income needs of those who are unable to raise or earn incomes beyond the income poverty line.

The above summarises the programmes, projects and activities we have planned to deliver this coming Spring. To request further information about Spring Relief 2023 Projects and Programmes, please contact CENFACS.

Note:

The above initiatives are only a selection of what we have planned for Spring Relief season 2023. We may introduce new initiatives and or upgrade the existing ones depending on the circumstances as we have from time to time to respond to emergencies and urgent humanitarian issues like we did with the sanitary crisis, COVID-19, and we may do it with the cost-of-living crisis crisis. In which case, we shall let you know.

Also, in every work we do to try to help reduce poverty, there is always a cost to bear. If you could help alleviate some of our costs, we would more acknowledge your support than just appreciate your gesture.

_________

• References

(1) Pass, C., Lowes, B., Pendleton, A. & Chadwick, L. (1991), Collins Dictionary of Business, HarperCollinsPublishers, Glasgow

(2) https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/s-macro-key-term-real-disposable-income (Accessed in March 2023)

(3) https://www.finder.com/uk/disposable-income-around-the-uk# (Accessed in March 2023

(4) https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/new-years-outlook-2023/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(5) https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices (Accessed in March 2023)

(6) https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate (Accessed in March 2023)

(7) https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-food-price-index-declines-for-the-11th-consecutive-marth/en (Accessed in March 2023)

(8) https://www.un.org/en/desa/it-time-build-forward-together# (Accessed in March 2023)

(9) Chambers Combined Dictionary Thesaurus, Manser, M. & Thompson, M. (eds.), Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 1999

(10) Morin, E. and Kern, A. B. (1999),Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for a New Millennium. Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences. Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press

(11) https://www.mcgregor-boycall.com/our-thinking-library/2023/02/what-is-a-polycrisis-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it-and-how-could-it-affect-your-business//357# (Accessed in March 2023)

(12) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343517300040# (Accessed in March 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.

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.

Permalink

Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on March 8, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

08 March 2023

Post No. 290

The Week’s Contents

• Climate Action 2: Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 06/03/2023: Participating to a Survey on Genetic Diversity

• Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and Technology-based Solutions to Poverty

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Climate Action 2: Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities

Climate Action 2 will be held from 08 to 14/03/2023. It is about trying to have an effect on voluntary carbon credit markets so that they can promote means of living that are continued over the long term without adversely effecting poor communities.

Indeed, a voluntary carbon credit market as an exchange mechanism which brings together the sellers and buyers of carbon emission allowances can be influenced. Influencing this type of market can pose two problems.

Firstly, this market is voluntary, that is sellers and buyers are acting by free choice/will, not by compulsion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As specified in the Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (1), countries can voluntarily cooperate with each other to achieve emission reduction targets sets out in their nationally determined contributions. If this is the case, then why influencing them.

Secondly, influence could mean having a power to have an effect over either sellers or buyers or the product or the result from this exchange mechanism. This can raise the debate over free market or controlled market despite the fact that any market could be subject to influences anyway.

The kind of influence we are arguing about is different from the general market influences or factors like inflation, economic growth, currency exchange rate, market sentiment, geo-economic conflicts (e.g., Russia-Ukraine conflict), etc. The kind of influence we are dealing with is more specific such as the pricing of carbon credits, the quality of credit costs of carbon credits, pricing of value delivered, etc. The kind of influence we are looking for is for these markets to encourage the development of sustainable livelihoods, particularly but not exclusively for the poor communities.

The above is the first key message of this week’s post. To find out more about this key message, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 06/03/2023: Participating to a Survey on Genetic Diversity

We are conducting a Survey on Genetic Diversity, as part of Nature Projects. The purpose of this survey on Genetic Diversity is to collect information from a sample of our users regarding the Maintenance of Genetic Diversity within population of wild and domesticated species. Participation to this survey is voluntary.

To help participants take part in this survey, let us explain two key concepts of this survey, which are: genetic diversity and genetic resources. To explain both concepts, we are going to refer to the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation by Chris Park (2). In this dictionary, it says that

“Genetic diversity is the number of different types of genes in a species or population, which is a measure of biodiversity” (p. 187)

“Genetic resource is genetic material of plants, animals, or micro-organisms that is of actual or potential value as a resource for humans” (p. 188)

Knowing these two concepts, it is possible to respond to the questionnaire constituent of the survey. Amongst the survey questions are the following three ones relating to the use of genetic resources, resources sharing and the protection of traditional knowledge:

a) What benefits do you find in using genetic resources?

b) What is your experience or view about fairly and equitably sharing resources with indigenous peoples and local communities?

c) What can be done to protect traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources?

You can answer and directly send your answer to CENFACS.

• Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and Technology-based Solutions to Poverty

We are continuing to work on nature-based solutions to poverty. As part of this continuation, we are putting two solutions together to help reduce poverty. These two solutions are nature- and technology-based.

• • Nature-based Solutions to Poverty

Nature-based Solutions can be understood from the definition of ‘climatechampions.unfccc.int’ (3) as:

“Actions and policies that protect, manage and restore natural ecosystems, while addressing social challenges”.

Because we are arguing about Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, we are going to work with nature to address social challenges (like social poverty) while making sure that both our project beneficiaries and biodiversity benefit.

• • Technology-based Solutions to poverty

Technology-based Solutions are the process of finding answers to problems using scientific knowledge and technical skills. This process can include the transfer of devices and the transmission of knowledge, know-how, skills, digital services, etc.

Technology-based Solutions to poverty are processes that use technologies to reduce or end poverty. For example, one can use technologies like mobile phone, computer, laptop, tablet, and other electronics to help reduce technology poverty. Likewise, one can provide renewable energy generation facilities in poor communities to help these communities benefit from clean energy.

• • Nature- and Technology-based Solutions to Poverty

This week, we are combining the two solutions (technology- and nature-based) in the efforts we are deploying together with the community and our Africa-based Sister Organisations to find solutions to the problems they are facing. In this quest for two solutions, donating net-zero technologies can help to meet their needs.

For those members of our community and Africa-based Sister Organisations wanting to find out more and or work with us on Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and Technology-based Solutions to poverty, they can contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• Climate-induced Poverty and Poverty Caused by Natural Events in Africa

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –Step/Workshop 3: Conducting a Feasibility Study on your Play, Run and Vote Projects

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Ways of Broadening Local Contribution to Local Charitable Causes

• Climate-induced Poverty and Poverty Caused by Natural Events in Africa

Climate action is also about taking steps to deal with the consequences of adverse climate change on other people’s lives. One of these consequences could be the creation or exacerbation of climate poor because of treacherous weather events such as drought, torrential rains, floods, earthquakes, rise in sea levels, etc. These situations or events can create situational/transitory poverty.

For example, assessing the crop prospects and food situation in the world, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (4) found that

“About 1.4 million people in Burundi were estimated to be facing acute food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification 3 [crisis] and above between October and December 2022”. (p. 2)

This acute food insecurity was due to erratic February – May rains in some central and south-eastern areas which affected pulses production. This is without forgetting the lingering socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and high food price.

Since situational/transitory poverty is one the seven goals of CENFACS’ 2020s Development Agenda and Poverty Reduction Programme (5), we are carrying on the work on this type of poverty. This time, the focus on situational/transitory poverty will be on the one that is caused by climate change events. Depending on the intensity and power of these events, they can seriously or less harm people. These events can also lead to acute human insecurity and eventually push people to poverty line of all kinds (in food, health, education, housing, etc.

So, the need to take action against worsening poverty in Africa is at the same time an action against climate-induced poverty and poverty caused by natural events. Reducing Climate-induced Poverty and Poverty Caused by Natural Events in Africa can be the goal to pursue this March 2023.

For those who may be interested in this action and would like to work with us to support climate-induced poor, they can contact CENFACS.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 3: Conducting a Feasibility Study on your Play, Run and Vote Projects

In this 3rd step or workshop, users will learn (for those users who are new to project planning) or revisit (for those who are familiar with project planning) the evaluation of the practicality of their chosen Play or Run or Vote project. In project planning terms, it means they need to conduct feasibility study. But, what is feasibility study?

• • Basic understanding of feasibility study

Feasibility study is a ‘go/no-go’ decision time for any project planner. In other words, it is the time when an All-year-round project user will decide whether or not to continue with their proposed project.

As ‘simplilearn.com’ (6) puts it,

“A feasibility study is a comprehensive evaluation of a proposed project that evaluates all factors critical to its success in order to assess its likelihood of success”.

Referring to this definition or any suitable definition, All-year-round project users will look at the practicality of the Play, Run and Vote projects from the perspective of required cost and expected value.

• • Types of feasibility

Feasibility can cover many aspects of the project to be implemented; aspects like technical, economic, financial, operational, legal, etc. To simplify the matter, we are going to limit in this workshop to the technical and economic aspects of feasibility study; leaving to those who would like to dive deeper into feasibility study to let us know what other aspects of feasibility study they may be interested in.

The technical feasibility of your Play, Run and Vote projects will include the technical resources and capacities to convert your idea of playing, running and voting into a workable or working project. The economic feasibility will analyse the cost and benefit of the same projects.

• • Example of feasibility study: Your 2023 Vote for African Poverty Reduction and Development Manager

In order to conduct your feasibility study of your vote, you need to carry out the following tasks:

~ Evaluate if your Vote project is technically achievable by determining and steering the technical resources (like time, budget, technical skills, etc.) to be committed to drive you to the process of looking for your Poverty Reduction and Development Manager of the year and of voting him/her

~ Carry out a viability test in terms of the cost associated with your selection process and benefits linked with your Vote project

~ Financially work out the cost and benefit of your Vote project as you will do in the recruitment selection process of any personnel.

Feasibility study can be basic (simple) or complex depending on the type of your Vote project. In the above example, we have simplified the matter.

For those who would like to dive deeper into feasibility study, including the tools, examples, skills and steps in feasibility study of their Play or Run or Vote project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses Ways of Broadening Local Contribution to Local Charitable Causes

The first discussion of March 2023 for CENFACS‘ be.Africa Forum is about Broadening the Contribution of Local Populations to their Charitable Causes without Impacting their Vulnerabilities and the Informal System in which they Live.

It is true that many local people are already contributing to their own local matters including local causes. However, because of the intensity and continuity of the poly-crisis faced by many locals in Africa, we are discussing ways of increasing and improving local response in terms of their share regarding the contribution they are making towards the reduction or end of poverty in Africa. We are discussing it while considering two constraints to this contribution, which are:

a) The vulnerability in which they are since we are dealing with people who are in need

b) Many of them live in informal system or economy in order to make ends meet.

Given these two constraints, how possibly can their contribution to their charitable cause be expanded by them without worsening their vulnerability and weakening the life-line informal system on which they depend?

Those who may be interested in this first March 2023 discussion 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 d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS discute des moyens d’élargir la contribution locale aux causes caritatives locales

La première discussion de mars 2023 pour le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS vise à élargir la contribution des populations locales à leurs causes caritatives sans affecter leurs vulnérabilités et le système informel dans lequel elles vivent.

Il est vrai que de nombreuses populations locales contribuent déjà à leurs propres affaires locales, y compris les causes locales. Cependant, en raison de l’intensité et de la continuité de la polycrise à laquelle sont confrontés de nombreux habitants en Afrique, nous discutons des moyens d’accroître la part relative locale concernant la contribution qu’ils apportent à la réduction ou à la fin de la pauvreté en Afrique.

Nous en discutons en considérant deux contraintes à cette contribution qui sont :

a) La vulnérabilité dans laquelle ils se trouvent puisque nous avons affaire à des personnes dans le besoin

b) Beaucoup d’entre eux vivent dans un système ou une économie informels afin de joindre les deux bouts du mois.

Compte tenu de ces deux contraintes, comment peut-on accroître leur contribution à leur cause caritative sans aggraver leur vulnérabilité et affaiblir le système informel vital dont ils dépendent?

Ceux/celles qui pourraient être intéressés par cette première discussion de mars 2023 peuvent rejoindre et / ou contribuer en contactant le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS, qui est un forum de discussion sur les questions 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

• Climate Action 2: Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities

The following notes will help to take Climate Action 2:

σ Key concepts to be used to influence voluntary carbon credit markets

σ What voluntary carbon credit markets (VCCM) provide

σ Putting poverty reduction value on what voluntary carbon credit markets provide

σ How CENFACS can work with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations on natural climate solutions like VCCM.

Let us look at each of these notes or items.

• • Key concepts to be used to influence voluntary carbon credit markets

To influence voluntary carbon credit markets, one needs to understand the following terms: Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets (VCCM), sustainable livelihoods and market influences.

• • • Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets (VCCM)

Referring to the definitions provided by the glossary of Market Business News (7), it states in this glossary that

“Carbon credit is a financial unit of measurement. It represents the removal of one tCO₂e from the atmosphere. tCO₂e stands for tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.”

There are two types of credits in the voluntary market which are:

~ Avoidance credits for external projects that avoid or reduce emissions production (for example, building a wind farm)

~ Removal credits for projects that lower existing emissions.

Removal projects deploy either nature-based solutions such as afforestation or technology-based solutions such as renewable energy generation.

Knowing what is carbon credit, it is possible to define voluntary carbon market. For instance, the ‘weforum.org’ (8) explains that

“The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) enables investors, governments, non-governmental organisations and businesses to voluntarily purchase verified emissions reductions in the form of carbon credits. This is a crucial tool to unlock the full potential of natural climate solutions, which have traditionally been under-funded and under-valued”.

The ‘weforum.com’ further argues that

“The VCM is by no means the only solution for funding natural climate solutions – but is a really important and tangible mechanism we can use right now”.

The VCM could also be a viable tool to foster sustainable livelihoods.

• • • Sustainable livelihoods

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (9),

“A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining natural resource bases… Livelihoods can therefore be affected by external factors which increase their resilience and consequently reduce their vulnerability”.

From this definition of sustainable livelihood, one can argue that fostering sustainable livelihood could be undertaking a variety of initiatives such as developing skills (like income-generating, financial literacy, agriculture-based skills, etc.) to enhance capacities. It could as well be about women’s development and capacity building initiatives. Additionally, to create sustainable livelihoods, it requires access to capital (particularly natural capital) and access to markets.

• • • Market influences

Market influences are the broad factors that affect the economy, industries and companies as a whole. One can do a PESTLE analysis, that is a Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors affecting the economy and industries. These generic factors could be inflation, economic growth, market sentiment, international crisis like the Russia-Ukraine conflict, etc.

However, in the context of VCCM, we are focussing on specific factors like prices for voluntary carbon markets, the pricing of carbon credits, project cost, pricing of value delivered, quality of credit, costs of carbon credits, etc. The influence we are looking for is to make these specific factors work for the poor as well. We are further examining how VCCM can help in dealing with the factors of the PESTLE analysis that are crucial in poverty reduction.

• • What voluntary carbon credit markets provide

Voluntary credit markets allow organisations to offset their unavoidable emissions by purchasing carbon credits from projects targeted at removing or reducing greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. These markets provide the opportunities listed below:

∝ to store carbon

∝ to filter water

∝ to produce oxygen

∝ to promote biodiversity

∝ to unlock private capital

etc.

Because of these opportunities, the VCM is a solution for funding natural climate solutions. As argued earlier, it will be good to see these opportunities trickle down to the poor. In other words, poverty reduction value needs to be at the heart of these markets. These opportunities do not trickle down by themselves unless one takes climate action and action against poverty.

• • Putting poverty reduction value on what voluntary carbon credit markets provide

Voluntary carbon markets tend to compensate for residual emissions. It is good to have voluntary carbon credit markets that provide opportunities to voluntarily purchase verified emissions reductions in the form of carbon credits. It will even be better if these markets put poverty reduction value at the centre of their dealings.

As Leo Peskett et al. (10) put it in their Forestry Briefing 11 that Making voluntary carbon markets work better for the poor is about the following:

∝ shifting from prioritising concerns of investors and producers to focussing on wider development interests of the host countries

∝ developing expertise in carbon finance

∝ prioritising concerns of small producers

∝ evaluating social impacts

etc.

So, putting poverty reduction value on what voluntary carbon credit markets provide is all about that.

• • How CENFACS can work with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on natural climate solutions like VCCM

Lifting people and ASOs beyond their everyday lives of poverty and helping them take stock of their difficult situation while connecting them to solutions to poverty will always be at the heart of CENFACS. In this lifting mission, we can work with them on natural climate solutions like VCCM to help them reduce poverty and hardships.

Natural Climate Solutions will help to protect, restore and better manage forests, soils and wetlands, while assisting in reducing poverty.

For ASOs and those members of our community who are interested in the second action of our Climate Action Month, action which is Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets Foster Sustainable Livelihoods for Poor Communities ; they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

For any other queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Climate Action Month, the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’ and the second action; please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_pdf (Accessed in March 2023)

(2) Park, C. (2011), Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York

(3) https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/what-are-nature-based-solutions-and-how-can-we-finance-them/# (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) FAO (2023), Crop Prospects and Food Situation – Quarterly Global Report No. 1, March 2023, Rome (https://doi.org/10.4060/cc4665en (Accessed in March 2023)

(5) cenfacs.org.uk/2020/03/11/the-2020s-agenda-and-programme/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(6) https://www.simplilearn.com/feasibility-study-article (Accessed in March 2023)

(7) https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/carbon-market/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(8) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/voluntary-carbon-market-net-zero/ (Accessed in March 2023)

(9) https://www.fao.org/in-action/herramienta-administration-tierras/module-1/proposed-methdology/sustainable-livelihoods/en (Accessed in March 2023)

(10) Peskett, L., Luttrell, C. & Brown, D. (2006), Making voluntary carbon markets work better for the poor: the case of forestry offsets, Forestry Briefing 11, Overseas Development Institute at https://odi.org/about/our-work/voluntary-carbon-markets-and-the-poor/ (Accessed in March 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.

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.

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Climate Actions March 2023

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on March 1, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

01 March 2023

Post No. 289

The Week’s Contents

• Climate Actions March 2023 with ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (Phase 3.2)

• Activity/Task 3 of the ‘i‘ Project: Positively Influence Climate Actions

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Climate Actions March 2023 with ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’

This year’s Climate Actions Month within CENFACS will be about acting on carbon markets to reduce or end greenhouse gas emissions while making the same markets work for the poor.

Indeed, emissions trading or markets in which players (or emitters) are working with allowances of carbon emissions (or credits) can provide the possibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If they can provide this sort of emissions reduction scope, then they should be encouraged and extended.

It will as well be good if these markets work for the poor. This is because like anybody else, poor people suffer from the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions which could lead or exacerbate climate poverty. So, Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor will be the theme for this month of March 2023, Month of Climate Actions. In other words, the idea to be developed and repeated throughout March 2023 is how poor people can benefit from carbon markets. To explain that, we are going to develop four key notes for our theme every Wednesday of March 2023 (one note per Wednesday), starting from 1 March 2023.

Additionally, this year’s Month of Climate Actions will look at one of the outcomes from the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1). This outcome is the creation of ‘loss and damage’ funds to help vulnerable countries cope with the destructive impacts of global warming. In particular, we shall discuss how these funds will contribute to our climate ask, which is ‘giving poor children a climate stake‘ in rescuing and rebuilding their physical and social infrastructures devastated by extreme weather.

For those who would like to get more informed about this first key message, they can read under the Main Development section of this post.

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (Phase 3.2)

CENFACS’ Climate Talks Follow-up Project is still in Phase 3.2, which is of the Implementation Level of ‘Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children’. We are now at the Installation Sub-phase (or Sub-phase 2) of this project.

In this Phase 3.2, we followed the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) in 2022. We are continuing to work on the outcomes of the COP27 and on CENFACS’ Compendia of Climate Advocacy. Our next follow-up will be on the United Nations climate talks 2023.

• • 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up

The United Nations climate talks 2023, which will be held during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2), will be convened in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) from 30 November to 12 December 2023.

This month, we will start the planning process of this follow-up. The slogan for this 2023 follow-up will be: Dubai Raise Children’s Ambitions and Hopes. Let us we hope that the coming Dubai climate gathering will raise climate ambitions and hopes for children. Let us also expect that the voices of youth and future generations will resonate during COP28 as they were included in COP27, and youth-led solutions to climate change will find accommodation in COP28.

More details about this follow-up will be unveiled as we move towards the COP28 starting day. For those who have any queries about this 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up, they are free to get in touch with CENFACS.

To support and or enquire about CENFACS’ 2023 Climate Talks Follow-up and the Phase 3.2, please contact CENFACS.

To find out more about CENFACS’ Compendia of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, please also communicate with CENFACS.

• Activity/Task 2 of the ‘i‘ Project: Positively Influence Climate Actions

This month’s activity or task for the ‘i‘ project is to positively influence climate actions. We know that climate actions are not new to many people including the members of CENFACS Community. Many of you are already taking climate actions of all kinds in all walks of life.

However, because we are carrying on this activity or task 2 of the ‘i‘ project, we are asking to those who can to take climate further actions by having indirect effect on people and factors capable of lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, one can influence people and or factors to

~ Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate disasters

~ Keep raising awareness on climate change impact reduction

~ Continue to integrate climate change measures into your/people’s daily lives.

The above-named actions are part of Goal 13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (3).

Briefly, you can exercise your power by taking action to combat climate change and its impacts. If you are already doing it, you can even increase the power of your action.

For those members of our community who would like to positively influence climate actions with us, and who would like to talk to us; they should not hesitate to contact us.

To contact CENFACS, please use the details provided on the contact-us page of this site.

Extra Messages

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – Activity for Week Beginning 27/02/2023: Campaign/Advocacy to Halt Human-induced Extinction of Threatened Species

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –Step/Workshop 2: Preparing your Play, Run and Vote Project

• Financial Controls 2023 for Households – In Focus: Financial Rules

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty –

Activity for Week Beginning 27/02/2023: Campaign/Advocacy to Halt Human-induced Extinction of Threatened Species

The activity on Species Extinction (Activity 2) is about finding life-saving solutions/ways of halting human-induced extinction of known threatened species. Before explaining this activity, let us clarify the meaning of species extinction and threatened species.

• • Meaning of species extinction and threatened species

To specify species extinction and threatened species, we are going to refer to the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation written by Chris Park (4). In this dictionary, it says that

“Extinction is the permanent disappearance of a species throughout its entire range, caused by the failure to reproduce and the death of all remaining members” (p. 164)

In the same dictionary, it states that

“Species is a population of organisms that reproduce with one another but not with other populations” (p. 422)

“Threatened species are a category of species under threat […]. The categories within this group are extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare and indeterminate” (p. 450)

Knowing what is species extinction, it is possible to proceed with Activity 2.

• • What Activity 2 entails

Activity 2 will be conducted in the form of campaign or advocacy. It will be an organised series of actions to build up opposition to species extinction or alternatively an active support of species protection.

Under Activity 2, one can undertake different types actions such as signing a petition against species extinction, joining a local species protection group, adding their voices to mobilisation movements aiming at protecting species, etc. Alternatively, one can support CENFACS‘ anti species extinction initiatives such the Big Beasts Campaign, Save Fauna and Flora, Safeguard Crop Wild Relatives, etc.

For those who would like to engage with Activity 2, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

For those who would like to find out more about Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, they can also communicate with CENFACS.

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 2: Preparing your Play, Run and Vote Projects

Once you have identified your idea of your Play, Run and Vote Projects; you can start the preparation step. What is this preparation about?

Preparing your Play or Run or Vote project is about ensuring that they are feasible and appropriate, and can be successfully implemented. It is also the step you try to de-risk and conceptualise them.

For example, if you choose to play the CENFACS League for Poverty Reduction, you need to be aware of three basic principles:

a) Your Play project is feasible, appropriate and can be successfully implemented; in other words it is SMART (that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound)

b) You need as well to de-risk your Play project from the risk of not researching enough information or not having enough data about poverty reduction efforts or achievements of the selected African countries in your league model are making

c) You finally have to reduce any information gaps when comparing and contrasting African countries in order to get reliable results in your sample.

For those who are not familiar with project preparation and would like some support, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

They can contact CENFACS by phoning, texting, e-mailing and completing the contact form on this website. We can together discuss in detail their proposals about either their Run or Play or Vote project.

• Financial Controls 2023 for Households – In Focus: Financial Rules

Any households can set up some financial rules if they want to have their finances under control. Some of these rules are called rules of thumb. But what are financial rules for households?

• • Financial rules for households

Financial rules for households are simply agreements on how households would like to look after their money. These rules can be written or verbal or in any suitable format as long as they know them, understand them and agree to apply them for the best financial wellbeing of households.

• • Contents of financial rules for households

They can include the following:

σ Plan about household budgets

σ Kinds of financial records to keep or destroy

σ Agreements on bank accounts or ways of keeping money

σ Who can act as households’ treasurer or financial data controller

σ Tasks relating to financial years-end accounts

σ Items to pay by cash or online or credit

σ Times and days to hold financial meetings to discuss money within households

Etc.

• • Examples of financial rules for households

The following are some illustrations of financial rules for households:

σ Rule relating to budgeting

Households can use the 50/30/20 rule for budgeting. Under this rule, 50% of their income will be allocated to non-discretionary expenses (such as housing and utility bills), 30% to discretionary expenses (like entertainment) and 20% to financial goals (e.g., saving for emergencies or paying off debts).

σ Rule for saving

They can set up a three to six months emergency fund rule. As a result of this rule, they need to have three to six months’ worth of savings ready in case of emergency.

σ Rule for running bank accounts

They can decide to have a current account, to open up a joined bank account to pay all your bills; just as they can set up direct debit on their account to pay all their bills (like council tax, utility bills, etc.).

σ Rule for buying goods and services

They may decide filing all payments made and receipts from shopping, checking invoices before making any payments, recording all their insurance cover plans so that they do not miss their renewal dates or deadlines, etc.

The above-mentioned are just the few financial rules that households can set up for their effective running. These rules are there to support households and help them to develop a hassle-free management of their finances.

• • Working with users on matters relating to financial rules

We are prepared to work with some of our users who would like to set up and or develop financial rules for themselves or households. These rules can be set up and developed in any format (e.g., online, paper, verbal, etc.) as long as one understand what they mean by financial rules and willing to apply them. We can as well share resources and examples of financial rules relating to households with those who may be interested in.

Need support regarding your financial controls and in particular financial rules for your household, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

Message in French (Message en français)

Mois de l’action pour le climat avec « Faire en sorte que les marchés du carbone fonctionnent pour les pauvres »

Cette année, le Mois de l’action pour le climat au sein du CENFACS consistera à agir sur les marchés du carbone pour réduire ou mettre fin aux émissions de gaz à effet de serre tout en faisant en sorte que les mêmes marchés fonctionnent pour les pauvres.

En effet, l’échange de droits d’émission ou les marchés sur lesquels les acteurs (ou émetteurs) travaillent avec des quotas d’émission de carbone (ou des crédits) peuvent offrir la possibilité de réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre. S’ils peuvent fournir ce type de marge de manœuvre de réduction des émissions, ils devraient être encouragés et étendus.

Ce sera aussi bien si ces marchés fonctionnent pour les pauvres. En effet, comme tout le monde, les pauvres souffrent des conséquences des émissions de gaz à effet de serre qui pourraient conduire ou exacerber la pauvreté climatique. Ainsi, faire en sorte que les marchés du carbone fonctionnent pour les pauvres sera le thème de ce mois de mars 2023, mois d’actions climatiques.

En d’autres termes, l’idée à développer et à répéter tout au long du mois de mars 2023 est de savoir comment les pauvres peuvent bénéficier des marchés du carbone. Pour expliquer cela, nous allons développer quatre notes clés sous forme de lignes d’actions à mener pour notre thème tous les mercredis de mars 2023 (une note par mercredi), à partir du 1er mars 2023; notes qui sont:

a) Faire en sorte que les opportunités d’échange de droits d’émission de carbone atteignent les pauvres (Action 1)

b) Influencer le marché des crédits carbone volontaires qui favorise des moyens de subsistance durables pour les communautés pauvres (Action 2)

c) Inciter le marché du carbone à faire partie de la reprise économique (Action 3)

d) Investir dans le marché du carbone qui accélère l’action climatique pour les pauvres (Action 4).

En outre, le Mois de l’action pour le climat de cette année examinera l’un des résultats de la 27e session de la Conférence des Parties (COP27) à la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques (op.cit.). Ce résultat est la création d’un fonds de « pertes et dommages » pour aider les pays vulnérables à faire face aux impacts destructeurs du réchauffement climatique. En particulier, nous discuterons de la manière dont ces fonds contribueront à notre demande climatique, qui consiste à « donner aux enfants pauvres un intérêt climatique » dans le sauvetage et la reconstruction de leurs infrastructures physiques et sociales dévastées par des conditions météorologiques extrêmes.

Pour ceux ou celles qui voudraient s’informer davantage sur ce premier message de mars 2023, ils/elles peuvent contacter le CENFACS.

Main Development

• Climate Actions March 2023

Theme: Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor

The following items are the ones shaping the content of our Climate Action Month and its theme:

a) Meaning of the climate action

b) Direct and indirect climate actions

c) Understanding jargons used in carbon markets

d) The expression ‘working for the poor’

e) Work plan for Climate Action March 2023

f) Action 1: Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor.

Let us look at the contents of our Climate Action Month.

• • Contents of 2023 Climate Action Month

Before kicking off our action, let us precise the working definitions to be used for climate action.

• • • Meaning of the climate action

Climate action is an activity of engaging and putting ideas into practice to deal with any natural or induced change in the long term average weather conditions of a place, especially when this change adversely affects people’s and communities’ lives and livelihoods. In other words, it is any effort to mitigate the adverse effects of this change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening capacities and resilience to climate-induced impacts.

Climate action is also the 13th Goal of the United Nations’ (op. cit.) 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 2030 Agenda.

In the context of CENFACS’ Climate Action Month for this year, climate action is about acting on carbon markets to reduce or end greenhouse gas emissions while making the same markets work for the poor.

These climate actions or efforts could be direct or indirect.

• • • Direct and Indirect Climate Actions

Direct climate actions can directly lead to outcomes such as reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, poor quality air, pollution, etc. They could also include the increase in the number of poor people benefiting from carbon markets through projects generating greenhouse gas emissions reductions or removals.

As to indirect climate actions, they can help to keep the advocacy and campaign about measures and activities to be carried out to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change going. Examples of such indirect climate actions will include the prevention of the next pandemic to happen, a campaign to halt human-induced extinction of known threatened species, etc.

Without breaking climate actions into direct and indirect ones, the coming periods and sub-themes of climate action will guide our readers and audiences about the kind of climate actions CENFACS is conducting this month. This guidance will help those who may be interested to join in. But, before that let us try to briefly explain the concept of carbon markets and other concepts linked to it.

• • • Understanding jargons used in carbon markets

Our Climate Action March 2023 uses three climate jargons which need some clarification. These concepts are carbon credit, carbon market and carbon offsetting.

a) Carbon market

There are many ways of defining or explaining carbon market.

From the glossary of Market Business News (6),

“The carbon market is a market in which we trade carbon emission allowances. The market aims to encourage companies to limit their emissions of CO_2. It also wants to encourage countries to reduce their emissions”.

According to ‘theconversation.com’ (7),

“Carbon markets are trading platforms which allow individuals, firms and governments to find projects that reduce emissions (instead of reducing their own emissions)”.

Carbon markets can be mandatory or run as voluntary programmes. Mandatory carbon markets operate as cap- and -trade programmes with rules and requirements (that is, regulated by laws).

b) Carbon credit

The glossary (op. cit.) states that carbon credit is

“A financial unit of measurement. It represents the removal of one tCO₂e from the atmosphere. tCO₂e stands for tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent.”

c) Carbon offsets

According to ‘rbcgam.com’ (8),

“Carbon offsets are credits provided to a project or entity for their removal or reduction of emissions”.

The glossary (op. cit.) states that

“Carbon offsetting is the process by which companies and households can compensate for the release of greenhouse gas emissions”.

These jargons will enable to understand and carry out the current climate actions.

• • • The expression ‘working for the poor‘

Although there are agreements and disagreements regarding the benefits resulting from carbon markets, it is possible to focus on the probable positive effects of these markets. Among the benefits stemming from carbon markets, it is argued that carbon markets would accelerate actions to combat climate change and deliver much-needed co-benefits for nature and people.

If this is the case, it is possible to think that these co-benefits will reach the poor. For these benefits reach them, actions need to be taken. In other words, to make carbon markets work for the poor, one needs to plan and take action for this to happen; otherwise these benefits will not trickle down by themselves.

• • • Work Plan for Climate Action March 2023

From every Wednesday of this month, the following Climate Actions have been planned:

∝ Action 1: Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor (01 to 07/03/2023)

∝ Action 2: Influence Voluntary Carbon Credit Markets foster sustainable livelihoods for poor communities (08 to 14/03/2023)

∝ Action 3: Induce Carbon Markets be part of Recovery from the poly-crisis (15 to 21/03/2023)

∝ Action 4: Invest in Carbon Markets or Credits that accelerate climate action for the poor (22 to 28/03/2023).

Within the above broad actions, there will be specific actions to be taken. Finally, there will be impact monitoring and evaluation from 29 to 31/03/2023 to end the Climate Action March 2023.

• • • Action 1: Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor

This Action will be held from 01 to 07/03/2023.

To enable to take the first action, we have organised the following notes:

σ Opportunities in carbon trading

σ Reaching the poor through carbon opportunities

σ African Carbon Market Initiatives

σ Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations.

• • • • Opportunities in carbon trading

Carbon emissions trading or carbon markets can allow to sell and buy carbon allowances and offsets. These markets provide opportunities to those engaged in them to meet their objectives and carbon emissions reduction goals. They give opportunities to incentivize emissions reduction and meet net-zero emissions goals if these markets are well-functioning.

• • • • Reaching the poor through carbon opportunities

Incentivizing emissions reduction and meeting net-zero emissions goals are welcome. However, they will be even more desirable if these markets reach as well the poor. The poor are those in many parts of the world, including in Africa, are sometimes bearing the brunt of the greenhouse gas emissions.

For example, climate projects like reforestation, forest conservation, carbon-storing agricultural practices, etc. in poor communities or areas can help to reach out to the poor crowding in these communities. Taking action by promoting this sort of projects or initiatives can help to reach the poor.

• • • • African Carbon Market Initiatives

There are many types of initiatives in the form of carbon cap- and -trade programmes and voluntary schemes which are now operating with their trumps and limits. One of the initiatives we would like to mention as part of the Climate Action Month within CENFACS is the African Carbon Markets Initiative (9) which was launched at COP27.

The African Carbon Markets Initiative plans to develop projects such as diesel replacement credits and biodiversity credits as well as country carbon activation plans. One can hope that this new initiative will be able to decisively act in provide new carbon credits to carbon offset projects as planned.

• • • • Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs)

Carbon trading or emissions trading or even carbon markets are primarily designed to trade carbon emission allowances or emissions reduction rights among each other. However, it will be good if the benefits resulting from these these opportunities in carbon trading reach everybody, in particular the poor.

To act so that these opportunities reach our community and ASOs, we have organised ourselves to provide Information and Guidance to those members of our community who would like to find out more about this line of support. Likewise, those ASOs that would like to work on opportunities relating to carbon trading, they are welcome to contact CENFACS should they have any queries or enquiries they would like to make.

To end the Main Development section of this post, we would like to remind our readers and audiences that climate action is about action, not words only. We have only written these notes to guide us and galvanise our action. This is because to take action, one needs a roadmap or simply to say how they are going to conduct this action.

For ASOs and those members of our community who are interested in the first action of our Climate Action Month, action which is Make Opportunities in Carbon Trading Reach the Poor; they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

For any other queries and enquiries about CENFACS‘ Climate Action Month, the theme of ‘Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor’ and the first action; please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://www.carbonbrief.org/cop27-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-climate-talks-in-sharm-el-sheikh/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(2) https://www.cop28.com/en/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(3) https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) Park, C. (2011), A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York

(5) https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/carbon-market/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(6) https://theconversation.com/climate-change-africa-has-a-major-new-carbon-market-initiative-what-you-need-to-know-196071 (Accessed in February 2023)

(7) https://www.rbcgam.com/en/ca/article/understanding-carbon-market/detail (Accessed in February 2023)

(8) https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/africa-carbon-markets-initiative-announces-13-action-programs/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(9) https://fsdafrica.org/press-release/leveraging-the-african-insurance-industry-to-create-resilient-african-economies/# (Accessed in February 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.

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.

Permalink

Insurance Skills Development Project

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on February 22, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

22 February 2023

Post No. 288

The Week’s Contents

• Insurance Skills Development Project

• Return of Stole Assets to Support Poor Households

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty: Working Plan for the First Series of Activities

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Insurance Skills Development Project

Our work for promoting insurance amongst the poor carries on as we are unveiling the project proposals for approaching the culture of insurance from the perspective of the insured in terms of the skills they need to learn and develop in order to help them reduce insurance poverty. This project was highlighted when we published the 78th Issue of FACS, which focussed on ‘The Promotion of Culture of Insurance amongst the Needy to Reduce Poverty in Africa‘.

Indeed, it is possible to apply the perception of culture to insurance applicants on low or modest incomes with low insurance skills and help them to reduce poverty. It is imaginable to introduce and develop the idea of insurance to become a cultural resource or capital for those in need who may be insurance applicants. It is even highly probable for these people to learn and develop skills, patterns of behaviour, thought and perception to help themselves by deciding by themselves how much insurance to buy for a well-defined risk.

To help them in their insurance skills development, we are putting these current proposals in the form of project; project which explains how they can achieve their insurance aim and goals via skills development.

To find how this project can help them, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

• Return of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

Our Month of Sustainable Development keeps on moving with this week’s fourth note which focusses on the Return of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

The 4th note deals with the way in which stolen funds recovered can be managed and disbursed once returned. One of the propositions regarding the disbursement of returned funds, which is part of our Sustainable Development Month, is to use a portion of returned funds to reduce poverty in country or area where the stolen funds originated. This proposition stems from the role of asset return in terms of resources it can provide to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. To do that one may be forced to follow some rules or principles governing the returned stolen assets.

There are rules or principles for managing and disposing recovered and returned stolen assets. For example, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (1) summarised these principles in one of its meetings which focussed on the management and disposal of stolen assets. These rules or principles make up or are contained in the instruments or tools to use to deal with asset return.

• • Asset Return Instruments

Asset return instruments depend on which institution or organisation that create them. For example, if one refers to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, there are two instruments in relation to asset return which need to be considered here. These instruments are Articles 51 and 57 of Chapter V of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2).

Article 51 gives the General Provision of Chapter V and states that

“The return of assets pursuant to this chapter is a fundamental principle of this convention and States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in this regard” (p. 42)

Article 57 relates to the Return and Disposal of Assets (p. 47).

In addition, there is the action area 25 of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (3) which encourages the international community to develop good practices on asset return.

The above-mentioned instruments show that there are technicalities of return or repatriation of stolen assets. There are as well implications.

• • Asset Return Implications

Asset return implies the following:

σ Identification and freezing or seizing of stolen assets

σ Obtaining of confiscation orders

σ Returning the assets to the requesting parties (i.e. State) in accordance with the Convention

σ Involving domestic legislation or international conventions or treaties if there are any problems

σ Dealing with requested jurisdictions

σ Addressing the concern about the management and disposal of returned funds

Etc.

Bedsides these implications, there are different approaches to disposing recovered and returned stolen assets.

• • Approaches to Asset Return

There are different views or approaches concerning asset return process. Some of these views have been already highlighted in the above-named instruments. In the context of this note, we would like to highlight three approaches as follows: lackadaisical, rights-based and CENFACS approaches.

1) A lackadaisical approach to asset return would argue in favour of keeping stolen assets where they are. Amongst the arguments from this approach is the uncertainty or lack of investment project as to the good use of stolen assets to be returned.

2) A rights-based approach to asset return would instead demand the inclusion of the victims affected by the theft of these assets. This approach thinks that the return of stolen assets should benefit the public from whom assets were stolen and who may have paid a heavy price such as the lack of investment in health, education, housing, transport, etc. because their country’s/area’s assets were stolen.

3) A CENFACS approach to asset return is to use a portion of returned stolen assets to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. We understand that the return of stolen assets is a complex operation that can involve multiple jurisdictions. However, once these legal and technical exercises have been completed, it could be good to see that the returned stolen assets to be allocated to projects to reduce poverty, particularly but not exclusively poverty experiencing by low income households.

For example, one way of helping these poor households could be in the form of the distribution of the dividend from these stolen assets through conditional cash transfers like happened in some countries.

Also, one thing is to have an approach, another is to practise it or to work with the community for this approach to materialise.

• • Working with the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations on Stolen Assets Return

There is a number of ways by which CENFACS can work with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations on Stolen Assets Return, although CENFACS is not asset recovery and return expert or development practitioner.

• • • Working with the Community on Stolen Assets Return

Together with the community we can impact the Return of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households by these ways:

√ Explaining stolen assets return policies

√ Informing and directing users to services dealing with the return of stolen assets

√ Helping in data collection regarding stolen assets return

√ Motivating the members of our community to act with integrity, accountability and transparency with regard to public assets

√ Communicating information about stolen assets return

√ Participating in studies (e.g., survey, focus group discussion, etc.) relating to stolen assets return

√ Sharing under the General Data Protection Act non sensitive information about stolen assets return actions and results

Etc.

• • • Working with ASOs on Stolen Assets Return

CENFACS can as well work with ASOs dealing with Return of Stolen Assets to Support their Poor Households by:

√ Supporting stolen assets return initiatives run by ASOs

√ Engaging with the process of returning stolen assets by sharing online platforms to discuss matters relating to stolen assets return

√ Help ASOs dealing with stolen assets return to access technical assistance and capacity building on stolen assets return

√ Providing assistance during the asset repatriation process/phase

√ Sharing stolen assets return instruments to deter, detect, prevent and counter corruption and bribery

√ Supporting responsible return of stolen assets

√ Advocating for a portion of repatriated funds to be allocated to poverty reduction, particularly but not exclusively to poor households

Etc.

To sum up, the diversion of public funds in the form of illicitly-acquired or -obtained assets or any other forms can subtract a lump sum of money from where these assets are taken; money that could have been used to reduce or even end poverty. This diversion can create or exacerbate poverty for those who are poor and amongst them are poor households. Reclaiming and returning these stolen proceeds to the country from which they were taken is a just and economic cause to pursue if these returned funds can contribute to development efforts, including to poverty reduction.

This conclusion ends our notes regarding the theme of Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households. Saying that the conclusion ends our notes does not mean our work on this theme stops here. Instead, it will continue if one wants to see the end of poverty created or exacerbated by illicit flows and stolen assets.

Furthermore, our work on the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households has been conducted with in mind the spirit/respect of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (4), in particular Goal 16 and Target 4 of Goal 16.

For those members of our community who may be interested in matter relating to Return of Stolen Assets to Support their Poor Households, they are free to contact CENFACS.

For those Africa-based Sister Organisations that are willing to collaborate with us on the matter, they can let CENFACS know.

For any other queries or enquiries about Sustainable Development Month and the theme of Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households, please also contact CENFACS.

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty: Working Plan for the First Series of Activities

In our post of 8 February 2023, we announced that in the coming weeks and months, we shall have the progressive implementation of the new generation of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty in the form of planned themed activities, events, workshops, etc. We also indicated that the themes, days, times and locations (whether online or in-person) of these initiatives will be announced.

This week, we are announcing the first series of activities that will feature the new generation of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty. The first series of activities, which will be covered in 5 weeks, include the following:

Activity 1: Food, Consumption and Waste

This activity will consist of two elements which are cutting food waste and reduction of over consumption and waste generation

Activity 2: Species Extinction

This activity will be about finding ways of halting human induced extinction of known threatened species.

Activity 3: Genetic Diversity

This activity will focus on the maintenance of genetic diversity within populations of wild and domesticated species.

Activity 4: Nature Value

This activity will deal with the way to value nature’s contributions to people, to our lives, especially to poverty reduction in terms of nature-based solutions to poverty

Activity 5: Benefits Sharing from Genetic Resources

This activity will centre stage ways of fairly and equitably sharing the monetary and non-monetary benefits from the utilisation of genetic resources with indigenous peoples and local communities.

The contents of above-mentioned five activities stem from nature goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (5), which was agreed in December 2022. The table No. 1 specifies the type of activities each of them is. The first activity – which is Food, Consumption and Waste – has already kicked off. Let us further explain Activity 1.

• • Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty – In Discussion for Week Beginning 20/02/2023: Food, Consumption and Waste

Two basic items help to introduce Activity 1, which is about Food, Consumption and Waste. These items are aim of Activity 1 and what makes it.

a) Aim of Activity 1

Activity 1 aims at supporting those who are struggling to implement policies to cut down food waste and reduce overconsumption and waste generation so that they can gain information and experience from others to make their own choices to implement these cuts. The activity will help to plan and check their decision making policy on matter of cutting waste.

b) What does Activity 1 Consist of?

Activity 1 is a soft one that consists of sharing experience about measures our project users have taken or are taking in order to cut down food waste and reduce overconsumption and waste generation.

Through the workshop planned for this activity, participants can explain by how much they cut food waste or overconsumption. For example, they say their cuts are about 10% of their budget in food waste or 20% of the quantity for food overconsumption. They can as well share their plan to reduce waste generation at home. Sharing this way can motivate other members of our community who would like to embrace the road of cutting down food waste and reducing overconsumption and waste generation, but they are struggling to do it.

For those who would like to engage with Activity 1 and/or any of the above-mentioned activities, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

For those who would like to find out more about Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, they can also contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 1: Project Identification

• Making Zero Hunger Africa Campaign with a Focus on Food Security

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses the New Models of Working Relationships between Insecurity Hotspot Areas of Africa and Humanitarian Mission

• All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) –

Step/Workshop 1: Project Identification

The planning process for Triple Value Initiatives (or All-year Round Projects), which is under way, includes the different steps of project cycle, which are: Identification, preparation, feasibility study, appraisal, negotiations and agreement, start, implementation, monitoring, reviews, termination, evaluation and impact evaluation.

These steps of All-year Round Projects Cycle (Triple Value Initiatives Cycle) will be completed in 12 weeks under a 12-week workshop programme.

This week, we are starting with Project Identification as the first step or workshop for our project cycle. Let us see what the potential user of All-year Round Projects or Triple Value Initiatives can undertake in this first workshop.

• • Workshop 1: Identifying your Run or Play or Vote Project

In this first step of the cycle, those who would like to undertake a Run or Play or Vote activity need to identify their Run or Play or Vote project. What do we mean by that?

They need to develop a preliminary proposal for the most appropriate course of actions, within specific time and budget frames, to say how they are going to achieve the goal of Running or Playing or Voting.

For example, let us take Running. You could say you want to run 4 miles every Friday of the week in the morning in the local park and you plan to spend some few pounds on water bottle to refresh yourself, etc. You could also specific whether you want to run alone or as a group of people.

This identification will involve the following:

√ Reviewing alternatives approaches or options for addressing any problems with your Running or Playing or Voting activity

√ Defining the objectives of your Run or Play or Vote project/initiative to justify the resources to be committed

√ Identification of any major issues before implementing the Run or Play or Vote project.

The above is a basic starting point for project identification. For those who are not familiar with project identification and would like some support, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

They can contact CENFACS by phoning, texting, e-mailing and completing the contact form on this website. We can together discuss in detail your/their proposals about either your/their Run or Play or Vote projects.

• Making Zero Hunger Africa Campaign with a Focus on Food Security

Last year, the focus of Making Zero Hunger Africa Campaign (MZHAC) was on events or key drivers that could lead to acute food insecurity in Africa, especially in the so-called Africa’s hunger hotspots. This year, our focus is on Food Security since Africa is looking for a sustainable recovery from multiple crises (e.g., the coronavirus pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, climate change and armed conflicts in some parts of Africa). Before looking at this year’s focus, let us remind our readers the aim of Making Zero Hunger Africa Campaign.

• • Aim of Making Zero Hunger Africa Campaign

The aim of MZHAC is to raise awareness on sustainable food consumption and production in order to end hunger and malnutrition amongst those who are food deprived, particularly in Africa where the number of hungry people and families is still on the rise. It is as well a campaigning response to the challenge of rise in hunger that Africa will face in the foreseeable future. In this respect, the cost-of-living crisis has only made the matter worse as it has put a heavy toll on the consumption poor.

The contents of MZHAC are: End Hunger and Malnutrition Goal, Support Small-Scale Food Producers in Africa, Actions to Support the Food Industry in Africa, Meeting Vulnerable People’s Nutritional Needs, Actions for Sustainable Food Production Systems, etc.

This year, we are focussing on Food Security in the context of Sustainable Recovery.

• • Food Security for a Sustainable Recovery in Africa

To understand food security in the context of sustainable recovery in Africa, one may need to first know what food security means.

• • • Food Security

The explanation of food security comes from the glossary of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations et al (6) which argue that

“Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that
meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Based on this definition, four food security dimensions can be identified: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and
stability over time. The concept of food security is evolving to recognize the centrality of agency and sustainability” (p.202)

• • • Food Security for a Sustainable Recovery in Africa

To sustainably recover in Africa, there is a need to explore ways of reducing or ending a high prevalence of food insecurity. In practical terms, it is about bringing down the huge number of food insecure people, especially in countries with hardest hit by the unprecedented food and nutrition crisis such as Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Niger, etc.

According to the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisations of the United Nations (7), the number of people in acute food insecurity in 2022 (most recent projections) in millions would be in the hotspot countries below as follows:

3.5 in Burkina Faso, 2.2 in Central African Republic, 2.1 in Chad, 25.9 in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2.1 in Madagascar, 1.8 in Mali, and 4.4 in Niger (p. 8).

To achieve food security and make zero hunger Africa, it requires a lot of initiatives. Amongst these initiatives are the reduction of high food prices and the development of fair distribution of food, especially in areas that are difficult to access because of lack of transport facilities and of security. It also demands to value home-grown solutions to provide affordable and easily accessible food products to food insecure.

Make Zero Hunger Africa could further be undertaken by investing in projects that prevent, detect and treat acute child malnutrition while facilitating access to food and making food available, affordable and accessible for the food insecure as well as helping to reduce food poverty.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum Discusses the New Models of Working Relationships between Insecurity Hotspot Areas of Africa and Humanitarian Mission

Following the protests against some of the humanitarian peace keeping missions (like in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, etc.), some human rights experts and analysts are talking about reviewing working practices in these areas of humanitarian need. For example, Pierre Micheletti (8) is calling for reforming the funding for humanitarian aid.

CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum of Ideas and Actions is questioning whether it is simply the funding relating to humanitarian aid which is the problem or the entire model of working relationships between African countries in humanitarian need and those who come to help these countries.

As part of a series of planned discussions within CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum of Ideas and Actions, we are talking about the possibility of new models of working relationships between hotspot crisis African countries and the humanitarian mission. We are asking and trying to answer the following question:

Can the two sides of the disagreement find a model of working relationships that could meet their respective needs, be adapted to the current global reality of the world and be sustainable for both?

Those who may be interested in this question/discussion can join 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 question/discussion, please use our usual contact details on this website.

Message in French (Message en français)

Le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS discute des nouveaux modèles de relations de travail entre les zones d’insécurité en Afrique et la mission humanitaire.

Suite aux manifestations contre certaines missions humanitaires de maintien de la paix (comme dans l’est de la République Démocratique du Congo, au Mali, etc.), certains experts et analystes des droits de l’homme parlent de revoir les pratiques de travail dans ces zones de besoins humanitaires. Par exemple, Pierre Micheletti (8) appelle à réformer le financement de l’aide humanitaire.

Le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS se demande si c’est simplement le financement de l’aide humanitaire qui pose problème ou l’ensemble du modèle de relations de travail entre les pays africains dans le besoin et ceux qui viennent aider ces pays.

Dans le cadre d’une série de discussions prévues au sein du Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS , nous parlons de la possibilité de nouveaux modèles de relations de travail entre les pays africains en crise et la mission humanitaire. Nous posons la question suivante et nous essayons d’y répondre :

Les deux parties au désaccord peuvent-elles trouver un modèle de relations de travail qui pourrait répondre à leurs besoins respectifs, être adapté à la réalité mondiale actuelle du monde et être durable pour les deux?

Ceux/celles qui pourraient être intéressé(e)s par cette question/discussion, ils/elles peuvent joindre et/ou contribuer en contactant Le Forum d’idées et d’actions pour une meilleure Afrique du CENFACS, qui est un forum de discussion sur les questions 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

• Insurance Skills Development Project

The following items provide the key information about Insurance Skills Development Project (ISDP):

σ Definition of ISDP

σ The Aim of ISDP

σ ISDP Beneficiaries

σ Types of Insurance Skills to be Developed

σ Outcomes

σ ISDP Indicators

σ Project Funding Status

σ Impact Monitoring and Evaluation.

Let us summarise each of these items.

• • Definition of ISDP

ISDP is a basic literacy and numeracy proposal to build and develop skills and capacities in the form of training and education relating to the culture of insurance for the inadequately insured and uninsured poor people and communities in Africa.

• • The Aim of ISDP

This insurance project aims at reducing insurance poverty and hardships due to the lack or inadequacy of insurance policy cover or to the lack of understanding of insurance services and products offered to poor people and communities in Africa. This reduction of insurance poverty will be done through training and education of inadequately insured and or uninsured poor people.

• • ISDP Beneficiaries

They are potential retail insurance consumers who are lacking insurance necessities such as an insurance policy cover, money to buy insurance policy, money to change insurance provider or service, the power to claim their insurance rights, etc.

They are the under insured or uninsured segments of societies in Africa.

They are as well those who are vulnerable to insurance services and products and are looking forward to sustainable solutions to their insurance problems.

• • Types of Insurance Skills to be Developed

Training and education in the field of insurance can enhance beneficiaries’ interpersonal skills. Both training and education can help improve the following:

√ Communication and negotiation skills

√ Problems solving and analytical abilities

√ Relationship skills with insurance services providers

√ Statistical literacy ability to understand basic insurance maths and jargon

Etc.

Training and education can enable to know if insurance is available, accessible and affordable for the insurance poor.

Other basic insurance skills the project will offer include:

√ Literacy and numeracy insurance skills

√ Contract reading, interpreting and understanding skills

√ Ability to handle basic insurance metrics

√ Skills to summarise in concise and simple format complex contents of insurance cover plan

√ Abilities to buy insurance services or products

√ Communication skills to make enquiries, queries, complaints, etc.

√ Language translation skills to translate insurance products/services into your own local language

√ Price comparison skills to compare prices between insurance service providers

√ Skills to know protection against financial losses

√ Briefly, skills to understand insurance cover against financial risks.

Through the delivery of the above-mentioned skills, we hope to identify changes that users will go through.

• • Outcomes

• • • Outcomes in users

By using ISDP, users will

√ Become insurance literate and numerate

√ Integrate insurance as part of their daily life rather than an accident of life

√ Elevate people’s insurance cover against contingencies (such as fire, theft, flooding or any other natural disasters, etc.)

√ Improve their aspiration and motivation to get insurance

√ Ameliorate their confidence, trust and self-esteem regarding insurance products offered to them

√ Increase their insurance communications and insurance capacity skills to understand changes affecting their insurance policy/contract

√ Enhance their insurance skills and knowledge of insurance services

√ Reform relationships between insured and insurance industry

√ Boost people’s perception, competence and capability about insurance

√ Provide financial independence and choice to them instead of solely relying on their families, communities and next of kin for their insurance matter

Etc.

Briefly, users will have a better opportunity to run their insurance and protection matters.

• • • Outcomes in Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs)

Work undertaken by ASOs to help reduce insurance poverty should lead to:

√ Adaptation of local needs and the needs of beneficiaries in their insurance development agenda

√ Better local insights and capacities to create insurance solutions for the needy

√ Improvement in the risk management insight for the locals and local needs

√ Assisting in the innovation of insurance solutions for the needy

√ Knowledge of risk transfer mechanisms

√ Closing of insurance or protection gaps between the needy and the wealthy

√ Capturing metrics relating to insurance consumed

√ Increase insurance development within beneficiaries’ community

√ Contribution in the agenda to protect the needy from natural events like flooding, torrential rain, drought, etc.

• • ISDP Indicators

The measures below will help find out whether or not the project will reach its desired objectives and progress towards meeting its defined aims:

√ Number of poor people who embrace the culture of insurance

√ Number of poor people who would like to maintain the newly acquired culture of insurance

√ The percentage of new insured (because of ISDP) in comparison to the total of insured poor people before the implementation of ISDP

√ The rate of penetration of insurance contracts in the poor community and households

√ The number of people who become less vulnerable to poverty as a result of the insurance cover they bought

√ The performance of the confidence index of insurance (which is a barometer or gauge that provides people’s perceptions and expectations of the insurance services, products and industry) within poor communities

√ The number of surveyed poor people who are happy (optimistic) or unhappy (pessimistic) to buy insurance services provided or offered to them

Etc.

To conclude, ISDP is a pioneering initiative that will enable connection of the poor uninsured with insurance. ISDP will help make a real difference to poor people lives and help shape their future in insurance matter.

The skills, knowledge and capacities to be acquired will help the uninsured or inadequately insured to understand insurance services and products offered to them, make informed choices regarding their own insurance coverage and improve risk management insights for themselves.

• • Project Funding Status

So far, this project is unfunded. This means we are open to any credible funding proposals or proposition from potential funders or donors. It is known that the lingering impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have put a toll on everybody. Likewise, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which has partly led to the current cost-of-living crisis, does not make easy for support to other genuine deserving causes. However, those who would like to support this project will be more than welcome.

To fully or partly fund this project, please contact CENFACS.

• • Impact Monitoring and Evaluation

As part of impact monitoring, there will be routine and systematic gathering of information on all aspects of the project. In other words, we will systematically collect and analyse information to keep regular checks and balances on the project.

Likewise, we shall assess what the project will achieve in relation to the overall objectives it was set up. This is to say that evaluation will be conducted regarding the efforts spent on this project to find out whether or not these efforts are value for relief as far as insurance poverty reduction is concerned.

In proceeding in this manner, we will be able to measure the impact or at least the outcomes from this project.

The full project proposals including budget are available on request.

To support or contribute to this project, please contact CENFACS.

For further details including full project proposals and budget about the Insurance Skills Development Project, please contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://uncaccoalition.org/uncac-coalition-recommendations-to-un-meeting-on-management-and-disposal-of-stolen-assets/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(2) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2004), United Nations Convention Against Corruption, Vienna, Austria at https://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/Publications/Convention/08-50026_E.pdf (Accessed in February 2023)

(3) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015), Financing for Development Office, Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/up-content/uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (Accessed in February 2023)

(5) https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 (Accessed in February 2023)

(6) FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO (2022), The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022: Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable, Rome, FAO (https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0639en) (Accessed in August 2022)

(7) WFP and FAO, (2022), Hunger Hotspots, FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity, October 2022 to January 2023 Outlook, Rome (Accessed in February 2023)

(8) https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/02/12/au-mali-la-situation-illustre-les-limites-du-modele-economique-global-de-l-aide-humanitaire-internationale_6161543_3232.html (Consulté en février 2023)

_________

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With many thanks.

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Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on February 15, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

15 February 2023

Post No. 287

The Week’s Contents

• Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

• The People of Central African Republic Need your Influence to Stop the Worsening Humanitarian Crisis they are Experiencing

• Financial Controls 2023 for Households – In Focus: Financial Policies and Procedures

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

Our Month of Sustainable Development continues with the Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

Assets, whether public or private, can be taken away from where or those they belong to without permission or legal right. This can happen in many circumstances of life and times of history at different levels (such as personal, community, local and country/national levels).

For example, during the 2011 London riots, assets were stolen from their owners or taken away from where they belong to without permission or legal right. Assets could also be stolen during a particular historical process like colonial expeditions. Likewise, during armed conflicts or insecurity assets can as well be stolen (like in many parts of Africa where there have been conflicts).

Life events can sometimes lead to the recovery of stolen assets. However, the recovery of the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime relating to stolen assets can be a complex process as it requires legal route and proceedings as well as other elements (like international cooperation).

In this recovery process, what we are focussing on is not the legal side of stolen assets. We are instead looking at the poverty-reduction aspect that the recovery of stolen assets can bring to those in need, particularly but not exclusively poor households. We are as well putting emphasis on the diversion of public funds or assets to the pockets of private individuals or private bank accounts, and how this diversion can deny to the poor the possibility to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. In this respect, we are not dealing with other types of stolen funds or their recovery.

So, our Month of Sustainable Development is focussing this week on how illicitly-acquired or -obtained assets that have been recovered can be part of the resources needed to reduce poverty. This focus is carried out with in mind the spirit of Goal 16 and Target 4 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

More on this week’s focus can be found under the Main Development section of this post.

• The People of Central African Republic Need your Influence to Stop the Worsening Humanitarian Crisis they are Experiencing

The humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to deteriorate, according to the humanitarian community. Because of this deterioration, the Central Africans (or the People of Central African Republic) who are bearing the brunt of this crisis need your Positive Influence to end their suffering. The following summarises their appeal for Positive Influence.

• • Why they Need your Positive Influence

Data from many development agencies and the evidence on the grounds from local sources suggest that the intensity and urgency of humanitarian needs required to be relied soon than later in CAR.

For example, the World Bank (1) in its Food Security Update argues that

“CAR is amongst the countries with the greatest prevalence of insufficient food consumption in order of severity of 1.7 million people of the total affected population” (p. 14)

According to to the ‘reliefweb.int’ (2),

“One in five (1/5) Central Africans move in and out their country because of the insecurity;

3.4 million people (i.e. 56 per cent of the population) need humanitarian assistance and protection”.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (3) states that

“The number of people in Integrated Food Security Phase 3 (crisis) and above is estimated at 2.7 million between September 2022 and March 2023. This is mainly due to the impact civil insecurity and high food prices, as well as floods that caused people displacements, damaged standing crops and prevented access to fields” (p. 2)

The World health statistics 2022 published by World Health Organisation (4) reveals that

“Prevalence of stunting in children under 5 in comparable estimates in 2020 was 40.1%, while prevalence of wasting in children under in primary data was 53% between 2012 and 2020” (p. 114)

The above data reveals the scale of humanitarian crisis that the Central Africans are facing. Although the figures provided by the World Health Organisation are between 2012 and 2020, they nevertheless provide some indication about the state of children in CAR which experienced many years of insecurity and civil violence. This why the Central Africans need your Positive Influence.

• • What your Positive Influence can Achieve for them

Your Positive Influence can help

√ To support the country’s 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan which has been recently launched

√ To stop violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law

√ To encourage the return of displaced persons

√ To end gender-based violence (e.g. violence against young girls)

√ To enhance the implementation of life-saving responses

√ Briefly, to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable and humanitarian crisis-impacted Central Africans.

• • Who your Positive Influence will Benefit

The beneficiaries of your Positive Influence or Influencing Donation will be

√ Those who bearing the brunt of this continuing humanitarian crisis

√ Those experiencing the life-threatening effects of violence and insecurity

√ Those without or with limited access to basic services such as water, sanitation and hygiene

√ Those who are victims of gender-violence such as young girls

√ Those suffering from increased vulnerability and eroded livelihoods

√ The displaced Central Africans because of insecurity and threats to their lives

Etc.

You can donate your Positive Influence to reduce poverty in CAR.

To donate, please contact influential persons (or those having the keys) to reduce or solve the life-threatening effects from the continuing humanitarian crisis that the Central Africans are suffering from and make these influential persons reduce or end these damaging effects on them.

You can as well influence the things or factors that play in the continuity of this humanitarian crisis in order to create lasting favourable conditions for a return to life normality.

Please also let CENFACS know about your influencing work or contribution you are or will be making and its outcomes on behalf of the people of Central African Republic.

To let us know, you can contact CENFACS as follows:

*over phone

*via email

*through text

*by filling the contact form on this site.

On receipt of the outcome of your influencing donation, CENFACS will contact you for record and thank you for any influencing donation made. However, should you wish your influencing support to remain anonymous; we will respect your wish.

Thank you in anticipation for your willingness to give your Positive Influence to alleviate the suffering that the Central Africans are facing from the worsening humanitarian crisis.

• Financial Controls 2023 for Households – In Focus: Financial Policies and Procedures

As explained in our previous posts, Financial Controls are conducted with Financial Stability Campaign. During our previous work on Financial Controls with households, we focussed on Year-in-review Accounts as they are part of Financial Controls project or exercise, which also includes income boost and other financial tools making our Campaign to reduce and end poverty, particularly income poverty.

To continue Financial Controls, we are working on Financial Policies and Procedures that any households making the CENFACS Community could consider. What are financial policies and procedures for households and what they do them?

• • Financial policies and procedures and their use for households

Financial policies are a set of principles on which households can base their financial decisions. For example, they can have a financial policy or principle regarding a birthday or clothing budget.

Financial procedures are method and order they would like to follow to apply these policies. For example, they can decide to wait until the sale start to buy some items (like clothing) or buy them whenever they need them within their budget constraint.

Financial policies and procedures can help households to achieve their financial wellbeing and goals by:

σ Ensuring that resources are well used and accounted for

σ Explaining expenses in terms of allowability, allocability, reasonableness and benefit to the members of household

σ Defining how to perform financial control procedures (e.g. by household financial controller or use the automated process for household financial system, etc.)

σ Determining financial control responsibilities and capacities in the financial process

σ Deciding authority within households to perform a financial process control procedure

Etc.

In brief, policies and procedures are there for households to prevent financial and human errors, jus as to avoid non-compliance in a financial process. However, financial control should not become coercive control through policies and procedures set up. This is because within households, there are also social and family relations (especially for those households with children) not only financial transactions. One may need to be careful in the way they approach their financial policies and procedures to achieve their household general wellbeing which also includes financial health.

Additionally, it is not enough to have financial policies and procedures that nobody follows or looks at. It is better to apply them if one wants to keep their finances under control, especially during this challenging time of the cost-of-living crisis.

• • Working with users on matters relating to financial policies and procedures

We are prepared to work with some of our users who would like to set up and or develop financial policies and procedures for themselves or households. These policies and procedures could be set up and developed in any format (e.g., online, paper, verbal, etc.) as long as one understand what they mean by financial policies and procedures and willing to apply them. We shall as well share resources and examples of financial policies and procedures relating to households with those who may be interested in.

Need support regarding your financial controls and in particular financial policies and procedures for your household, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• Project Planning Service for the Users of Triple Value Initiatives (or All Year-round Projects)

• Digital and Social Media Campaign – Level 6

• Engaging Donor Developers and Stewards of Poverty Reduction

• Project Planning Service for the Users of Triple Value Initiatives (or All Year-round Projects)

Following last week’s announcement regarding the start-up of Triple Value Initiatives (made of Run, Play and Vote projects), our project planning service is now available for those who would like to engage with either of these projects.

Project planning will include the different steps of project cycle (as show in the All-year Round Projects Cycle below), which are: Identification, preparation, feasibility study, appraisal, negotiations and agreement, start, implementation, monitoring, reviews, termination, evaluation and impact evaluation.

These steps will be approached in a simple and practical way to make everybody (especially those members of our community who are not familiar with them) to understand what they mean and how to use them in the context of Triple Value Initiatives.

For those who are interested in this service, they can contact CENFACS by phoning, texting, e-mailing and completing the contact form on this website. We can together discuss in detail your/their proposals about either your/their Run or Play or Vote projects.

• Digital and Social Media Campaign – Level 6

This level is made of two sub-levels as follows.

Level 6.1: Data Insights

We are still at the level 6 of our Digital and Social Media Campaign. At the beginning of January 2023, we highlighted level 6.1 of our campaign which is Data Insights. However, insights are not only about data. They can also be about content which can include data.

Level 6.2: Content Insights

We are dealing with content life cycle so that the beneficiaries of this campaign properly understand this cycle and put it in the context of their life or household. This may require to know content ideation, development and distribution as well as the way it is marketed to them.

After analysing the content to get the insight of it, beneficiaries can take action regarding their life. To do that, they may need to possess some skills like analytical and numerical skills, content analysis techniques, literacy skills, reporting skills, the skills to guess what the content is telling them, etc. However, to conduct content analysis, some data and digital skills are needed as well.

Briefly, knowing to deal with contents can provide opportunity to better understand household life and to address problems encountered. It also helps to have a pro-active approach and take actionable drive in their decision making process. This is whether it is about scripted or unscripted content, structured or unstructured one.

For those members of our community who would like to enquire or work with us through Content Insights, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

• Engaging Donor Developers and Stewards of Poverty Reduction

As part of our Donor Development and Stewardship Programme, we are going to communicate with potential donor developers and stewards of poverty reduction in the last two days of this month of February 2023 (27 & 28 February 2023).

Our communication will be to re-explain what we do and answer questions they may raise. The occasion will also be to explore the profile of donor developers and stewards of poverty reduction, the reasons that motivate them to take donor development and stewardship drive as well as their general attitude towards what donor developers and stewards of poverty reduction do as work.

For those who may be interested in this communication, they can contact us on these days.

Message in French (Message en français)

• Service de planification de projet pour les utilisateurs d’initiatives à triple valeur (ou Projets tout au long de l’année)

Suite à l’annonce de la semaine dernière concernant le démarrage d’initiatives à triple valeur (composées de projets Courir, jouer et voter), notre service de planification de projet est maintenant disponible pour ceux/celles qui souhaitent s’engager dans l’un ou l’autre de ces projets.

La planification du projet comprendra les différentes étapes du cycle du projet, à savoir: identification, préparation, étude de faisabilité, évaluation, négociation et accord, démarrage, mise en œuvre, suivi, examens, clôture, évaluation et évaluation d’impact.

Ces étapes seront abordées de manière simple et pratique pour que tout le monde (en particulier les membres de notre communauté qui ne les connaissent pas) comprenne ce qu’elles signifient et comment les utiliser dans le contexte des initiatives à triple valeur.

Pour ceux/celles qui sont intéressé(e)s par ce service, ils/elles peuvent contacter le CENFACS en téléphonant, en envoyant des SMS, des e-mails et en remplissant le formulaire de contact sur ce site. Nous pouvons discuter ensemble en détail de vos/leurs propositions concernant vos/leurs projets Courir, jouer et voter.

Main Development

• Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

The following items make the Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households, which is the third note of our Sustainable Development Month:

σ Key Concepts of the Note 3

σ The Recovery Process of Stolen Assets

σ How the Recovery of Stolen Assets can Support Poor Households

σ Intergenerational Transfer of Stolen Assets and Intergenerational Poverty

σ Ways of Working with the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations on Asset Recovery.

Let us briefly explain each of these items indicating the pitch of the Note 3.

• • Key Concepts of the Note 3

There are three concepts that shape Note 3, which are: stolen assets, proceeds of crime and asset recovery.

a) Stolen Assets

To understand stolen assets, it is better to first clarify the meaning of assets. Our working definition of assets comes from Jean-Pierre Brun et al. (5) who explain them as

“Assets of every kind, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and legal documents or instruments evidencing title to or interest in such assets. The term is used interchangeably with property” (p. 325)

Assets, whether public or private, can be taken away from where or those they belong to without permission or legal right. When they are taken away in this way, they become stolen assets.

b) Proceeds of Crime

Jean-Pierre Brun et al. (op. cit.) also define the proceeds of crime as

“Any asset derived from or obtained, directly or indirectly, through the commission of an offense” (p. 328)

This definition will help to understand some of the hurdles in asset recovery.

c) Asset Recovery

The meaning of asset recovery used in the Note 3 stems from what ‘transparency.org’ (6) states on its website, which is

“Asset recovery is the process of reclaiming and returning these stolen proceeds to the country from which they were taken. The process includes tracing, freezing, confiscating and repatriating the stolen assets and is usually complex and lengthy, involving multiple jurisdictions”.

The above key concepts will contribute to the understanding of the recovery process of stolen assets.

• • The Recovery Process of Stolen Assets

The process of recovering stolen assets includes collecting intelligence and evidence and tracing assets, securing the assets, court process, enforcing orders and return of assets. In this process, one needs to differentiate whether or not legal actions initiated by foreign jurisdictions will be involved.

This process can be long or short, complex or simple depending on the cases. Because of that, the link between asset recovery and the possibility of supporting those in need through repatriated funds could be uncertain or random, especially when those needs are urgent and pressing. However, one can still have hope this link may happen.

• • How the Recovery of Stolen Assets can Support Poor Households

It is possible to use recovered stolen assets to support those living in poverty, and amongst them are poor households despite the uncertainty described above. However, there could be a challenge to do it. For example, Gomes Pereira et al. (7) in their research paper on ‘The role of donors in the recovery of stolen assets’ argue that

“Asset recovery is [also] an essential development challenge, as it usually involves repatriating funds back to a developing country where they were stolen, and where they could be used to support development projects”.

Challenge does not mean that asset recovery cannot be done. It can be and if it succeeds, the recuperated and repatriated funds can be used for development purposes including supporting poor households.

Likewise, writing on the use of recovered assets on poverty, ‘transparency.org’ (8) argues that

“Little information can be found on systematic efforts to collect data and measure the effectiveness of repatriate funds in reducing poverty in the countries of origin” (p. 3)

The same ‘transparenccy.org’ concludes that

“Effective monitoring mechanisms are needed at all levels – from disbursement of resources to implementation – of development projects” (p. 5)

From what ‘transparency.org’ argues about, it is mundane to say there are cases that succeeded; just as there will be cases that may succeed.

• • Intergenerational Transfer of Stolen Assets and Intergenerational Poverty

Stolen assets can be passed to other generations without sometimes these generations knowing they are inheriting stolen assets. This transfer can make the reduction of poverty harder if these assets could have been part of poverty reduction process. The transfer can as well create or exacerbate intergenerational poverty for others. In other words, one could argue that those who are poor from where assets were stolen may not be poor if these assets were not stolen.

So, reducing and recovering stolen assets can help decrease the intergenerational transfer of stolen assets as well as the transfer of poverty to other generations in the opposite direction. To make this reduction and recovery to happen, it may require working together between where stolen assets come from and where they have been sent to.

• • Ways of Working with the Community and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on Asset Recovery

There is a number of ways by which CENFACS can work with the community and Africa-based Sister Organisations on Asset Recovery.

• • • Working with the Community on Asset Recovery

Together with the community we can impact the Recovery of Stolen Assets can Support Poor Households by these ways:

√ Explaining asset recovery policy

√ Informing and directing users to services dealing with stolen assets recovery

√ Helping in data collection regarding stolen asset recovery

√ Communicating information about stolen asset recovery

√ Participating in studies (e.g., survey, focus group discussion, etc.) relating to stolen assets recovery

√ Sharing under the General Data Protection Act non sensitive information about stolen asset recovery actions and results

Etc.

• • • Working with ASOs on Asset Recovery

CENFACS can as well work with ASOs dealing with Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support their Poor Households by:

√ Supporting asset recovery initiatives run by ASOs

√ Sharing online platforms to discuss matters relating to stolen assets recovery

√ Help ASOs dealing with stolen assets recovery to access technical assistance and capacity building on stolen assets recovery

√ Providing assistance during the asset repatriation process/phase

√ Advocating for a portion of repatriated funds to be allocated to poverty reduction, particularly but not exclusively to poor households

Etc.

To sum up, the diversion of public funds in the form of illicitly-acquired or -obtained assets can subtract a lump sum of money from where they are taken; money that could have been used to reduce or even end poverty. This diversion can create or exacerbate poverty for those who are poor and amongst them are poor households. Reclaiming and returning these stolen proceeds to the country from which they were taken is a just cause to pursue if these returned funds can contribute to development efforts, including to poverty reduction.

For those members of our community who may be interested in matter relating to Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support their Poor Households, they are free to contact CENFACS. For those Africa-based Sister Organisations that are willing to collaborate with us on the matter, they can let CENFACS know.

For any other queries or enquiries about Sustainable Development Month and the Recovery of Stolen Assets to Support their Poor Households, please also contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) World Bank (2023), Food Security Update, World Bank Publications, Washington (www.worldbank.org)

(2) https://reliefweb.int/report/central-african-republic/central-african-republic-us465-million-required-address-ever-growing-humanitarian-needs-2023 (Accessed in February 2023)

(3) FAO (2022), Crop Prospects and Food Situation – Quarterly Global Report No. 4, Dec. 2022, Rome (https://doi.org/10.4060/cc3233en (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) World Health Statistics (2022): Monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, Geneva, World Health Organisation; 2022, Licence: CCBY-NC-SA3.OIGO

(5) Brun, J. P., Sotiropoulou, A., Gray, L., Scott, C. & Stephenson, K. M. (2021), Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition, Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, World Bank, UNODC

(6) https://www.transparency.org/en/our-priorities/asset-recovery-and-the-theft-of-public-money# (Accessed in February 2023)

(7) https://www.gov.uk/research-for-development-outputs/the-role-of-donors-in-the-recovery-of-stolen-assets (Accessed in February 2023)

(8) https://www.transparency.org/files/content/corruptionqas/230_impact_of_asset_recording_recovery_and_money_laundering_on_poverty_reduction.pdf (Accessed in February 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.

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 in 2023 and beyond.

With many thanks.

Permalink

Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on February 8, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

08 February 2023

Post No. 286

The Week’s Contents

• Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023

• Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows to Support Poor Households

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023

Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023 is a prospect for the future of the not-for-profit investment and development market in Africa as well as a view from CENFACS on the likely possibilities, openings and opportunities of not-for-profit investing in Africa in 2023 and probably beyond. The first release of this Outlook focuses on the areas or fields of poverty reduction to not-for-profit invest in Africa.

Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023 has to be understood as an extension of CENFACS’ Guidance Programme for those who would like to not-for-profit invest in Africa. The Outlook does not replace the Guidance for Investing in Africa. It just adds value to it. It presents the information that not-for-profit investors may want in simple yet concise format.

In the focus on not-for-profit investing in Africa, we have summarised or highlighted areas or sectors that may be attractable for potential poverty-reducing investors in Africa. As it stands, it is a summary or highlight about market niches; it is not a listing of all areas or fields of not-for-profit investment in Africa. For each area or field highlighted, prospective not-for-profit investors will find three features: the needs, the opportunities and the types of investment expected.

More on Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023 can be found under the Main Development section of this post.

• Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows to Support Poor Households (Note 2 of Sustainable Development Month)

Illicit proliferation of arms and ammunition do not only play a key role in violence and insecurity, they can also create or exacerbate poverty for the victims of violence and insecurity. This can happen at local/community level and in overseas development places. This is whether one speaks about heavy or light weapons, small or big ones.

For example, in humanitarian situations in insecurity hotspot places like in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo and other insecurity hotspot areas of Africa, illicit arms flows are bringing poverty, human displacement, food insecurity, health poverty, gender violence, in brief human rights violation of all kinds.

Organisations working on the issue of illicit arms flows like Transparency International (1) argues that

“The diversion of weapons to, from and within conflict zones – including to non-state actors – risks exacerbating conflict, reinforcing a downward cycle of poverty and instability”.

Because of that, reducing illicit arms flows will help to provide peace, security and stability as well as the scaling down of poverty linked to these flows. Amongst the beneficiaries of this reduction of illicit arms flows are poor households living in insecure and violent areas where illicit arms are inflowing and outflowing. However, before going any further, let us try to understand what illicit arms flows are.

• • What are illicit arms flows?

On their background paper through the website ‘sipri.org’ (2), Mark Bromley et al. (2) state that there is no universally agreed interpretation of the phrase ‘illicit arms flows’. According to Mark et al.,

“Illicit arms flows are described as consisting of any cross-border movement of arms that has not been approved by both the exporting and importing state”.

They also explain that

“Illicit arms deliveries are deliveries to an unauthorised end user or recipient without making reference to who is doing the authorising” (p. 9)

The above mentioned definition and explanation will help to assess the extent to which the reduction of illicit arms flows can open up a space for support to poor households. However, to make this reduction more palpable, it is better to measure illicit arms. As an example of measures, the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (3) provided the following indicator (known as Indicator 16.4.2) to measure illicit arms:

“The proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments”.

The above understanding and indicator of illicit arms flows are the tools that one can use to help reduce illicit arms flows. In particular, they provide CENFACS the conceptual tools to work with community here in the UK and Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on this issue.

• • Working with the Community on the Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows (RIAFs) to Support Poor Households

There is a number of areas on which CENFACS can work with the community to impact the reduction of illicit arms flows to support poor households. These areas include:

√ Raising awareness about the fight and eradication of illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all their aspects

√ Sensitising the community about arms control instruments

√ Supporting cross-border community understanding initiatives

√ Advice to our members to use peaceful means to resolve disputes within the community and between the community and others

√ Making the root causes of illicit arms flows and of poverty as an urgent matter

√ Helping the community to understand relevant instruments in illicit arms matter such as arms trade treaties, programmes of action to prevent the proliferation of illicit arms, arms tracing instruments, etc.

√ Sharing data-collection efforts on illicit arms

√ Signposting poor households in need of support to relevant organisations and services dealing with illicit arms flows and their consequences, since illicit arms flows are not an area of specialisation of CENFACS.

• • Working with ASOs on the Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows to Support Poor Households

CENFACS can as well work with ASOs dealing with Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows (RIAFs) to Support their Poor Households by:

√ Sharing news, information, knowledge and tools relating to the reduction of illicit arms flows

√ Making humanitarian appeals to support poor people and households victims of insecurity and violence because of the ill consequences of illicit arms flows (consequences like human displacement, hunger, disease, destruction of basic infrastructure, human tragedies, etc.)

√ Helping communities to understand relevant instruments in illicit arms matter such as international arms trade treaties, programmes of action to prevent the proliferation of illicit arms, arms tracing instruments, mutual benefit-sharing instruments, etc.

√ Making the root causes of illicit arms flows and of poverty as life-saving matter

√ Campaigning for peace and security between communities in Africa

√ Promoting dialogue to resolve ethnic tensions and differences in Africa

√ Helping in the reduction of cross-border and cross-community poverty in Africa

Etc.

In short, illicit arms flowing between communities could pose problems not only of security and peace, but also of creating or exacerbating poverty for those who are poor and amongst them are poor households. Reducing these illicit arms flows could have a double impact which is: peace and reduction of poverty linked to illicit arms flows.

For those members of our community who may be interested in matter relating to RIAFs, they are free to contact CENFACS. For those Africa-based Sister Organisations that are willing to collaborate with us on RIAFs matter, they can let CENFACS know.

For any other queries or enquiries about Sustainable Development Month and the Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows to Support Poor Households, please also contact CENFACS.

• Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty

Nature Projects are run since CENFACS was established. Examples of Nature Projects run by CENFACS include Flora and Fauna projects, ‘A la une‘ and the Big Beasts Campaigns. However, since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (4) was agreed in December 2022, we have decided to extend the scope and depth of the kinds of Nature Projects we run.

This extension is as well explained by the need within the community to find Nature-based Solutions to Poverty and hardships they are facing. In other words, the community is looking for the process of finding answers to their problems via nature means. In this respect, Nature Projects come with them Nature-based Solutions to Poverty. But, how do we define Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions?

• • Definition of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions

• • • Nature Projects

Nature Projects are a series or group of poverty-reducing initiatives, activities, plans, schemes and proposals designed by CENFACS with the following three objectives in mind:

a) to work with the community about the importance of the nature in their/our daily lives and in the process of reducing poverty

b) to reconnect this community with nature (that is, plants, animals and landscapes)

and c) to keep up parts of the nature to their pre-human conditions.

These Nature Projects include two types of project: our Regular Nature Projects which we have been so far running as mentioned above and New Nature Projects.

Additionally, nature goals contained in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will be rolled out into the New Nature Projects. These New Nature Projects are the implementation of these goals with the community we serve and our Africa-based Sister Organisations.

The New Nature Projects will be about:

√ Maintaining, enhancing and restoring the integrity, connectivity and resilience of ecosystems

√ Reducing the extinction of known threatened species

√ Valuing nature’s contributions to our life, our community members’ life, our solutions to poverty.

• • • Nature-based Solutions

There are many interpretations of Nature-based Solutions. The definition we are going to use come from ‘climatechanmpions.unfcc.int’ (5); definition which is:

“Nature-based Solutions are actions and policies that protect, manage and restore natural ecosystems, while addressing social challenges”.

• • Implementing Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty

In the coming weeks and months, we shall have the progressive implementation of this new generation of Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty in the forms of planned themed activities, events, workshops, etc. The themes, days, times and locations (whether online or in-person) of these initiatives will be announced.

For those who would like to find out more about Nature Projects and Nature-based Solutions to Poverty, they can contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• Financial Stability Campaign 2023 – Third Area of Focus: Saving for Emergencies

• Triple-value-initiative Start-up/Planning

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Discusses the Africa Climate Risk Facility

• Financial Stability Campaign 2023 – Third Area of Focus: Saving for Emergencies

Our Financial Stability Campaign 2023, which is conducted equally with Financial Controls 2023, is now focusing on savings one can make to manage unexpected financial situations and unforeseen financial circumstances of life job loss, medical emergency, losses in the financial market, home appliances breakdown, etc. When these circumstances or situations arrive, saving or emergency fund can help. But, what is saving? What is an emergency fund?

• • Basic understanding of saving and emergency fund

To basically understand saving, we have chosen its definition from ‘Quicken.com’ (6) which states this:

“Savings refer to money you put aside for future use rather than spending it immediately”.

‘Quicken.com’ also adds that

“One of the most important things to save for is unexpected financial emergencies. This can include losing your job, unexpected health issues or your car or other home appliances breaking down, so you should have between three and six months worth of living expenses set aside”.

To save for unexpected financial emergencies means one needs to build an emergency fund. What is an emergency fund?

Amongst the definitions of emergency we found is the one given by ‘fidelity.com’ (7), which is:

“Cash you keep in reserve for serious unexpected predicament like a job loss or a catastrophe that is not covered by insurance”.

The above-mentioned definitions will help in working with the community under this campaign to explore ways of saving for emergencies during this challenging economic time of the cost-of-living crisis, especially of soaring interest rates (at the moment the base interest rate stands at 4% in the UK, according to the Bank of England).

• • Working with the community to explore ways of saving for emergencies

The saving we are talking about is private one. By definition, private saving equals to income minus taxes minus consumption. In simple mathematical terms, it will be as follows:

Saving = (Income – Taxes) – Consumption

However, there is a problem with poor people and families for and on whose behalf we are campaigning. They do not have enough income and use most of their income to meet basic life-sustaining needs of consumption or non-discretionary expenses. These expenses on their basic needs are uncuttable. Mathematically and in reality, they are unable to create or build saving.

To create saving one can either increase their income or trim their consumption or do both. For poor people and families, it is very difficult to create or build saving in the context of the above saving model. It is as well improbable that they can build an emergency fund without help. The theory about emergency fund states that one needs at least 3 to 6 months an emergency fund.

Because of this difficulty or improbability, there is a need to campaign for financial stability. Our campaign in relation to saving for emergencies will revolve around the following:

√ Planning ahead with them their saving and emergency fund

√ Helping campaign beneficiaries to set up their emergency fund goal and target (e.g., 3 to 6 months)

√ Working out the emergency fund they really need

√ Exploring ways to boost income or trim spending to create savings or do both

√ Understanding savings tracker

√ Establishing their financial reserves

√ Helping them create an emergency saving account

√ Finding and removing barriers to build saving or emergency fund

√ Working with them to avoid financial losses

√ Managing both emergency fund account and liquid accounts

√ Making a plan on when to dip into emergency fund

√ Finding insurance protection schemes for emergency if they cannot save for emergencies

√ Providing advice and tips on how to separate emergency fund from spending money and other types of saving

√ Sharing with the community what we have to offer to make saving for emergencies to materialise in their lives

√ Making suggestions on better way of storing cash using for example certificates of deposit or money market fund

√ Turning their saving for an emergency fund into a regular commitment rather than an exception to the rule

Etc.

As part of this area of campaign, steps can be taken to influence those who have the key to decision on reduction poverty matter so that poor people can create saving for emergencies or provide them a cover if they are unable to do so.

Finally, this third area of campaign is about how we can reduce or end poverty because of the lack of saving for emergencies. The continuing rise of prices and costs of living can only put pressure on the possibility of saving for emergencies. Those who do not have saving for emergencies may see the prospect of getting out poverty very distant to them.

The above is the third area of focus about our Financial Stability Campaign 2023. To ask for help or enquire about the third area of our focus, please do not hesitate to communicate with CENFACS.

To support this campaign, please contact CENFACS.

• Triple-value-initiative Start-up/Planning

In order to support those who have decided or may decide to engage with All-year Round Projects or Triple Value Initiatives, we are running start up sessions for each of them (i.e. Run, Play and Vote projects). What do we mean by running start up sessions for Run, Play and Vote projects?

• • Start up for Run, Play and Vote Projects

Start up for these projects is about working with whoever decides to execute the above mentioned projects to set the tone of their projects and expectations for themselves. It is also about setting realistic goals and working out the right methodology from the beginning to the end in their project journey. It includes better planning and management.

• • Phases of project planning and management

We are going to deal with different phases of project planning or start up from the idea (of running or playing or voting) to the initiative implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Whether you want to run or play or vote; you need to undertake a basic project planning in terms of the way you want to do it. This basic project planning/start-up will include things like the following:

σ Aims (changes you plan to achieve)

σ Impact (a longer-term effects of your project)

σ Inputs (resources you will put into your initiative)

σ Monitoring (regularly and systematically collecting and recording information)

σ Outcomes (changes and effects that may happen from your initiative)

σ Indicators (measures or metrics that show you have achieved your planned outcomes)

σ Budget (income and expenses for your initiative)

σ Reporting (sharing your actions and results)

Etc.

As we all know, not everybody can understand these different steps they need to navigate in order to make their initiative or project a success story. That is why we are offering this opportunity to those who would like to engage with the Triple Value Initiatives (Run, Play and Vote projects) to first talk to CENFACS so that we can together soften some of the hurdles they may encounter in their preparation and delivery.

For those who would like to discuss with CENFACS their Triple-value-initiative plans or proposals, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Discusses the Africa Climate Risk Facility

On 9 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) at COP27 (the 27th Conference of the Parties) side event, the African Insurance Industry leaders committed to underwrite $14 billion of cover for Africa’s climate risks by 2030 (8).

Through this underwriting act, they laid down the foundations of Africa Climate Risk Facility, which is – as these leaders defined it themselves – a mechanism that will scale private sector underwriting of climate disaster risk in Africa.

As part of the continuation of our work on ‘Promoting the Culture of Insurance amongst Those in Need to Reduce Poverty in Africa’ which we conducted last month, we would like to discuss the implications of this Africa Climate Risk Facility for insurance poverty reduction in Africa, particularly but not exclusively in our area of operation in Africa.

In this discussion, we will try to answer the following questions:

~ How can this facility (or an African-led solution to loss and damage) promote the culture of insurance amongst those in need to reduce insurance poverty in Africa?

~ How can local market-based disaster risk finance solutions use this facility and help the uninsured or the inadequately insured in Africa?

~ How can risk transfer solutions relating to climate change impacts (e.g., flood, drought and tropical cyclones) support resilience amongst the insurance poor via this facility?

Those who may be interested in this discussion, they can contact CENFACS to join and or contribute.

To communicate with CENFACS regarding this discussion, please use our usual contact details on this website.

Message in French (Message en français)

Mois du développement durable avec la réduction des flux illicites et des biens volés pour soutenir les ménages pauvres

Février est le mois du développement durable, selon le calendrier de développement du CENFACS.

• Qu’est-ce que le mois du développement durable?

C’est le mois au cours duquel nous revisitons nos travaux relatifs au développement durable. En particulier, nous essayons d’examiner à nouveau les dix-sept objectifs de développement durable (ODD) des Nations Unies (9) et leurs 169 cibles connexes.

Nous sélectionnons normalement l’un des sujets dans l’ensemble des ODD et des cibles; et essayez d’y travailler. Pour ce mois de février 2023, nous avons sélectionné l’objectif 16 et la cible 4 de cet objectif.

L’objectif 16 est de promouvoir l’avènement de sociétés pacifiques et ouvertes à tous aux fins du développement durable, assurer l’accès de tous à la justice et de mettre en place, à tous les niveaux, des institutions efficaces, responsables et ouvertes à tous.

La cible 4 de l’objectif 16 est de réduire nettement les flux financiers illicites, le traffic d’armes illicites, renforcer les activités de récupération et de restitution des biens volés et lutter contre toutes les formes de criminalité organisée, d’ici à 2030.

Pour faire fonctionner notre Mois de la durabilité, nous allons impliquer les membres de notre communauté à travers les aspects choisis de la cible 4 tout en gardant l’esprit de l’objectif 16 tel qu’il a été mis en place par les Nations Unies.

• Inciter nos membres à soutenir la réduction des flux financiers et celle d’armes illicites, ainsi que la récupération et la restitution des biens volés

Nous engageons en effet les membres de notre communauté à soutenir les messages contenus dans l’objectif 16 et la cible 4 de cet objectif. Nous plaidons également pour qu’une partie du produit de la réduction des flux financiers et d’armes illicites ainsi que du recouvrement et de la restitution des avoirs volés soit affectée à la réduction de la pauvreté et au soutien des ménages pauvres.

Notre plaidoyer peut s’expliquer comme suit. Pendant la pandémie de coronavirus et même maintenant en cette période de crise du coût de la vie, il y a eu des recherches de financement pour faire face aux coûts de la catastrophe du coronavirus et de la crise du coût de la vie.

Bien qu’une partie du financement ait été obtenue par diverses sources telles que des subventions, des dons et des prêts; il y a d’autres sources de financement qui sont inexploitées. Parmi ces sources inexploitées figurent les flux financiers illicites et la valeur monétaire des biens volés.

Pourtant, ces fonds inexploités ou dormants auraient pu être trouvés et mis à disposition pour contribuer aux efforts visant à faire face aux effets persistants de la catastrophe du coronavirus et aux effets paralysants de la crise du coût de la vie. Ces flux financiers illicites et ces avoirs volés pourraient être suivis, récupérés et restitués là où ils appartiennent ou où ils ont été pris.

Les responsables du processus de traitement de ces flux illicites et de ces avoirs volés peuvent négocier avec leurs propriétaires (publics ou privés) et explorer la possibilité de libérer une partie des fonds et avoirs récupérés pour financer la pauvreté et les causes méritoires. Ils pourraient être utilisés pour soutenir les pauvres et les ménages pauvres.

Par exemple, dans le cadre de la construction d’un redressement durable en Afrique, il est compréhensible que l’Afrique demande le suivi, le recouvrement et la restitution des flux financiers illicites et des biens volés. Il y a eu des réponses positives à la demande de l’Afrique pour la restitution des avoirs volés, même s’il reste encore beaucoup à faire.

Il est également logique que le CENFACS plaide pour qu’une partie des dividendes provenant de la réduction des flux financiers et d’armes illicites et du recouvrement et de la restitution des avoirs volés soit utilisée pour soutenir les ménages pauvres. Cela peut être fait selon des termes, conditions et modalités clairement définis.

Pour nous permettre d’aborder le thème de la réduction des flux financiers et d’armes illicites et de la récupération et de la restitution des biens volés, nous avons organisé un plan de travail pour ce mois de février 2023. Pour ceux ou celles qui sont intéressé(e)s à notre plan de travail en la matière, ils/elles peuvent contacter le CENFACS.

Main Development

• Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023

In Focus: Areas or Fields of Poverty Reduction to Invest in Africa

Our coverage of Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023 includes two items:

σ What is a Not-for-profit Investment?

σ Areas or Fields of Poverty Reduction to Invest in Africa.

Let us highlight each of these items.

• • What is a Not-for-profit Investment?

It is a sum of money puts into a not-for-profit organisation in order to help this organisation achieve its not-for-profit mission. Not-for-profit means that the organisation is not engaged in the activity of realising a greater difference between its sales revenue and total costs. Instead, the organisation aims at providing services without making profit, services that benefit its members or the community as specified in its governing document.

This not-for-profit investment can be in the physical or financial form. Therefore, there are two types of investment that not-for-profit investors can choose in order to engage in, which are: physical or real investment and financial investment.

σ Physical or real investment normally includes fixed capital assets (such as machinery and equipment) and stocks.

σ Financial investment consists of purchasing financial securities like shares and bonds. In this financial investment, one can consider portfolio investment as well.

In the context of the not-for-profit development, we are preoccupied with those types of investment that are not meant to earn income in the form of dividend, interest and rent payments. We shall instead deal with those investments that bring high return of poverty reduction for projects and programmes beneficiaries in Africa. In other words, we are interested in how to make your finances return for poverty reduction instead of profit.

• • Areas or Fields of Poverty Reduction to Invest in Africa.

The following are the possible areas of investing in Africa. They include the needs, opportunities and investments expected.

σ African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

The need: The operationalisation of the AfCFTA requires not only for-profit investments but also not-for-profit investors to provide services and products to communities in need making this trade area.

The opportunity: Because of its size in terms of population (that is., 1.3 billion people across 55 countries), the AfCFTA provides a tremendous window of opportunities and potentials for not-for-profit investors.

The Investment: Projects to provide digital and literacy inclusion to close the digital infrastructure gap, of resilient and unfragmented internet in Africa will be welcome. Also, projects to give new tools of trade for not-for-profit African Organisations (including charities and community groups) operating in this free trade area will bolster these organisations’ capacity and expand their poverty-reduction results.

σ Climate-smart Development

The need: Africa is looking for a climate-smart path to attain Sustainable Development Goals.

The opportunity: The severe impact of climate change creates opportunity as Africa cannot alone afford to mitigate this impact.

The investment: Funding sustainable-development-goals investments and investing in climate-vulnerable key sectors (such as energy, agriculture, transport, water and cities) will be attractable.

σ Clean Energy and Transition

The need: Increasing energy demand and the desire to close the energy deficit provide the necessity for clean energy development.

The opportunity: There is abundance of forms of renewable energy resources, particularly solar, hydro, wind and bioenergy.

The investment: Projects to tackle Africa’s energy paradox (that is, abundant energy resources with high deficit in access to modern energy) and projects for transformative deployment of clean energy especially in the poor areas of Africa will be well suited.

σ Women, Girls and Inequality

The need: There is a high level of inequality for women and girls in many areas of life.

The opportunity: There is a lot of opportunities to close inequalities for women and girls

The investment: Projects to enable women and girls to rightfully occupy their place in the process of poverty reduction and development will be welcome.

σ Conflict Resolution

The need: There are hotspot conflict-prone and -afflicted zones of Africa (like the border areas of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, etc.) that require an end to insecurity and violence due to armed conflicts.

The opportunity: There are opportunities to resolve conflicts, to negotiate and bring peace to those areas affected by conflicts.

The investment: Projects to reduce illicit arms flows, to invest in security, to end conflicts and sustain peace like investing in sports for peace will be recommended.

σ Food Security

The need: Africa has a high prevalence of food insecurity as its has a huge number of food insecure countries with hardest hit by the unprecedented food and nutrition crisis such as Burkina Faso, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Niger, etc.

According to the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisations of the United Nations (10), the number of people in acute food insecurity in 2022 (most recent projections) in millions would be in the hotspot countries below as follows:

3.5 in Burkina Faso, 2.2 in Central African Republic, 2.1 in Chad, 25.9 in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2.1 in Madagascar, 1.8 in Mali, and 4.4 in Niger (p. 8).

The opportunity: There are high food prices and a lack of fair distribution of food, especially in areas that are difficult to access because of lack of transport facilities and of security. Not-for-profit food investors can reap off the benefit by using home-grown solutions to provide affordable and easily accessible food products to food insecure.

The investment: Projects to prevent, detect and treat acute child malnutrition while facilitating access to food and making food affordable for the food insecure and poor will help to reduce food poverty.

σ Education and Healthcare

The need: Africa needs to safeguard and increase investments in education and healthcare which continue to suffer the consequences of the coronavirus and other effects (like armed conflicts and climate change disaster).

The opportunity: In conflict-stricken and climate-impacted areas of Africa, there are opportunities to build schools and health centres, provide educational and health resources, and to equip crisis-stricken communities with digital tools.

The Investment: Projects to rebuild destroyed educational and health infrastructures destroyed by armed conflicts and natural disasters are sought to help the victims of these events.

σ COVID-19 Vaccine Inequality

The need: Africa is lagging behind regions of the world with fully vaccinated people against the coronavirus pandemic; and the demand for health workers to cover shortages is high in Africa.

The opportunity: Africa is vulnerable to renewed outbreaks and the possible arrival of new COVID-19 variants.

The investment: Not-for-profit investing in awareness raising to curb vaccine hesitancy and low risk perception of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic will help to deploy COVID-19 vaccination and to improve people’s minds about the positive effects of COVID-19 vaccination.

σ Democracy and Human Rights

The need: To continue to build democratisation processes in Africa, poor people need to be heard.

The opportunity: In 2023, there are almost 24 countries that are holding polls ranging from local to parliamentarian and presidential votes.

The investment: Projects of free speech, the right to express a choice/opinion (or freedom of expression) and the right to online autonomy and privacy will help the voiceless to express their need of poverty reduction.

σ Digital Inequality

The need: To widely reduce poverty in Africa, it requires for many of project beneficiaries working with a number of the organisations that CENFACS is dealing with to reduce digital inequality.

The opportunity: Due to the lack of access to the majority of these beneficiaries to digital technologies and facilities, there is an opportunity to invest in human-centred digital projects to reduce digital inequality.

The investment: Projects of resilient, open, inclusive, safe and secure internet access for the vulnerable and unconnected poor like the above-mentioned beneficiaries will be a not-for-profit investment to bridge digital divide or gap.

The above are some highlights regarding the prospect for not-for-profit investing in Africa. These highlights are part of a series of advice and tips planned for 2023 to work with potential not-for-profit investors.

As argued earlier, these highlights cover only some areas or fields of investing in Africa. For those not-for-profit investors who are interested in a particular area or field and would like to dive deeper into it, they are free to contact CENFACS.

For any other enquiries or queries about Africa Not-for-profit Investment Outlook 2023 and Guidance for Investing in Africa, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://ti-defence.org/what-we-do/industry-integrity/illicit-arms-flows/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(2) Bromley, M., Caparini, M. & Malaret, A. (2019), Measuring Illicit Arms and Financial Flows: Improving the Assessment of Sustainable Development Goal 16, Sipri, SIPRI Background Paper at https://sipri.org/sites/default/files/2019-07/bp_1907_sdg_16.pdf (Accessed in February 2023)

(3) https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-16-04-02pdf (Accessed in February 2023)

(4) https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 (Accessed in February 2023)

(5) https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/what-are-nature-based-solutions-and-how-can-we-finance-them/# (Accessed in February 2023)

(6) https://www.quicken.com/blog/what-savings/ (Accessed in February 2023)

(7) https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/personal-finance/save-for-an-emergency# (Accessed in February 2023)

(8) https://fsdafrica.org/press-release/leveraging-the-african-insurance-industry-to-create-resilient-african-economies/# (Accessed in February 2023)

(9) https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (Accessed in February 2023)

https://intranet.pactemondial.org/storage/base_documentaire/Liste%20des%2017%20ODDet%20169&20Cibles.pdf (Accessed in February 2023)

(10) WFP and FAO, (2022), Hunger Hotspots, FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity, October 2022 to January 2023 Outlook, Rome (Accessed in February 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.

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 in 2023 and beyond.

With many thanks.

Permalink

Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

Posted by ctsh@in2015 on February 1, 2023 in Uncategorized

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

01 February 2023

Post No. 285

The Week’s Contents

• Sustainable Development Month with the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

• Goal for the Month: Reduction of Poverty Linked to Illicit Financial Flows

• African Children’s Climate, Nature and Sustainable Development Goals (Generation Global Goals Project): Generational Impact Analysis of the Cost-of-living Crisis on Children

… And much more!

Key Messages

• Sustainable Development Month with the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

February is the month of Sustainable Development, according to CENFACS development calendar or planner. It is the month during which we revisit our works relating to sustainable development. In particular, we try to look at again the United Nations (1) Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their related 169 targets. We normally select one of the topics within the set of SGDs and targets; and try to work on it. For this February 2023, we have selected Goal 16 and Target 4 of this goal.

• • Goal 16 and Target 4 as Working Theme for the Month of Sustainability

Goal 16 is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Target 4 of Goal 16 is to significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime, by 2030.

Although Goal 16 speaks about societies and institutions, human societies and institutions are made of humans. Humans (people) can form households. Thus, Goal 16 and Target 4 are about people and households.

Within the Target 4 of Goal 16, we have chosen to deal with the reduction of illicit financial and arms flows, and the recovery and return of stolen assets.

To make our Month of Sustainability, we are going to engage our community members through the chosen aspects of the Target 4 while keeping the spirit of Goal 16 as it was set up by the United Nations. Additionally, we are looking at how the same selected aspects can be related to poor people, particularly poor households that make up CENFACS‘ noble cause of poverty reduction.

• • Engaging our Members in Supporting the Reduction of Illicit Financial and Arms flows, and the Recovery and Return of Stolen Assets

We are indeed engaging the members of our community to be supportive of the messages contained in the Goal 16 and Target 4. We are also advocating for a proportion of the proceeds from the reduction of illicit financial and arms flows as well as from the recovery and return of stolen assets to be allocated to reduce poverty, to support poor households.

Our advocacy can be explained as follows. During the coronavirus pandemic and even now at this time of the cost-of-living crisis, there have been some searches for funding to meet the costs of the coronavirus disaster and the cost-of-living crisis. Although some funding has been secured through varied sources like grants, donations and loans; there are other sources of funding that are untapped. Amongst these untapped sources are illicit financial flows and the monetary value of stolen assets.

Yet, these untapped or dormant funds could have been found and made available to contribute to the efforts of meeting the lingering effects of the coronavirus disaster and the crippling effects of the cost-of-living crisis. These illicit financial flows and stolen assets could be tracked, recovered and returned where they belong to or where they were taken.

Eventually, those in charge of the process of dealing with these illicit flows and stolen assets can negotiate with their owners (public or private) and explore the possibility of releasing a portion of the recovered funds and assets to fund poverty and deserving causes. They could be used to support poor people and poor households.

For instance, as part of building a sustainable recovery in Africa, it is understandable for Africa to ask for the tracking, the recovery and return of illicit financial flows and stolen assets. There have been some positive responses to Africa’s demand for the return of stolen assets, although much needs to be done.

It equally makes sense for CENFACS to advocate for part of the dividend from the reduction of illicit financial and arms flows and the recovery and return of stolen assets to be used to support poor households. This can be done under clearly defined terms and conditions.

To enable us to approach the theme of the reduction of illicit financial and arms flows and the recovery and return of stolen assets, we have organised a plan of work which can be found under the Main Development section of this post. Under the same section, we have provided more details about the same theme.

• Goal for the Month: Reduction of Poverty Linked to Illicit Financial Flows

Our goal for February 2023 is to reduce any forms of poverty linked to illicit financial flows. To achieve this goal, one may need to understand the meaning of illicit financial flows.

• • Understanding Illicit Financial Flows

There are many definitions of illicit financial flows within the international finance literature; definitions which tend to be similar. For instance, the World Bank (2) argues that

“Illicit Financial Flow refers to cross-border movement of capital associated with illegal activity or more explicitly, money that is illegally earned, transferred or used that crosses borders”.

Illicit financial flows can create or exacerbate poverty and hardships for the people in need. Particularly, during this challenging time of the cost-of-living crisis, they can make the matter worse for those who need this capital or money the most.

To explain how illicit financial flows can make matter worse, Janvier Désiré Nkurunziza (3) contends that

“Illicit financial flows increase risk and uncertainty in the domestic economy, discouraging investment and its potential positive effect on poverty reduction. Moreover, in countries where corruption allows the elites to unlawfully appropriate resources and transfer them abroad, the incentive to put in
place economic and social measures that reduce poverty is weakened. Illicit financial flows allow the elites to easily access foreign services such as
healthcare and education, leaving the poor to fend for themselves”.

Nkurunziza’s argument can be influential in terms of implications for those who would like to see the reduction of illicit financial flows in order to support those living in poverty such as poor households.

• • Implications for selecting the goal for the month

After selecting the goal for the month, we focus our work and mind set on the selected goal by making sure that in our real life we apply it. We also expect our supporters to work on the same goal by supporting those who may be suffering from the type of poverty linked to the goal for the month we are talking about during the given month (e.g., February 2023).

For further details on the goal of the month and its selection procedure including its support, please contact CENFACS.

• African Children’s Climate, Nature and Sustainable Development Goals (Generation Global Goals Project): Generational Impact Analysis of the Cost-of-living Crisis on Children

Normally, the project that carries this month of Sustainable Development is African Children’s Climate and Sustainable Development Goals (ACSDGs). It is also known as Generation Global Goals (3G) project.

3G project is the impact level in CENFACS’ process of advocating that global goals (like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) work for children and not way around. It is indeed the testing of the gains that global goals claim to achieve and of their impact on the welfare and well-being of children. This is regardless whether these children are in spaces and times of peace or lack of peace (like conditions of wars, areas stricken by viruses or epidemics and time of natural disasters). Unsurprisingly, these gains should be materialised even in time of health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic or any other crisis such as the cost-of-living crisis.

Since December 2022, we inserted in the 3G project the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (4). Although we included nature goals stemming from this framework, we are not measuring their impact. The reason is these nature goals were only agreed in December 2022. It is too early to measure their impact on children. But, what do mean by ‘generational impact analysis’?

• • Children generation of global goals

The children generation of global goals are those two generations of children relating to two sets of global goals: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The generation of Millennium Development Goals will be those children or persons born and live between 2000 and 2015, whereas the generation of Sustainable Development Goals will be referred to those born and live from 2015 until now (ideally between 2015 and 2030). The two generations are relating to the lifespan of these two sets of goals.

These generations relating to global goals have to be differentiated from the conventional definition of generations which classified them as follows: Gen Alpha (2013 – 2025), iGen/Generation Z (1995 -2012), Millennials/Generation Y (1980 – 1994), Xennials (1975 – 1985), Generation X/Baby Bust (1965 – 1979) and Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964). This is without forgetting the generation who has been impacted by the scars of the coronavirus pandemic disaster.

• • Impact analysis

We are going to use the definition of impact analysis as given by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD (5) differentiates ex ante impact analysis from ex post impact assessment. According to the OECD, ex ante impact analysis is

“Part of the needs analysis and planning activity of the policy cycle. It involves doing a prospective analysis of what the impact of an intervention might be, so as to inform policymaking – the policymaker’s equivalent of business planning”.

From the above clarification of children generation of global goals and impact analysis, it is possible to speak about generational impact analysis.

• • Generational impact analysis

The generational impact analysis would be a set of tasks that we will perform to identify children generation of sustainable development goals; generation that has been impacted by a change/disruption brought the scarring effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

We are going to establish a chain of causation or theory from the cost-of-living crisis to impact as well as to measure or describe the changes induced along that chain. Briefly, we are going to refer to cause-and-effect approach and to the theory of change.

• • Early inference of the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on Poor Children

Our work on generational economics and the intergenerational transmission of poverty continues with the study/analysis of the generational impact of the cost-of-living crisis on children and future generations. We started this impact analysis three years ago by looking at how COVID-19 may have delayed the realisation of several aspects of the United Nations Climate and Sustainable Development Goals for children.

We are continuing our work by looking at how the cost-of-living crisis may have impacted different generations of children. This generational impact analysis of the cost-of-living crisis will be on children we can call as the generation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) or the generation of children thought to be the beneficiaries of the implementation of SDGs.

Although we are using the word impact, it is clear that any real impact of crisis will be known in the long term as there are still data to be collected and treated quantitatively and qualitatively. This may take sometimes.

It is possible to start inferring the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on poor children. So far, a number of agencies and individuals have tried to do it. As far as we are concerned, we are trying to seize the early outputs or effects of the cost-of-living on the realisation of SDGs linked to children’s well-being and welfare. However, one needs to be cautious in interpreting what we may have found.

• • Generational impact of the cost-of-living crisis on children generation of SDGs via a policy response trajectory curb

It is without doubt that the cost-of-living crisis is leaving and will leave some scars and fractures in the realisation of SDGs, particularly but not exclusively those aspects of these goals relating to children. Its impact can be measured by using the model of an inverted-U policy response pathway as given by the World Economic Forum (6). It is this policy response trajectory curb (that is, soaring prices, prices peaked and declining prices) that we are going to refer to to get the generational impact we are talking about.

In this study, we have not included the climate impact as this will be a matter of another advocacy which we will deal with at a different time during this year.

• • Possible effects of the cost-of-living crisis on children regarding the realisation of SDGs

The study on some of the SDGs we selected (for example Goal 1 which is about Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere) will help to speculate on how the cost-of-living is impacting or can impact the realisation of SDGs for children (particularly but not exclusively African children).

For example, a combination of current economic and financial challenges (like the rise in the cost of renting, interest rates, food prices, energy prices, etc.) can pose serious problems to children today and to future generations. These generations may find difficult to rent, to earn a decent income, to pay for their education, etc. if the ascending trends of costs and prices continue while incomes and earnings are not following suit. Likewise, the impact of an increase in income tax can have adverse effects on the generations to come. Besides that there are devastating effects of the cost-of-living crisis for children living in Africa.

For those who would like to know more about our findings from the damaging effects of the cost-of-living crisis and the stories of poverty reduction happening in Africa from CENFACS’ Africa-based Sister Organisations working with children, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

To get the full extent of the possible effects of the cost-of-living crisis on children regarding the realisation of SDGs, please also contact CENFACS.

Extra Messages

• Activity/Task 2 of the ‘i‘ Project: Persuade People to Meet Sustainable Development Goals

• Triple Value Initiatives, All Year Round Projects: Extra Support about Start-up, Fundamentals and Goals

• The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Need Your Influence Right NOW

• Activity/Task 2 of the ‘i‘ Project: Persuade People to Meet Sustainable Development Goals

With the lingering effects of the cost-of-living crisis and disheartening impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, many people are struggling to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). They may need some help and support to meet these goals. Part of this help and support could be just for someone or something to influence them.

As part of Activity/Task 2 of the ‘i‘ Project, we are asking to those who can to motivate or inspire or persuade those who are struggling to meet SDGs so they can find the power, the means and capacity to meet them. In terms of the ‘i‘ Project, we are simply asking to positively influence them to meet these SDGs.

For those members of our community who are struggling or failing to meet SDGs and who would like some help in terms of motivation or positive influence, they should not hesitate to ask for help by contacting us.

To contact CENFACS, please use the details provided on the contact-us page of this site.

• Triple Value Initiatives, All Year Round Projects: Extra Support about Start-up, Fundamentals and Goals

Last week, we announced the kick off for our Triple Value Initiatives, initially known as All Year-round Projects. For those who are interested in engaging with these initiatives, we would like to highlight the following three points: start-up, fundamentals and goals.

• • Triple-Value-Initiatives Start up

It is better to start up early, although people can always join at any time. The earlier you start the better. This is because everybody is busy with their own lives and has other things to do. Also, the earlier you start, the earlier CENFACS can help if one encounters any problems. Briefly, the message is start up early.

• • Triple-Value-Initiatives Fundamentals

You need to get the fundamentals about All Year-round Projects right from the beginning. You need to clearly sort out the basic principles and bases of these projects so that you move to the right direction early without being forced to change course as you progress or repeat from scratch. Briefly, the message is get the fundamentals right.

• • Triple-Value-Initiatives Goals

Whether you play or run or vote for poverty reduction and sustainable development, the all exercise is for you to reach your goal of delivering the objectives you set up from the onset. It means you need to be clear in your mind set about what you want to achieve. Again, if you have any problems in setting up clear goals (aim or purpose) and objectives, CENFACS can be of help. Briefly, the message is be clear about what you want to achieve.

You can select a theme to run, create your play station game and watch people to vote. This is what Triple Value Initiatives or All Year Round Projects are all about. Good luck!

• The Polycrisis-impacted Children of East Africa Need Your Influence Right NOW

You can help halve poverty in East Africa; you can help halve poverty for and with children at risk of loosing their life because of the detrimental effects of the poly-crisis on them.

You can donate your Influence to halve poverty in East Africa.

Please also let CENFACS know about your influencing work or contribution you are or will be making and its outcome on behalf of the children or peoples of East Africa.

To let us know, you can contact CENFACS as follows:

*over phone

*via email

*through text

*by filling the contact form on this site.

Message in French (Message en français)

• 2023 comme une année d’influence positive sur la réduction de la pauvreté

Pour obtenir des résultats positifs ou attendus, tout effort visant à réduire la pauvreté ne signifie pas nécessairement qu’il faut compter fortement sur les moyens financiers. Il existe d’autres moyens, tels qu’une influence positive, qui peuvent ajouter de la valeur à l’aide humanitaire, par exemple. Nous disons influence positive car nous savons tous/toutes que l’influence peut aussi être négative.

Ainsi, 2023 sera consacrée comme une Année d’influence positive sur la réduction de la pauvreté au sein du CENFACS. À partir de ce dévouement, nous espérons que les besoins de nos bénéficiaires pourront être satisfaits par l’utilisation d’une influence positive pour mobiliser le soutien et les ressources pour la satisfaction de leurs besoins.

C’est l’année où nous sommes impatients de travailler avec les membres de notre communauté et les organisations sœurs basées en Afrique en influençant les compétences, les styles et les modèles pour aider à réduire la pauvreté et à renforcer le développement durable. Influencer les compétences, les styles et les modèles aidera à aborder les crises et les situations difficiles afin d’obtenir les meilleurs résultats pour la réduction de la pauvreté.

C’est une année où l’on utilise les principes fondamentaux d’influencer les autres, en particulier ceux/celles qui sont en position de pouvoir, pour mieux changer les choses afin que la réduction de la pauvreté puisse être réalisée pour ceux/celles qui en ont besoin. La réduction de la pauvreté ne vient pas toujours d’elle-même, à moins que ceux/celles qui en détiennent la clé n’aient le sentiment qu’une influence positive leur est apportée. Mais qu’entendons-nous par influence ?

• • Comprendre l’influence

Il existe de nombreuses façons d’aborder l’influence. En ce qui concerne le dévouement de cette année à l’influence positive pour réduire la pauvreté pour les membres du CENFACS, nous nous référons à ce que le « Centre pour le leadership créatif » (7) soutient, à savoir:

“L’influence est la capacité d’influencer personnellement les actions, les décisions, les opinions ou la pensée des autres. En fin de compte, l’influence vous permet de faire avancer les choses et d’atteindre les résultats souhaités “.

Le même « Centre pour le leadership créatif » différencie trois tactiques d’influence clés ou façons d’influencer, qui sont: les appels logiques (la tête), les appels émotionnels (le cœur) et les appels coopératifs (les mains).

• • Appliquer les 3 trois tactiques d’influence clés (c’est-à-dire la tête, le cœur et les mains) pour attirer des personnalités influentes

Tout au long de 2023, nous utiliserons notre tête, notre cœur et nos mains pour faire appel à ceux/celles qui peuvent (c’est-à-dire les personnalités influentes) pour nous aider à réduire la pauvreté et à renforcer le développement durable. Il s’agira d’influencer positivement (c’est-à-dire d’inspirer et de motiver) ces personnes influentes en faisant avancer les choses et en obtenant des résultats en matière de réduction de la pauvreté.

Nous avons déjà établi un projet (le projet ‘i‘) pour mettre en œuvre cette dédicace. Le projet ‘i‘ est une initiative d’un an commençant à partir de la semaine du 23 janvier à la fin décembre 2023. Cependant, pour ceux/celles qui voudraient en savoir plus sur cette dédicace, ils/elles sont libres de se renseigner auprès du CENFACS. De même, pour ceux/celles qui voudraient le soutenir, ils/elles sont invité(e)s à le faire.

Nous espérons que vous travaillerez avec nous ou que vous serez avec nous pendant que nous tentons d’influencer les personnes influentes pour réduire la pauvreté tout au long de 2023 et au-delà.

Main Development

• Sustainable Development Month with the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

The following contents make up the Main Development of this post:

σ Key Concepts

σ The Links between the Reduction of Illicit Financial Flows and Poverty Reduction, between the Reduction of Illicit Arms Flows and Poverty Reduction

σ Advocacy for a Portion of Recovered Illicit Funds and Assets to be Used to Fund Poverty Reduction

σ Working with the Community on the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

σ February 2023 Working Plan on the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

Let us gives some highlights about each of these contents.

• • Key Concepts

There are four concepts that we would like to highlight, which are: illicit financial flows, illicit arms flows, asset recovery and poverty reduction. Let us briefly explain each of them.

• • • Illicit Financial Flows

To explain illicit financial flows, we are referring to what the World Bank argues about them. According to the World Bank (op. cit.),

“Illicit Financial Flow refers to cross-border movement of capital associated with illegal activity or more explicitly, money that is illegally earned, transferred or used that crosses borders”.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (8) contend that

“Illicit Financial Flows can be classified into four types: tax and commercial activities, illegal markets, corruption, exploitation-type activities and financing of crime and terrorism”. (p. 6)

However, one may need to differentiate illicit financial flows from the cross-border flows from legal business transactions, from illegal commercial and tax practices (e.g., tax evasion) which are often from the informal economy.

• • • Illicit Arms Flows

Our understanding of illicit arms flows comes from Transparency International (9), which argues that

“The diversion of weapons to, from and within conflict zones – including to non-state actors – risks exacerbating conflict, reinforcing a downward cycle of poverty and instability”.

From the point of view of Transparency International, it is clear that illicit arms flows can lead or exacerbate poverty. In doing so, these flows can make the work of reducing poverty harder.

• • • Asset Recovery

The same Transparency International (10) explains that

• • • Poverty Reduction

To understand poverty reduction, one needs to know what is poverty. Referring to the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation written by Chris Park (11), poverty is defined there as

“The state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions” (p. 353)

Knowing what poverty is about, it is possible to explain poverty reduction. Poverty reduction is therefore any measures intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. To emphasise this, the online site ‘definitions.net’ (12) states that

“Poverty reduction measures are intended to raise, enabling the poor to create wealth for themselves as a means for ending poverty forever”.

The online site ‘definitions.net’ also states that these measures do not apply to voluntary poverty.

So, the above four concepts will help to deal with the theme of our Sustainable Development Month; theme which is the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

• • The Links between the Reduction of Illicit Financial Flows and Poverty Reduction, between the Reduction of Arm Flows and Poverty Reduction

There is no natural or direct link between the reduction of illicit financial flows and poverty reduction, between the reduction of illicit arms flows and poverty reduction. In other words, there is no such thing to say that funds or money recovered from illicit financial flows will be automatically or directly allocated to poverty reduction. Likewise, it will be naïve to argue that the reduction of illicit arms flows will directly bring poverty reduction.

To build a bridge or link between the reduction of illicit financial flows and poverty reduction, between illicit arms flows and poverty reduction; one needs to advocate or campaign or simply to work for this to happen.

• • Advocacy for a Portion of Recovered Illicit Funds and Assets to be Used to Fund Poverty Reduction

The Month of Sustainable Development within CENFACS is also of advocacy for and on behalf of the poor (amongst them are poor households) and those in need of sustainable development so that funds and assets recuperated from illicit financial and arms flows can be allocated to their needs.

It is true that the process of recovering illicit finances and stolen assets is complex and lengthy one which could involve multiple jurisdictions. However, once the process is completed, and accountabilities and responsibilities have been established; it is possible to consider allocating a portion of recovered funds to deserving needs of poverty reduction.

This can be done without undermining other competing needs. To even make this kind of recommendation useful, one may need to set up a plan or programme and explain on how the recovered funds or assets to be donated or granted will help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development for the recipients/beneficiaries of these funds or assets.

In arguing in this way, one should not look at this operation of supporting the poor via the recovered funds and assets in a passive way as simply a transfer of money or asset. This operation should indeed be perceived in a dynamic way as a process of enabling or empowering the poor to create wealth through their consumption or production with the support received or to be received.

• • Working with the Community on the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

During this month of February 2023, CENFACS is going to engage the community members or households interested in the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

The following working plan provides a glimpse of the way in which we are going to both carry out the Month of Sustainable Development and support the community’s households on any matters raising from the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households.

• • February 2023 Working Plan on the Reduction of Illicit Flows and Stolen Assets to Support Poor Households

From every Wednesday of this month, we will be dealing with the following:

Each of the notes or sub-themes will be treated in relation of poverty reduction. The 1st and 2nd Wednesdays will deal with illicit flows while the 3rd and 4th Wednesdays will cover stolen assets.

• • • First Wednesday (01/02/2023), In Focus: Reduction of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Poverty Reduction

There may not be natural or direct relationship between the reduction of IFFs and poverty reduction. If there is relationship, it makes sense to appeal so that those who are suffering from poverty (like poor households) to benefit from the recovery and return of IFFs.

It is not a surprise if the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (op. cit.) argue that

“…Efforts to curb IFFs [in these countries Burkina Faso, Ghana, Gabon, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa], based on clear and robust evidence provided by a monitoring tool, could free important resources that could be used to finance development interventions, with a potentially high impact on the economy and the living conditions of the populations” (p. 14)

Progress towards SDG Target 16.4 is measured by the following indicator: total value of inward and outward IFFs in current United States dollars.

For example, the statistical outcomes of 2021-2022 pilot testing showed that preliminary estimates for Burkina Faso for both inward and outward IFFs were US $6.8 billion (p. 14), according to the same United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The above figure is just a small example in terms of the size of the money we are talking about. If one uses a portion of it, this portion could contribute to poverty reduction in Burkina Faso.

Curbing IFFs could free resources for poverty reduction. If this curbing can happen, then one can find ways of making these freed resources to also reach those in need. To materialise this reach, this could require working together with those in need.

• • • How CENFACS can work with those in need interested in freed resources from IFFs

The ultimate aim of this work with those in need is to help them understand IFFs and their implications for poverty reduction and sustainable development. In practical terms, it means through our work with them we can together develop a strategy to deal with issues surrounding IFFs that can impact their lives.

In this respect, CENFACS can work with those members of our community and Africa-based Sister Organisations interested in the subject of IFFs. We can work with them on a number of initiatives like the following ones:

√ Sharing information, news, knowledge, resources and tools about IFFs

√ Developing a wealth creation plan or proposals about the responsible use of any freed resources to be given away

√ Participating in any efforts to track IFFs and to free resources

√ Raising awareness within the community and with Africa-based Sister Organisations about IFFs and their impact on poverty reduction

√ Making proposals about the best way of using freed resources from IFFs (by taking part in consultations, surveys, workshops, events, studies, etc.)

√ Financially educated our communities (in the UK and in Africa) regarding responsibilities and accountabilities about finances at any level of responsibility and capacity

√ Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies through financial responsibilities and accountabilities

√ Encouraging our members to aim at justice for all

√ Assisting in building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions

√ Briefly, helping to reduce IFFs where we can.

For those members of our community who may be interested in matter relating to IFFs, they are free to contact CENFACS. For those Africa-based Sister Organisations that are willing to collaborate with us on IFFs matter, they can let CENFACS know.

For any queries or enquiries about Sustainable Development Month and the Reduction of Illicit Financial Flows and Poverty Reduction, please also contact CENFACS.

_________

• References

(1) https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (Accessed in January 2023)

(2) https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/illicit-financial-flows-iffs (Accessed in January 2023)

(3) https://www.tralac.org/images/News/Documents/Illicit_Financial_Flows_A_Constraint_on_Poverty_Reduction_in_Africa_Nkurunziza_November_2012.pdf (Accessed in January 2023)

(4) https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 (Accessed in January 2023)

(5) https://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/what-is-impact-assessment-OECDImpact.pdf (Accessed in January 2023)

(6) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/cost-of-living-crisis-global-impact (Accessed in January 2023)

(7) https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/three-ways-to-influence-people (Accessed in January 2023)

(8) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2023), Counting the Cost: Defining, estimating and disseminating statistics on illicit financial flows in Africa at https://repository.uneca.org/bitstream/handle/10855/49337/b12023188.pdf?sequence=1&Allowed=y (Accessed in January 2023)

(9) https://ti-defence.org/what-we-do/industry-integrity/illicit-arms-flows/ (Accessed in January 2023)

(10) https://www.transparency.org/en/our-priorities/asset-recovery-and-the-theft-of-public-money# (Accessed in January 2023)

(11) Park, C. (2011), A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press Inc., Oxford & New York

(12) https://www.definitions.net/definition/Poverty%20reduction (Accessed in January 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.

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 in 2023 and beyond.

With many thanks.

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