Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

12 January 2022

 

Post No. 230

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes

• Zero Income Deficit Campaign 2022 with a focus on Net Income (or Deficit)

• Appeal to End Food Insecurity in the Eastern Horn of Africa

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes

 

Last week, we listed projects and programmes to be carried out in January 2022.   This week, we are unveiling more projects and programmes including resources.  The last week’s listed projects and the ones to be unveiled below will all make our Light Season 2022.

However, amongst last week’s and this week’s projects and programmes, there are those (such as humanitarian appeals/projects) that are specifically designed to feature the Light Campaign/Advocacy,  to bring and carry the message of hope through a Blaze of Hope; whereas there are others that just fall within the Season of Lights, which is between December in the preceding year (e.g. 2021) and March in the following year (e.g. 2022).

Under the Main Development section of this post, we have provided further details about the Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes.

 

 

• Zero Income Deficit Campaign 2022 with a focus on Net Income (or Deficit)

 

This year and Season of Light, we are keeping on working with the community members so that they can better manage their income, particularly they can reduce the deficit (or excess of expenses over income or excess of liabilities over assets or even excess of outgoings over incomings) linked to their income.  In our work with them, the focus will be on net income or net deficit.  But, what is net income (or deficit).

 

• • Basic understanding of net income (or deficit)

 

To make it easy but technical, we have selected these two definitions from the lawsinsider.com (1) which states that…

“Net Income (or Deficit) means with respect to any person (or any asset of any person) for any fiscal period, the net income (or deficit) of such person (or attributable to such asset), after deduction of all expenses, taxes and other proper charges, determined in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”

Or

“Net Income (or Deficit) means, with respect to any fiscal period, the consolidated net income (or deficit) of the subject Borrower, after deduction of all expenses, taxes, and other proper charges, determined in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles”.

How these definitions can help the CENFACS Community.

 

• • Working with the Community on Net Income (or Deficit)

 

We will be working with our members on ways of improving their incomings and assets on the one hand; and of reducing or controlling outgoings and liabilities on the other hand.  In doing so, one can hope that they will be able to create a surplus or simply to better manage the net income (or deficit).

For those members of our community who are struggling to get the level of net income (or deficit) of their household accounts manageable or affordable, they are free to work with us so that together we can explore steps forward or ways out to the problem.

To ask or get support to sort out the net income (or deficit) from your household accounts, please contact CENFACS.  Also, to support Zero Income Deficit Campaign 2022, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Appeal to End Food Insecurity in the Eastern Horn of Africa

 

After completing the review of Horn-of-Africa Appeals which started at the beginning of December 2021, we are now appealing for an end to food insecurity in the Eastern Horn of Africa.  Indeed, due to the worsening drought in the region, many of those are living there will be at risk of severe hunger.   The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (2) in its food security platform alerted the world about this hunger situation by arguing on 29 December 2021 the following:

“Over 20 million people were in need of urgent food aid in the Horn of Africa amid severe drought and conflict”

In other words, nearly 20 million people, who would be forced into food insecurity due to drought caused by La Nina natural disaster, would need urgent humanitarian food assistance in 2022.

Additional data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations  (3) tells the same hunger story in the Eastern Horn of Africa, particularly in these three countries: Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.  Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations  (ibid.) indicate the following:

“In Ethiopia, about 7.4 million people [were] severely food insecure between July and September 2021”

“In Kenya, about 2.4 million people [were] estimated to be severely food insecure between November 2021 and January 2022, reflecting poor rainy seasons”

“In Somalia, about 3.5 million people [were] estimated to be severely food insecure between October and December 2021” as a result of consecutive poor rainy seasons”

The above figures are not given for statistical purpose.  They are referred to in order for action to be taken.  They help to launch this first wave of appeal under the Light Projects, as way of sending a message of hope to those hungry people in the Eastern Horn of Africa.

One can hope that every effort will be made, by those who can help, so that logistics and channels for food assistance will be put in place in order to enable those in need to have access to food and other life-saving commodities.  One can as well expect that effort will be made to support locally grown food to meet the local food needs.

The above is our Blaze of Hope or Light Appeal to support the peoples of Eastern Horn of Africa. 

To support or enquire about this Light Appeal, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Digital and Social Media Campaign

Level 5: Apps that Help to Reduce Poverty

 

The next level of our Digital and Social Media Campaign will be about what online and internet applications (or Apps.) can do for those users who use a mobile phone or any other electronic devices (e.g. tablet or netbook) in terms of poverty reduction and of the enhancement of sustainable development.

 

• • What Level 5 of this Digital and Social Media Campaign can achieve

 

Through this level 5, we hope to achieve the following:

 

√ Identify more of those Apps with built-in poverty-relief facilities, tasks or functionalities even if their designers did not in the first place think of poverty reduction during their conception

√ Find out what they can or cannot do for people living in poverty

√ Match those Apps with the problems that people in need face

√ Check if Apps are free or paid

√ Disseminate information about these Apps within the community so that more people are aware about them in terms of reducing poverty and enhancing sustainable development.

 

• • Apps useful in reducing poverty

 

There are Apps that users can download to their electronic devices so that they can better perform a particular task.  However, not all those applications could enable to reduce or end a particular type of poverty.   In our Campaign, we would like to highlight those Apps that are useful in reducing poverty and hardships. 

 

For example, WhatsApp Messenger, which is a free messaging and video calling app, is a cross-platform mobile messaging app that enable people to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations and other contents.  WhatsApp can help to reduce both communication poverty and money poverty by enabling its income deprived users from different parts of the world to use its platform to run phone conversation as well as materials (e.g. videos and images) for free. 

One could hope that if anyone has more and better information about these Apps that help to reduce poverty and hardships, it could be a good idea to share this information with us and the rest of the community.

To share Apps information and/or support the level 5 of our Digital and Social Media Campaign, please contact CENFACS. 

 

 

 

• Poverty Reduction Show

 

Showing that poverty reduction is happening despite COVID-19 new variants is an extra message we would like to share with our users, Africa-based Sister Organisations and other stakeholders.

This 2022, we would like our local people and Africa-based Sister Organisations to show or showcase via a variety of evidences, testimonies, cases, films, videos, news and examples of poverty reduction that poverty reduction has happened and continues to happen despite the continuing challenge posed by COVID-19 and its currently running variants (like Delta and Omicron).  Poverty reduction show will add value to stories of poverty reduction we normally run.

Through this showing exercise, we hope to build a better picture of these poverty reduction cases with features, similarities, differences and patterns for learning and development experience about our system of poverty reduction.  It is about proofing that poverty reduction does happen in real life.

To show or share your experience on how poverty reduction has happened to you or those you know despite the mounting pressure of COVID-19 and its variants, please contact and share it with CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

• Net Zero Consumers’ Experience about Substitution Effect

 How many of net zero consumers are attracted by net zero consumer goods?

 

As part of the month of Responsible Consumption and of Net Zero Consumption, we are looking for net zero consumers’ experiences of substituting non-net zero consumer goods (or carbon footprint consumer goods) to the purchase of net zero consumer goods in their shopping basket.

We are precisely working on the elasticity of technical substitution between non-net zero consumer goods and net zero consumer goods.  In other words, our work is on the substitution of one non-net zero consumer product (or carbon footprint consumer product) for a net zero consumer one resulting from a change in their relative prices.   We are trying to find out the substitution effect of these two types of goods whether or not they are economically interchangeable by poor consumers in order to reduce poverty. 

The result of this work will help us to determine how many of poor consumers are attracted by net zero consumer goods or a particular one.  In doing so, we can improve our perception about net zero consumer goods/economy and the support we give through the Consume-to-Reduce-Poverty project/resource.

To take part in this study or to tell us your experience of the use of net zero consumer goods in relation to non-net zero consumer goods, please contact CENFACS.  Also, anyone who has reliable data on this matter; it will be good to let CENFACS know.

 

 

 

Le 10e numéro du CRP (Consommer pour Réduire la Pauvreté) met l’accent sur la consommation nette zéro.

Dans ce numéro, nous travaillerons sur la consommation nette zéro; c’est-à-dire une consommation qui n’ajoute pas d’émissions de CO₂ supplémentaires à la quantité de gaz à effet de serre dans l’atmosphère. 

La consommation nette zéro est un effort que tous les membres de notre communauté peuvent faire afin d’aider à atteindre l’objectif mondial de 1,5 degré Celsius tel qu’il ressort du Traité de Paris sur le climat. 

Pour évoluer vers une trajectoire de consommation nette zéro, il faudra avoir une stratégie de consommation nette zéro et des plans d’action personnalisés. Il faut également entreprendre des évaluations des gaz à effet de serre et une comptabilité carbone afin de déterminer l’impact de notre consommation en termes d’émissions de CO₂.

En gros, le 10e numéro du CRP est un outil de travail pour qu’ensemble avec la communauté CENFACS nous marchons vers l’objectif 1,5 degré Celsius.

Pour soutenir la consommation nette zéro et responsable aussi bien qu’obtenir le numéro complet de 2022 de cette ressource hivernale (Consommer pour Réduire la Pauvreté et les Changements Climatiques), veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

 

 

Main Development

 

• Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes

 

The following highlights the Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes.

 

• • What are Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes?

 

They are a stock of assets (resources) together with a set of interdependent tasks (projects) and related activities (programme) designed to help meet the aim of poverty reduction either within the Lights Season and/or beyond it depending on the types of resource, project and programme.  In other words, whether it is about resources or projects or even programme, the unified aim is to help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

 

• • Types of Light Season’s Initiatives

 

There are two types, which are:

 

(a) Initiatives that are specifically designed to bring message of hope or a Blaze of Hope

(b) Initiatives that fall within the Season of Light

 

• • • Initiatives to bring message of hope or a Blaze of Hope

 

They include two waves of intervention or Blazes of Hope, which are:

 

(a) Appeals to deal with the unfinished business of previous destruction and disruption brought by the coronavirus, wars and natural disasters

(b) Appeals linked to seasonally erupted events or effects from health disasters (like the coronavirus), armed conflicts, economic slowdown, climate change and natural disasters

For example, the Appeal to End Food Insecurity in the Eastern Horn of Africa is at the same time for unfinished business of humanitarian and any eruption of food crisis in the New Year.

 

• • • Initiatives falling within the Season of Light

 

They consist of the following:

 

∝ Light (or energy) and poverty reduction projects (New)

∝ Programme of gradually phasing down coal as source of energy for Africa’s poor coal-dependent (New)

∝ Activities to adapt and mitigate transformational and structural changes to cope with changing uncertainty in the Anthropocence

∝ Advocacy and e-workshops about energy transition to carbon net zero or post-carbon economy, from polluting to clean and green energy and technology (New)

∝ Climate neutral projects (New)

 

The above initiatives are not the only ones for the Season of Light.  During the season, we may cancel or reduce the scope of some initiatives if we realise that the problem they were supposed to resolve are no longer there.  Likewise, we may add new or recurring initiatives depending on the events within the community we serve.  The worksheet below provides some indication in terms of initiatives implementation plan.

 

• • Basic implementation plan for the Light Season’s Initiatives

 

As we go along the Light Season, the following implementation plan consisting of ten initiatives will be effective.

 

10 initiatives to implement the Light Season 2022  

This initial implementation plan for the Light Season’s initiatives can change depending on the circumstances and conditions.  Some of the initiatives inserted in the plan/worksheet are not listed under Types of Light Season’s Initiatives.  This is not a big issue.  What is important is the deliverables of those scheduled within the plan.

For those who would like to discuss any of these planned initiatives or any aspects of the plan; they can contact CENFACS.  

To support and or enquire the Light Season’s Resources, Projects and Programmes for 2022, please contact CENFACS.

 

_________

References

(1) https://www.lawsinsider.com/dictionary/net-income-or-deficit

(2) https://fews.net

(3) https://www.fao.org/giews/country-analysis/external-assistance/en

_________

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future or as a New Year resolution.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2022 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Happy New Year and Welcome Back to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

05 January 2022

 

Post No. 229

 

 

 

The New Year’s Contents

 

• What is New at the Start of the New Year and What is on this January 2022?

• The 10^th Issue of Consume to Reduce Poverty, in Focus: Net Zero Consumption

• Coming up this Winter: The New Year’s and Next Issue of FACS (The 74^th Issue) to be entitled as The Dilemma Faced by Africa-based Sister Organisations in Helping to Reduce Urban Poverty in the Context of Rising Urban Population in Africa

 

 … And much more!

 

 

 

The New Year’s Key Messages

 

• What is New at the Start of the New Year and What is on this January 2022?

 

New Tool, New Relief & New Hope

 

We have got the following initiatives to look forward to in this January 2022 at CENFACS:

 

√ Consume to Reduce Poverty (Issue No. 10) with a Focus on Net Zero Consumption

√ 2021 Year-end Financial Control as a Tool for Poverty Reduction

√ Zero Income Deficit Campaign 2022

√ COVID-19 Campaign in 2022

√ Sustainable energy and Climate neutral Projects (New)

 

The above mentioned initiatives are amongst the ones we have selected to kick-start 2022. 

We shall soon unveil the other selected initiatives making the Season of Light at CENFACS.

 

 

 

• The 10^th Issue of CRP (Consume to Reduce Poverty), in focus: Net Zero Consumption

 

January is the month of Responsible Consumption for CENFACS.   The initiative featuring this month is our resource entitled Consume to Reduce Poverty and Climate Change.  The 10^th Issue of this resource will be on “Net Zero Consumption”.  However, before giving the message about the 10^th Issue of CRP, let us briefly re-explain what normally happen in January.

 

• • January as a Month of Responsible Consumption within CENFACS

 

Some of you are aware that January is our month of Responsible Consumption following CENFACS development calendar.  It means that the theme for January is Responsible or Sustainable Consumption and the monthly project carrying this theme is Consume to Reduce Poverty. 

It is the month we act against poverty due to the lack of consumption and we deal with measures of poverty reduction through consumption.  It is also an opportunity to act to preserve a good relationship between the way in which we consume products on the one hand and the reduction of climate change on the other.  In particular, January is a climate reminder month as it is the month during which we raise awareness of the relationships between humans and the nature through sustainable consumption; that is consumption that does not destroy the nature.

This January we will take an extra step by exploring the relationship between humans and net zero consumption; in other words between humans and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or ensure that any on-going emissions are balanced by removals.

Consume to Reduce Poverty (CRP) is our users’ New Year supporting information and accompanying booster that focuses on Buying and Consumption elements conducive to the reduction of poverty and hardships.  It is indeed a complimentary support to our Autumn Festive Income Boost (FIB) resource.

The FIB is an income-generating resource while CRP brings in a consumption-led look in our fight against poverty.  The next Issue (Issue no. 10) of CRP will be on Net Zero Consumption as mentioned above.

For further details about CRP project, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/services-activities/

 

• • The 10^th Issue of CRP (Consume to Reduce Poverty), in focus: Net Zero Consumption

 

We will be working on Net Zero Consumption; that is consumption that does not add extra CO₂ emissions to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  Net Zero Consumption is an effort that any of the members of our community can make in order to help achieve the global goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Climate Treaty. 

To move towards a Net Zero Consumption trajectory, one will need to have Net Zero Consumption strategy and personalised action plans.  One needs as well to undertake greenhouse gas assessments and carbon accounting in order to determine the impact of their consumption in terms of CO₂ emissions.

Under the Main Development section of this post, we have given some highlights about the 10^th Issue.

 

 

 

• The New Year’s and Next Issue of FACS (The 74^th Issue) to be entitled as…

 

The Dilemma Faced by Africa-based Sister Organisations in Helping to Reduce Urban Poverty in the Context of Rising Urban Population in Africa

How Africa-based Sister Organisations Can Help Reduce Urban Poverty as Urban Population Rises in Africa

 

The 74^th Issue of FACS will deal with two problems as cities or urban places in Africa try to modernise or develop, which are: urban poverty and urban population. 

 

• • Urban population in Africa

 

The African population has continued to grow, especially in urban cities or capitals.  According to the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (1),

“The Urban Population in Africa at Mid-Year by Country was 587,738 thousand in 2020 and will be 824,014 thousand in 2030” (p.305)

 

The above figure indicates that the urban population in Africa is growing.  If this growth continues, there are or could be urban problems.  One of these problems is urban poverty.  But, what is urban poverty?

 

• • Urban poverty in Africa

 

There are many definitions of urban poverty.  Amongst these definitions, we have selected the one given by Anna Belén Cano Hila. 

Anna Belén Cano Hila (2) argues that

“Urban poverty refers to the set of economic and social difficulties that are found in industrialized cities and that are the result of a combination of processes such as: the establishment of comfortable living standards, the increase of individualism, processes of social fragmentation, and the dualization of the labour market, which translates into social dualization. Urban poverty is seen as a type of poverty with the primary characteristic that it occurs in industrialized societies, according to Rowntree 1901, but also in the Global South, in accordance with Mitlin and Satterthwaite 2012”.

Urban poverty can also happen developing cities like those of Africa.  This set of economic and social difficulties or urban poverty has increased with COVID-19 and its socio-economic impacts in those developing cities. 

For example, the United Nations Settlement Programme (op. cit.) reports that

“The absolute increase in extreme poverty in Africa has implications for poverty in its urban areas given the rapid pace of urbanization.  Urban poverty in many African countries is increasing faster than national poverty” (p. 162)

The same United Nations Settlement Programme also contends that

“Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of urban poverty globally, with about 23 per cent of the urban population living below the international poverty line and 29 per cent experiencing multidimensional poverty” (p. 162)

 

The above quotes tell us that Africa has the problems of urban poverty and urban population, which need to be dealt with. 

 

• • Urban poverty and urban population as a dilemma for Africa-based Sister Organisations

 

If urban population is increasing and urban poverty is rising faster in Africa, how can Africa-based Sister Organisations continue to rise to the challenge of reducing poverty and how can they reduce poverty, particularly urban poverty?  Yet, population increase is always seen by many economists including some demographers as a good demographic indicator for labour as factor of production and a contributor to economic growth.

However, in places where there is already a high level of poverty and social deprivations, disproportionally rising population could be itself an impediment to the task of reducing poverty.  Rising urban population (mostly if it is mainly made of poor people) can lead to rising demand of poverty reduction as well as poverty reduction goods and services, whereas Africa-based Sister Organisations have very limited resources in order to respond to such high demand of urban poverty reduction.  So, it is a dilemma for these organisations.  This lets alone other urban problems such as environmental health decay, flooding, insecurity, homelessness, unemployment, etc.

The 74^th Issue will look at both urban poverty in the context of rising urban population in the way of doing the most and the best for those in need.  It is therefore about how Africa-based Sister Organisations can further reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development while urban population is growing or has the potential to grow, given the resources constraint these organisations have.

More details about this Issue will be given this Winter.  However, for those who would like to enquire about it before it appears, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.   

 

 

 

The New Year’s Extra Messages

 

• 2021 Year-end Financial Control as a Tool for Poverty Reduction

 

Year-in-review accounts are one of the financial tools we would like to work and share with our users as we explained in our last post of 2021.  They are part of year-end financial control project or exercise which includes income boost and other financial tools making our campaign to reduce and end poverty, particularly income poverty.

For those (individuals, families or households) who need help to manage or close their 2021 year-in-review accounts, they can contact CENFACS prior to the end of 2021-2022 tax year or by the 5^th of April 2022.

 

 

• Spending Limit Reports

 

During December 2021, we conducted Structured Activities or Micro-projects under Spending Limit Programme and Scheme.  As part of monitoring process, we would be pleased if those who managed to carried out these activities or exercises to report or share their experience regarding them.

Under Spending Limit Scheme, they can report or share on the following:

 

∝ Elaboration of an action plan for spending limit

∝ Building and understanding of cash flow statements or projections

 

Under Spending Limit Programme, they can report or share on the following:

 

∝ Setting up spending threshold

∝ Respecting spending restriction

 

To report or share your experience, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) in 2022: One Year on with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

One year on since the AfCFTA became operational, what our ASOs make of it in terms of poverty-relief creation or diversion effects.

 

It is now one year since the AfCFTA opened for trading activities.  Although it is too early to measure the impacts or implications of AfCFTA for poverty reduction (and more in the current situation and conditions of continuing COVID-19 disturbance), it is however possible for ASOs to start to give their first feelings or results.  The ASOs can provide their first impressions or feelings regarding the following:

 

∝ The materialisation of the assumed poverty-relief creation effects deriving from the AfCFTA

∝ Windows of opportunities in terms of market niches of poverty reduction

∝ The possibility to build poverty-relief alliances

∝ The improvement in links with poverty-reduction organisations of similar aims

∝ The delivery of cross-border poverty reduction outcomes

Etc.

 

To share and or discuss poverty-relief creation or diversion effects of AfCFTA for ASOs, please contact CENFACS.

 

A nos lecteurs (lectrices) et audiences francophones

Plus de détails sur ce numéro seront donnés cet hiver.  Cependant, pour ceux ou celles qui voudraient s’enquérir avant qu’il n’apparaisse, n’hésitez pas de contacter le CENFACS.

 

The New Year’s Main Development

 

• The 10^th Issue of Consume to Reduce Poverty (CRP)

 

 In Focus: Net Zero Consumption

 

• • Key highlights, Tips & Hints about the 10th Issue of CRP

 

• • • What is Net Zero Consumption?

 

To define net zero consumption, one needs to understand net zero greenhouse gas emissions.  The expression ‘net-zero-greenhouse-gas-emissions’ is often shortened to net zero within the climate literature.  Within the same literature, there are many definitions of net zero. 

In the context of this 10^th Issue, we are going to use the definition of net zero provided by the World Economic Forum.  According to the World Economic Forum (3),

“The term net zero applies to a situation where global greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are in balance with emissions reductions.  At net zero, carbon dioxide emissions are still generated, but an equal amount of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere as is released into it, resulting in zero increase in net emissions”.

From this definition, one can try to define net zero consumption.  Net zero consumption is the types of consumption (whether the consumption is about consumer goods or other goods or even services) that do not add extra emissions of carbon dioxide to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  This matters at all levels of consumption, including at the level of poor consumers (like some of our users) even if their consumption can generate only a tiny amount of emissions.  

 

• • • Going Net Zero in your Shopping Basket

 

Using the internet, e-mail, social networks and other communication technologies; it is possible to get enough information about products and services that meet the requirements of net zero consumption while reducing poverty at the same time. 

It is conceivable for consumers including the poor ones to live a net zero life by shopping and filling up their shopping basket with goods or products that meet net zero requirements.  It is as well possible to find resources and websites that compare and contrast these kinds of products, services and prices.  People can then choose products and services that are good value for net zero consumption and add them to their online shopping basket.

 

• • • Reducing Poverty through a Net Zero Journey

 

Individual and family strategies of reducing the state of having little or no money or even no material possessions can be implemented via net zero consumption or use.  Individuals and families (including the poor ones) can consume net zero products and services that do not add extra emissions, but that help to reduce or even end poverty.  People and families can leapfrog poverty reduction to net zero consumption. 

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption and Circular Economic Model

 

Embracing the recipes of the economic model that decouples (bad) exploitation of natural resources and the desire to meet human needs and wants (circular economy), can help improve consumer behaviour via net zero consumption.  It is said that all processes create waste and sometimes emissions.  However, the circular economic model helps to direct consumption towards what is essential to maintain human life; in doing so it benefits humans to fix, reuse, reduce and save resources through their consumption. 

Briefly, the model can contribute to less production and consumption of products and services that are the result of extra CO2 emissions.

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption and the Climate Economy

 

The process of using resources without adding extra amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere can goes hand in hand with an organised system for the production, distribution and use of goods and services that takes into account the changing weather conditions.  In other words, consuming net zero products and resources can help reduce adverse climate change. 

As climate economy continues to establish itself as an economy for the future, it can bring new climate educational opportunities, economic savings and improved well-being for the poor.  These attributes of the Established Climate Economy can help them consume goods and services that are net zero and non-polluting.

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption and Climate Change

 

Maybe enough has been said about the impacts of changing climate.  If not, then one area of work could be for humans to rethink about how their net zero consumption can help.  Their net zero consumption can help to adapt and mitigate the negative effects of climate change.  The consumption of net zero products and services would help the health and wealth of the environment and the nature on which we all depend.

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption and COVID-19

 

There is a body of scientific explanations about origins of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, which indicate that the coronavirus pandemic is a novel zoonotic pathogen or disease.  From this body, it is possible to argue that consuming net zero products and services will help to reduce human induced impacts of climate change and global warming; impacts that probably led to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and other pandemics.

   

• • • Poor Consumers and their Affordability of Net Zero Goods

 

Not everybody can afford to buy net zero goods and services, especially many poor consumers who may even lack their access.  Since the first COVID-19 lockdown, many low income people and families are struggling to access even essential goods and commodities.  The asymmetry in the distributional effects of the lockdowns has denied to many of them even the access to essential consumption goods.  Their expenses budget has gone up with the new coronavirus-related health items.  This situation does not make easy for them to access net zero consumption even if these could be affordable.

Giving them advisory support in terms how to increase their income, to make some changes in their expenses budget and find affordable net zero consumption goods and services should be a priority amongst other ones.  In this respect, a list of where to find affordable net zero consumption goods in this CRP resource could be handy for them to go net zero for their consumption.

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption Good Practices within the Community

 

Despite the problem of affordability of net zero goods for low income poor people and families, there are nonetheless net zero consumption good practices within our community.  To back up these practices, the10^th Issue of CRP highlights some cases of net zero consumption good initiatives undertaken by the CENFACS Community that underpins net zero consumption accounts as part of every day’s human life.

In this respect, those who have cases of net zero consumption practices and who may find them worthwhile to share and be added to this issue of CRP, they can let CENFACS know.

 

• • • Demonstrative Projects of Net Zero Consumer Goods and Services

 

In net zero consumption economy, every shopper can demonstrate the ability to follow the rules of net-zero consuming world.  In those circumstances, there could be those consumers who do more by taking a proactive action to net-zero consume.

Likewise, there could be local projects (for example, local artists, local soap and face mask makers to support local net zero economy) that could display demonstrative talents and skills in promoting net zero consumption goods, services and habits as a way of living rather than as an accident.

For those members of our community who have developed this kind of demonstrative projects of net zero consumption products and services, it could be a good idea to let us know so that we can add them to this CRP resource.

 

• • • Barriers to Achieve Net Zero Consumption Goals

 

There could be some handicaps for people and families to achieve net zero consumption goals.  One of the barriers is the lack of income that extremely poor people experience that could push them out of reaching net-zero consumption products.  Despite that in charitable world and economy in which no one and no place are left behind, there could be still access for everybody and everyplace to net-zero consumption goods and services.

However, people and families do not like net-zero consumption to happen to them in this way since they would like to work and pay for their net-zero consumption.  Because of the barriers they face in finding opportunity to work and earn decent income, their prospect for meeting their net-zero consumption goals could become remote.

As part of tackling these barriers, the current resource provides some leads in terms of print and online resources that users can further explore in order to respond to some of their net-zero consumption problems.

 

• • • Budgeting for Net Zero Consumption

 

It is a good idea for users to budget for net zero consumer goods and services as part of the overall of household budget.  Users can do or learn to do their own carbon accounting.  This kind of preparation in terms of financial statements for any planned incomes and expenses for a particular period can help to maximise the clean use of resources and reduce spending in items able to gear towards greenhouse gas emissions in terms of what is polluting and non-polluting consumption.  It can as well provide alternative to net-zero consumption to reduce poverty and hardships due to pollution or CO2 emissions.

 

• • • Net Zero Consumption Indication on Products for Verification, Identity and Authenticity

 

It is a good idea for any consumer, rich or poor, to check net-zero features on their buys and other specifications as well as read other people’s testimonies, reviews or comments about it.  In this respect, selling the positive idea of net-zero consumption could be helpful for net-zero consumers.

 

• • • Net Zero Security and Guarantee 

 

When buying net-zero consumer products and services (whether using online or a physical store), one needs to check, compare and contrast products, terms and conditions of business, buying terms, prices, etc.  There is a need to check as well guarantees and safety policies for net-zero features in terms of the coronavirus pandemic.

If you are buying online, before you sign up, add to your net-zero consumer shopping basket and purchase an item; you need to read, discuss and check what you are agreeing on.  You may even take more precautions when selecting items, filling up buying forms to enter your personal, financial information and sensitive details.  Make sure that your online shopping does not limit itself to tick or cross out boxes only.

You should also be aware of scams, spams as well as illegal and malicious practices.  For own online security, use the e-safety tools and advice.

 

• • • Looking for Help and Support

 

For those users who would like to dive into net zero consumption, we can provide them with online and print resources relating to net zero consumption.  There is a lot of online resources and websites they can sign up and receive advice on the following matters:  net zero strategy, action plans, greenhouse gas assessments, carbon accounting, etc.

To support Net Zero and Responsible Consumption and get the full 2022 Issue of Consume to Reduce Poverty and Climate Change, please contact CENFACS.

 

 _________

 

References

 

(1) United Nations Human Settlement Programme (2020), World Cities Report 2020: The Value of Sustainable Urbanisation, UN-Habitat, 2020

(https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2020/10wcr_2020_report.pdf)

(2) Anna Belén Cano Hila (2020): Urban Poverty – Urban Studies – Oxford Bibliographies at…

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190922481/…

Cano, Ana Belén. “Urban Poverty.” In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. Edited by A. M. Orum, 1–7. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2019.

(3) World Economic Forum at… https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/net-zero-emissions-cop26-climate-change/

_________

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future or as a New Year resolution.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2022 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

29 December 2021

 

Post No. 228

 

 

The Week’s Contents of the Last Post of 2021

 

• 2021 Year-in-review Report

• Year-end Fundraising Campaign

• Year-end Advice-giving Service

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

Festive Season’s Key Messages

 

• 2021 Year-in-review Report

 

The above mentioned report is an evaluation of what happened in this ending year (2021).  It is not an annual report or an annual return.  The report, which is a brief summary of 2021, will help to learn what went well and what did not get well within and around CENFACS, as well as how we can engage our charitable objects in 2022 and beyond. 

This year-end post, which is the 52^nd one, is therefore about covering the events of the year 2021 from the perspective of recapping the year for CENFACS’ audiences, followers and supporters, as well as from the point of view of CENFACS’ contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Under the Main Development section of this post you will find key highlights of CENFACS’ 2021 Year-in-review Report.

 

 

• End of Year Fundraising Campaign

 

Our End of Year Fundraising Campaign continues until the last day, hour and minute of 2021.  For those who would like to donate to our End-of-year Support, Festive Gift Set and any other festive projects or campaigns or even causes before 2021 ends, please do not hesitate to donate.   You can still make a helpful difference before 31/12/2021.

To donate, just contact CENFACS with your donation by any of these means of communications: text, phone, email and contact form on this website.

 

 

 

• End of Year Advice-giving Service

 

As we informed you in our 51st post of last week on this platform, we are in holiday break until the 5^th of January 2022.  However, some of our projects and campaigns are either self-running or designed to run throughout the holiday season like the festive holiday.  One of these holiday projects is the Advice-giving one. 

Indeed, during the festive period not everybody or member of our community can afford to celebrate on the New Year’s Eve.  There are people who still need accommodation, food, income, guidance, support against the new COVID-19 variant, help against loneliness, etc.  They may also need life-saving support of various kinds to cope and survive while other people, the lucky ones, are busy preparing themselves for the New Year’s Eve festivities.

Because of this on-going need and demand within the community, we have maintained a minimum level of advice-giving service to e-work with those who desperately need advice to reduce poverty or any type of hardships they are facing and do not have anywhere else to ask for help and advice, especially at this time of COVID-19 rebound with the Omicron variant.

If you are one of our members and facing serious hardship during the festive period, you can e-contact CENFACS for advice, guidance and support.  If you are not one of our members and would like to discuss this year-in-review project, please still e-contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Festive Season’s Extra Messages

 

• Charity e-Store: Recycle and or Give away your Unwanted or Unneeded Presents

 

You can recycle and or give away your unwanted or unneeded presents during this festive period.  In doing so, one will not only support the noble cause of poverty reduction, but also will contribute to the Upkeep of the Nature while maintaining a fair balance between nature and festive presents, between climate and the season’s gifts.

To recycle and or give any unwanted or unneeded festive presents, please contact CENFACS to discuss the reuse of your items since we are under the constraint of renewed COVID-19 restrictions relating to the Omicron variant.

 

 

 

• Help for your Year-in-review Accounts

How to successfully close your end-of-year personal or family accounts and get prepared for the New Year accounts before the end of financial year

 

It is theoretically known that the financial year closes in April and the State budget starts in April of each year.   For example, the 2021-2022 tax year began on April 6^th 2021 and will run until April 5^th 2022 in the UK.

Understandably, the coronavirus pandemic and its adverse effects may impact everybody’s financial calendar and deadlines.  Despite that it is a good practice to use the opportunity of the end of the civil year to start to work out the balances of one’s personal or family accounts.

To help those who are struggling to close their year-end accounts of 2021, we will be looking at, from the start of January 2022 when we return, how to successfully close your personal or family financial accounts and prepare your new accounts in the New Year.

It is always a good practice to start early before the deadlines of the financial year!

It is wise to work out your year-end accounts early so that you could enter the New Year with a good understanding of your financial position while keeping financial control on accounts.  In doing so, one can know areas of financial improvement to sort out their financial situation in the New Year.

This year-end financial control project or exercise includes income boost and other elements making our campaign to reduce and end income poverty.  This is without forgetting the elements of Spending Limit Programme/Scheme and Zero Income Deficit Campaign we conducted.

For those who may be interested in this year-end financial control project, they can contact CENFACS in the New Year.

 

• COVID-19 Campaign over the Festive Holiday

 

Our COVID-19 Campaign continues during the Festive Holiday.  We have not given up by repeating in saying to the community the following:

It is life-saving to keep following and implementing the coronavirus pandemic restrictions and rules. 

All our community members should be aware of the nature of the current threat level posed by the COVID-19 and its variants (like the Delta and Omicron which are both in circulation).  People need not only to follow but also to practise what the health authorities and professionals (e.g. World Health Organisation, the UK Government and the National Health Service) are saying. 

The rapidly changing pandemic landscape means aggressive response.  Without interfering in our community members’ health life, we are kindly asking to all of them to help in the following during the festive period:

√ Follow the voices, movies, signs and symbols of protection against the coronavirus pandemic and its variants

√ Be ready to implement stringent COVID-19 safety protocols prior to attending any in-person events during the festive time

√ Monitor your health with COVID-19 tests even if you are vaccinated

√ Check your COVID-19 vaccination status and test results before committing to any festive events

√ If in doubt, please do not be hesitate to opt out of any gatherings for festive celebrations as a safeguard or precautionary measure

√ Avoid a festive event that could become a source/centre of COVID-19 outbreak or contagion

√ Appropriately act upon information or data received on COVID-19 threats and risks

   

The above COVID-19 Campaign message should be added to the currently available COVID-19 restrictions and rules such as social distancing, confinement, sanitation, face coverings, etc.

For any enquiries and or queries about this message, please e-contact CENFACS as COVID-19 Campaigner.  

 

 

Les images ci-haut contiennent un message, qui est celui de réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable. 

Elles sont sélectionnées et placées dans la galerie CENFACS parce qu’elles montrent comment l’année 2021 s’est déroulée au sein et autour de CENFACS.

Pour plus d’informations sur ces images ou la rétro 2021, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

Merci et Joyeuse Saison des fêtes!

 

 

Festive Season’s Main Development

 

• 2021 Year-in-review Report

How the year 2021 has gone within and around CENFACS

 

The following contents make this report: a brief summary of the year, the theme of 2021 year-in-review, the key takeaways of the year, and commitments for the year 2022.

 

• • The Year’s Brief Summary

 

We entered 2021 with in mind the following question: how can our users reduce income deficit and what can they do for not to carry forward 2020 income deficit balance into 2021?

The question helped us together with users on the way of approaching 2021 despite the coronavirus constraint.  From this starting point, there was a need to tirelessly work with those in need so that they can start 2021 with less income deficit and with income surplus regarding the opening balances of their family or household accounting books.  This was vital as a way of stopping or reducing the transmission of poverty to their next generations.  Throughout the year, we worked with them by helping them to resolve or reduce their income deficit.   

Besides the above question, we were arguing with Africa-based Sister Organisations about the 2021 opportunities for them in order to continue the work of poverty reduction and sustainable development.  This argument led us to believe that 2021 could be a year of uncovered opportunities for them; opportunities from the challenges they were facing from the coronavirus pandemic, financial uncertainty, economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns and global economic downturn.  Throughout the year, some of these organisations managed to seize these opportunities in terms of market niches.  Others are still suffering from the socio-economic effects of the above mentioned challenges.   

Both the answer to the question on users’ income deficit (or users’ need of income deficit reduction) and the argument about the 2021 opportunities for Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) had shaped the contents and direction of our work with them (users and ASOs) throughout this ending year.

To respond to the income deficit problems of our users, we conducted together with them a Zero Income Deficit Campaign, which led to the Spending Limit Programme and Scheme in the end.  To enable ASOs to grab the 2021 opportunities, we developed Capacity Development Advice from which they could find answers to the problem of living and sustaining in the newly formed African Continental Free Trade Area. 

Briefly, to address both the question and argument we developed Build Forward Better Programme as well as Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring and Post-exit People’s Development projects.  Through these programme and projects we were able to work together with users and ASOs throughout 2021.

 

• • Theme of CENFACS’ 2021 Year-in-Review

 

The theme for this review is building forward better together greener and cleaner in the post-pandemic year.

 

• • How did the Year 2021 go through from within and around CENFACS?

 

To underline the way in which the year 2021 went from within and around CENFACS, we are going to highlight the key takeaways of 2021 and the contributions we made.

 

• • • Key takeaways of the year

 

The points or facts to remember about 2021 from within and around CENFACS are as follows.

 

• • • • 2021 as a Leafy Year

 

Through Leaves-based Advice service, users could address the root causes of multi-dimensional poverty (including intergenerational poverty), access basic needs and use assets for income generation.

 

• • • • 2021 a post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring year

 

Thanks to users’ own contribution, we were able to develop a series of activities, proposals, plans, processes and tasks that helped them to deal with changes within the components of poverty reduction systems or structures.

 

• • • • 2021 a post-exit users’ development year

 

To help raise users’ living levels, create conditions for their self-esteem and increase their freedom from poverty and hardships; together with them we developed a set of activities, processes and tasks (e.g. Journal of Happiness and Healthiness written by users over last Summer).

 

• • • • 2021 as a year of not-for-profit development and solutions to poverty

 

During 2021, not-for-profit investors were invited to invest or increase their share of investment in African organisations working with poor people and in poverty issues.

 

• • • • 2021 as a year of debt and deficit management

 

The soaring of COVID-19 induced debts and deficits, especially from income poor users, has been a handicap to reduce and end poverty they are and were facing.  Working with them on the issue of debt and deficit management was pivotal as many of them suggested sustainable solutions to COVID-19 induced financial debt and deficit they were facing.

 

• • • • 2021 as a year of generational economics

 

It has been a year during which we worked with users to explain and understand how their resources (including intergenerational share of non-renewables) have been allocated between them and future generations so that they could reduce or slow down intergenerational poverty.  Many of them understood the problem and started to implement intergenerational solutions or changes to their problems.

 

• • • • 2021 as a year of building forward better together with users

 

Through a set of projects and activities organised together, users were able to ensure that the recovery from COVID-19 pandemic could sit on sound and sustainable foundations that could build back better the poverty reduction gains hard-won while moving forward greener and cleaner.

 

• • • • 2021 as a year of analytics-based solutions to poverty

 

Thanks to the help we received from many of you, we were able to analyse raw data about poverty in order to make insightful conclusions about information.  Through data and contents generated by many of our users, we were in a position to communicate meaningful patterns and trends as well as actionable insights about poverty reduction.  The results of this analysis have helped feed this 2021 Year-in-Review Report.

The above key features of 2021 have to be considered with the results or outcomes they generated.

 

 

 

• • • 2021 Key Produce or Achievements

 

2021 has also been a year of poverty reduction produce or accomplishments.  After doing a round-up of all efforts we made to support the causes of those in need and work with them, we could name the following contributions.

∝) To support the severely socio-economic and health impacted of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, we conducted together with our followers and supporters these humanitarian relief appeals: Making Zero Hunger Grand Sud of Madagascar, Food Security Appeal to help tackle the food crisis and hunger situation in Tigray, etc.

∝) As we could not stay silent about human insecurity and displacement in the Ituri Region of the North-eastern in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we launched Ituri Peace Appeal and Re-appeal for the region.

∝) Through various e-discussions with interested users and African organisations, we produced a Guide for the Not-for-profit Investors in Africa.

∝) We could not be insensitive about what was happening in the African Sahel where innocent lives were unnecessary taken by food insecurity.  Together with our supporters, we launched an Appeal to Protect the Acutely Food-insecure in the Lake Chad Basin and Central African Sahel.

∝) We advocated for the reduction of asymmetrical distributional effects of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns concerning distance working and learning technologies and means to run them.

The above are just the few selected accomplishments or produce we wanted to share with audiences and supporters in this year-in-review campaign.  However, for those who would like get more insights into them and other achievements of the year 2021, they can still let us know.

 

• • Looking Forward to 2022

 

We shall undertake more sustainable initiatives about light (or energy) and poverty reduction since the global climate community has committed itself to phase down coal as source of energy whereas many energy poor people in Africa are coal-dependant. 

We will as well be developing post-pandemic projects and programmes with contents of Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction.  In other words, we shall plan and implement climate neutral projects to help keep us within the goal/trajectory of 1.5 Degree Celcius or below while also assisting in the reduction of poverty and the enhancement of sustainable development.

 

• • 2021 Gratitude

 

To end this year-in-review report, we would like to continue to thank our poverty reduction producers and enablers as we did in last week’s post. 

2021 was a memorable year for CENFACS for those who inspired us in responding to local and African needs at the challenging time of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.  We could not do it without their support. 

We thank them for making possible 2021 as another rewarding year of poverty reduction and of sustainable development as well as for what we accomplished together.  We hope to accomplish more in 2022 and beyond.

For further information or a full story of 2021 and to discuss any issues regarding this 2021 Year-in-Review Report, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future or as a New Year resolution.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

22 December 2021

 

Post No. 227

 

 

The Week’s Festive Contents

 

• Thanking 2021 Poverty Reduction Producers and Enablers

• Festive Season’s Arrangements

• Season’s Relief Triple Action Givings: Peace, Hope and Difference

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

 

 

Key Festive Messages

 

• Thanking 2021 Poverty Reduction Producers and Enablers

 

As 2021 comes to an end, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who produced poverty reduction with us and those who made poverty reduction possible for those in need and for us.  Amongst them are those who supported our work on poverty relief and sustainable development during this ending post-pandemic year.

For more information about this first key message, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

• Festive Season’s Arrangements: from 23 December 2021 to 5 January 2022

 

The following are the arrangements we have made for the above stated period.

 

• • Queries and enquiries

 

During the festive holidays and the restrictions to slow down the spread of COVID-19 variants (Delta and Omicron), we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 5th of January 2022.  However, our All-in-Development Winter e-discussion on Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction is still on until the 5th of January 2022 as planned.

 

• • Opening hours and days: 24/7

 

We are open online 24 hours and 7 days of week.

 

• • Visits

 

You can only visit us online.

 

• • Festive donations

 

Our festive campaigns highlight not only the projects and activities that are related to CENFACS’ demand, but also and mostly to the needs of those living in poverty around this time of the year and of the continuing coronavirus disruption.

Those who want to donate to our fundraising campaigns and projects (such as Gifts of Peace and End-of-Year 2021 Support); they are welcome to do so. 

Their festive support or donations will help bring a Blaze of Hope and Peace to those in need, particularly at this turbulent time of the new coronavirus pandemic variants.

As well as donating, there are other ways one can support.  These other ways range from spreading the message about CENFACS’ work and campaigns to visiting our online store for shopping.

All the above initiatives can create magical reliefs during this Festive Season and disturbing moment of restrictions relating to new COVID-19 variants.

 

• • Season of Light

 

Although our Season of Light has just kicked off, some of our services and activities (such as advocacy, in-person fundraising events, etc.) as well as development campaigns are scaled down until the 5^th of January 2022.  Also, they are even more reduced than the previous festive periods and years because of the coronavirus pandemic and the latest new COVID-19 variant (i.e. Omicron).

 

• • What’s on from 23 December 2021 to 5 January 2022!

 

We are breaking for the festive holidays while following the new COVID-19 restrictions.  However, there are projects that are essential in exceptional times like of the coronavirus pandemic and of the festive break.  One of them is advice-giving one which will still be run online. 

This is because evidence shows that in any difficult moments of human history or crisis, the poorest always suffer.  They do not have festive celebration as such, just as they could be the ones bearing the most negative socio-economic effects of the post-coronavirus pandemic and the return of COVID-19 restrictions.  Many of them need support which includes advice at any time. 

 

The above figure shows what is on between 23/12/2021 and 05/01/2022.  For those who want to get a further picture about what will be happening within CENFACS during the remaining days of December 2021, we recommend them to read our three last posts on the Blog page of this site.

 

• • Delays regarding call and e-mail responses

 

People should expect delay from us in responding to their calls and e-mails.  We heavily rely on volunteers for most of our services, who are sharing the Winter e-discussion with us during this Festive Time.  Some of them are already on holiday.   Also, the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions relating to the new COVID-19 variants (i.e. Delta and Omicron) do not make things easier.

 

• • Emergency and exceptions

 

In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text, phone, e-mail and complete the contact form on CENFACS’ website.  We will respond to your message as soon as we can. 

We apologize for any inconvenience or upset this may cause. 

We thank you all for your invaluable and sustained support during 2021 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year.

We wish you a Very Healthy, Safe and Peaceful Festive Season!

 

 

 

 

• Season’s Relief Triple Action Givings: Peace, Hope and Difference

 

• • What is the Season’s Relief Triple Action Giving?

 

It is about fighting poverty and hardships in a number of fronts over the Festive Season, particularly by helping…

(a) to bring peace,

(b) to create hope

(c) and to make a difference. 

 

Let us briefly explain each of the three givings (that is, peace, hope and difference). 

 

 

• • • Peace via the Gifts of Peace

 

Our celebratory theme for the Season’s Reliefs is Peace and continues to be alive to the end of this season.  The Gifts of Peace, which are one of CENFACS‘ festive favourites, are the set piece of the Season’s Reliefs that provides the absence of conflicts within ourselves as well as between us and others.

In terms of projects and programmes in Africa, the Gifts of Peace try to support poor people and communities so that they can navigate their ways towards freedoms from wars, armed conflicts, coronavirus disturbance and disorder from natural events.

For those who are looking for fundraising appeals or projects to fund as festive gifts over this festive time, Gifts of Peace as an appeal is a valuable proposal they could consider.

To enquiry about and or fund the Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS and go to Support Causes at http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

• • • Hope through the Gift of Light

 

Our theme for the Season of Light is Hope and is still featuring what we have planned to achieve over this season.   The Gift of Light helps to bring hope to those who are in the darkness and need some lights to see life through other ways.  

Regarding the projects and programmes in our sphere of operation in Africa, through the Gift of Light we try to work with hopeless, desperate and destitute people and communities so that they can rebuild confidence and faith in themselves and continue to believe that they can find light and move away from darkness in the future.

 

• • • Difference by means of Charity e-Store

 

Shopping and donating goods at our Charity e-Store is the third giving.  Following the new COVID-19 variant and the current restrictions, CENFACS’ Charity e-Store is opened for goods donations.

We are asking goods donors and buyers to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS SEASON by using these following options:

 

∝ Safe collection of goods for recycling: We can arrange for goods to be safely collected at an agreed location, day and time under our Recycle and Give policy 

∝ Goods buyers can Click and Collect. 

 

Every time you shop at CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, you make a helpful difference to people in need over this festive time. Amongst these people are those who are trying to fight the coronavirus-induced poverty.

  

The above are the Season’s Relief Triple Action Givings.  Each of these action givings will help to reduce poverty over the festive period and beyond. 

We can only help reduce and possibly end multi-dimensional poverty as well as coronavirus-induced poverty if you help us to do so.   And this time of the year is a unique opportunity for you once a year to change lives through your invaluable action giving, however small it may be.

Please, don’t miss this marvellous opportunity of the post-pandemic year and the end of the year.  There is a high demand for poverty reduction.

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

 

 

 

Extra Festive Messages

 

• Campaign for Resilience against the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19 Campaign) during the Festive Season

How to Integrate the New COVID Variant (Omicron variant) in the Shadowing Model of Fight against COVID-19

 

Our COVID-19 Campaign is also active and trending during the festive period and the new restrictions relating to the COVID-19 variants (i.e. Delta and Omicron) since the coronavirus has kept its sinusoidal shape as we thought it at the beginning of Autumn 2020.  The campaign is still in its Phase 3 of Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Strategies for our work in the UK and in Africa. 

This phase or stage includes the following sub-stages: recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity.  We are dealing with the four sub-phases (i.e. recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity) at the same time since these sub-phases are interlinked.  This concerns our actions relating to the two operations (in the UK and in Africa).

 

• • What is the COVID-19 Campaign by CENFACS during the festive season?

 

The COVID-19 Campaign by CENFACS during the festive period is about finding ways of integrating the new COVID variant or mutation in our shadowing model of fighting against the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

• • Keeping the momentum in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic

 

To keep and win the battle against the coronavirus, it is advisable to maintain a healthy relationship between hands, faces and space as we have been told by the health authorities and experts on COVID-19 matter.  It is better not to give up the basic healthcare principles and any life-saving advice during the festive season, even if one is double vaccinated against the coronavirus.

During this Festive Time, we are continuing to advocate for the community to stay resilient and vigilant against the coronavirus pandemic if one wants to win the fight against this deadly COVID-19 pandemic.  In this respect, it is in the best interest of everybody to act in a way that does not increase the health and economic threats and risks of the coronavirus pandemic and its variants on their and other people’s lives. 

For further details about the COVID-19 Campaign during the festive season, please check with CENFACS’ COVID-19 Hub for Poverty Reduction. 

 

 

 

• • Breaking out the vicious circle of the new economic inactivity

 

As many members of our community are living in the areas of COVID-19 restrictions, there could a need for some of them to find way to break out the vicious circle of the new socio-economic inactivity.  The exercises we have provided so far in relation to the COVID-19 lockdowns are still relevant and can be applied to manage the renewed socio-economic inactivity.  

For those who are looking for new types of activities including tips and hints, they can still let us know so that we can together e-work to come out with some new proposals to manage this challenging situation of COVID-19 changing faces and spikes which continue to occur during the Festive Season. 

Additionally, there are a lot of resources both print and online that can be used and accessed to deal with the renewed socio-economic effects of COVID-19 restrictions.

Need support to break out the vicious circle of the current socio-economic inactivity, please e-contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

• Festive Income Boost, All year-round Projects and the CENFACS Community

 

• • Festive Income Boost

 

For children, young people and families in need on whose behalf we relentlessly advocate; we can expect that they have managed to generate some little extra incomes they need to cover the extra expenses of the Season’s financial pressure. 

More importantly than anything else, they will manage to stay healthy and safe while exercising their basic human right to some forms of festive celebrations despite the coronavirus restrictions. 

Equally important, everybody in the community is doing what they can to better manage their spending limit and not to carry forward income deficit into 2022.

 

 

• • All Year-round Projects (Triple Value Initiatives)

 

Our All Year-round Projects or Triple Value Initiatives (i.e. Play, Run and Vote for poverty relief and development) will close on 23 December 2021 as planned.  One can hope that participants have been able to select their African Country or Game Runner or Development Manager of the Post-pandemic Year.  Those who have not done it, they have still 24 hours to do. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who responded to our call for Action-Results 2021.

 

 

 

• • The CENFACS Community

 

We would like as well to express our gratitude to those who replied to the Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community, by adding their talents and skills to our register.

 

 

• Natural and Climate Balances in Festive Celebrations (or Net Zero Festive Celebrations)

 

It is possible to offset one’s carbon foot print and to have a positive effect on the nature and climate by the way one will celebrate their Festive Season.  It is possible to have a net zero CO2 emissions festive celebration; that is a festive celebration that does not add extra emissions to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 

Already, COVID-19 lockdowns had beneficial effects on nature and climate to a certain extent in Summer 2019.  However, none needs everlasting lockdowns for these effects to happen.  This benefice can be increased in the way one may want to pass their Festive Season.

In this respect, our nature and climate campaigns continue as we are carrying on advocating about the maintenance of healthy balance between festive celebration and nature, between the season’s festivities and climate.  In other words, it is possible to have a festive celebration that is net zero CO2 emissions and climate-friendly while preserving the wealth and health of the nature.

Briefly, this extra festive message, which reinforces our commitment to the development of sustainable initiatives, can be translated into action at individual level.  The message is indeed about natural and climate balances by the way of approaching and celebrating the special days of the Festive Season (e.g. Christmas and the New Year’s Eve).

For more details and support about natural and climate balances in one’s festive celebrations, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.    

 

Remerciements et Voeux Festifs 2021

A tous ceux et toutes celles qui ont permis au CENFACS de réaliser le travail de  réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable au cours de l’année 2021, le CENFACS vous dit…

 

 

infiniment.  

Le CENFACS vous souhaite une saison des fêtes saine, sécuritaire et paisible.

 

 

Main Festive Development

 

• Thanking 2021 Poverty Reduction Producers and Enablers

 

The work and produce of CENFACS are collective endeavour.  The end of the year gives us an opportunity of the many to thank all those who directly and indirectly contributed to the year 2021, either as poverty relief producer or maker or even enabler.

Perhaps, the best way of thanking could be to do it individually by naming every contributor.  There could be a risk of forgetting some audiences and supporters.  To avoid this risk, we are thanking them collectively although we may mention here and there some names. 

Year 2021 has continued the thread of 2020 in terms of historical challenge for CENFACS and many people/organisations in the world as the world is still battling against the coronavirus pandemic.  The toughening of restrictions in many places to slow down the spread of COVID-19 and its Omicron variant, the mandatory re-wearing of face masks and home working/studying as part of COVID-19 rules are all the indications of the challenge of the year including at this festive time.  

Despite this unparalleled challenge of the post-pandemic year, the commitment of various individuals and organisations to what we are trying to achieve has been indisputable and will be unforgettable. 

In particular, we would like to mention the following contributors: users, volunteers, web readers and commentators, web reviewers, local people and families, Africa-based Sister Organisations, charitable organisations, non-governmental organisations, community groups, third sector organisations, recycling organisations, individuals, etc.

Year 2021 has been dedicated as a “Leafy” Year, a Year of Leaves of Poverty Reduction within CENFACS.  During this year, we have tried as much as we can to reach out to those in need of relief from poverty and hardships through our Twelve Leaves of Poverty Reduction.  As it has been as well as a continuing pandemic year, we have deployed our efforts and resources to help and work with the community and our Africa-based Sister Organisations to protect themselves and others from the continuing life-threatening and –destroying impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

We would like to thank all those who have helped and worked with us in our COVID-19 Campaign to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and its destructive health and economic effects including the consequences of lockdowns.

Without undermining the other valuable and traditional sources of support we normally receive, we would like to thank, particularly but not exclusively, WordPress.com, Easily.uk and Twitter.com.  We thank them for providing us again with the opportunity to bring our ideas and work of poverty reduction to life to not only our audience but to a global audience as well.

WordPress.com, Easily.uk and Twitter.com with their platforms have continued to give us as a charity a tremendous opportunity and learning experience to engage the public and other supporters as well as to enable us to re-communicate our anti-poverty messages and undertake our work on sustainable development.  They helped us to create happy memories for our project users while enabling their wishes and dreams come true.

Small charitable organisations do not always have the financial means to put their messages across, to connect supporters with their causes.  Having the possibility of using free or sometimes affordable means of communications can enormously impact the work of these charities.   Free or cheap is not always poor quality or option, just as heavily paid option is not always the best one.  All depends on what you get and what it achieves.

2021 will be remembered by many including CENFACS as a post-pandemic year.  It is also a year of economic slowdown as many of the economic effects of the coronavirus disaster and shock have been accumulated this year.  The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent effects have forced us to shield ourselves as well as to remotely or distance work in order to achieve our mission and aims.  This has meant we had to go out our normal way and means to reinvent ourselves in order to deliver the same and new services in exceptional circumstances. 

Thanks to the support we have received from some of you, we have been still able to manage the bumps along the poverty reduction road.  We could punch above our weight in delivering poverty reduction outcomes and products for those in extreme and urgent need.  In this respect, CENFACS is thankful for all of you who gave so that together we have been able to produce poverty reduction.

This year, we would like to extend our gratitude to other living things.  To advocate for the peaceful relationship with the nature, the preservation of the biodiversity, the net zero CO2 emissions, the reduction of adverse impacts of climate change, the protection of endangered species of the fauna and flora and so on; we had to use images and pictures from the flora and fauna.  We would like to say thank you to those beautiful and scarce creatures of the nature that helped us to put our messages across.  We would like as well to express gratitude to our Africa-based Sister Organisations whose inputs have been instrumental in this advocacy.

To sum up, we are using the opportunity of the end of year to thank all those who produced poverty reduction, made and enabled the year 2021 work for CENFACS, its beneficiaries and other deserving and noble causes related to ours.

We would like to express all our feelings of thank you and best wishes of the Season’s Greetings to all our 2021 Poverty Reduction Producers, Makers and Enablers.

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

15 December 2021

 

Post No. 226

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Season of Light: Starts 21 December 2021

• Festive Trends

• Festive Giving and Gifting

… And much, much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• The Lights Season: Starts 21 December 2021

 

• • Autumn Fresh Start to the Season of Light

 

The Autumn Season officially will end at the beginning of next week.  The momentum we have built from the beginning and throughout Autumn Fresh Start Season continues to galvanise our poverty relief action and is taking our relief journey into the Season of Light, which will start on the 21^st of December next week.

Next mid-week, Autumn Fresh Start projects and programmes as well as campaign will end.  The Season of Light will start within CENFACS; season during which we light up a Blaze of Hope for people and communities suffering from the effects and impacts of destructive wars and natural disasters in Africa. 

During the coming Season of Light, our Blaze of Hope will be extended to those who are continuing suffering from the adverse health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns, particularly those trapped by the growing hunger crisis in Africa.  This is let alone the new challenge brought by COVID-19 new variants (like Omicron). 

The Season of Light will come with the Lights Appeal or Campaign, which is the project that features the Season of Light.  The Season of Light, which usually starts the 21^st of December of each year and ends around 21 March in the New Year, runs through the Festive Season, which is between 01 December of the ending year (here 2021) and 31 January in the New Year (2022).  The Gifts of Peace, which keep on giving, normally feature the Festive Season.

 

• • Two Themes, Two Seasons and Two Gifts

 

The theme for the Season of Light is Hope which we try to bring through a Blaze, while the theme for the Festive Season’s Reliefs is Peace.  During the Festive Season, we try to reduce poverty as a lack of peace via the Gifts of Peace; whereas in the context of the Season of Light we work through Lights Appeals/Gifts to relieve poverty as a lack of hope.  Those who feel themselves hopeless need some hope.

Under the Main Development section of this post, there is more information about the Season of Light 2021/2022.

 

 

• Festive Trends

 

• • December and End of Autumn 2021 Updates and Trends

 

The following updates and trends cover three initiatives: All in Development Winter e-Discussion, Autumn 2021 Humanitarian Relief Appeal and Community Value Chains.

 

• • • All in Development Winter e-Discussion 2021/2022: Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction

 

All in Development Winter e-Discussion is currently trending as planned amongst CENFACS’ December products and services.  This e-Discussion is in its second week.  

The following points are under the e-discussion:

 

∝ Remote volunteering and delivery of an action plan for climate neutrality and poverty reduction in 2022 and beyond

∝ Remote volunteering and the use of digital technologies (especially distance-working ones) to transform CENFACS’ volunteering operations

∝ Remote volunteering and the delivery of a relatively strong impact digital volunteering experience in the post-pandemic age

∝ Remote volunteering and its contribution in the situation of return of COVID-19 threats brought by its variants (like the newly identified Omicron variant)

∝ Remote volunteering and the delivery of a true value poverty reduction in the landscape of climate neutrality

 

Additionally, we are e-working on the following matters:

 

∝ The state of volunteering 2021 within CENFACS as 2021 is nearing end

∝ The 2022 volunteering budget

∝ Quantitative and qualitative effects or legacies of COVID-19 and its variants on our volunteering action

∝ Forecasting and projections about volunteering opportunities for the next year

To e-discuss volunteers’ matters relating to Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Autumn 2021 Humanitarian Relief Appeal: Only One Week to Go!

 

We have only one week remaining for our humanitarian appeal for Autumn 2021.  This appeal is about supporting needy people, flora, fauna, communities and organisations in Africa. 

 

• • Projects making this appeal

 

The appeal includes the following five selected projects: 

 

√ Skills for Building Forward Better

√ Symmetry Project

√ Gender into post-COVID-19 Economic and Social Recovery in Africa

√ Back-to-School Support

√ Save Flora and Fauna projects

 

A brief summary of these projects can be found on the ‘Support Causes’ page at  Support Causes – (cenfacs.org.uk) of this website. 

The full proposals for each project making this appeal is available should any of the potential donor or funder makes a request. 

 

• • Supporting the Autumn 2021 Campaign

 

Donors and funders can directly and respectively donate or fund these projects. 

A message about this appeal can also be passed on to a person who is in a position and willing to support.  Many thanks to those who will be passing this message!

We understand that the world is still experiencing an extremely difficult time with the coronavirus pandemic and its new variants which are enormously disrupting the functioning of many economies, including the ability of people to support good and deserving causes. 

The effects of this health crisis are even stronger in place where there is a high level of poverty like in Africa.  This is why this seasonal appeal was launched to help not only to reduce poverty but also to save lives from the coronavirus disaster.

 

• • Where donors’ and funders’ money will go

 

We are inviting those who can to donate £2 to create 2 benefits (1 benefit for humans and 1 benefit for other natural livings) or any amount starting from £2 or more as they wish.  In other words, for every £2 raised, £1 will go to humans and £1 will be invested in other natural beings.

 

• • Gift-Aiding your donation

 

You can declare your charitable donation made as eligible for Gift Aid.  You can as well support these projects in a way that is the most suitable and related to your situation, budget, capacity and willingness.

To donate, gift-aid and support otherwise; please contact CENFACS or go to our ‘support causes’ page at Support Causes – (cenfacs.org.uk) .

 

 

 

• Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community 

 

CENFACS as a Community that helps to take a leaf of poverty reduction out of others’ book, which is the Closing Act of the 2021 Year, is being prepared and trended. 

 

• • What is CENFACS’ Community Value Chains (CVC)?

 

1) It is a community value control, inspirational and motivational project of end-of-year celebration introduced by CENFACS in 2009.  The project is based on a basic idea of development which is as follows. 

What a member of our community best does which well works for them can have an underlying good value.  If there is a good value, it is desirable to share such value so that other members of our community could be aware of it and build a sort of chains of beliefs and community spirit/principles within our support network.

2) It is all about improving lives and outcomes of community members as well as enlivening capacities by sharing good practices, values and achievements; while learning from past mistakes.

In doing so, we can pull together as one community, strengthen our links and bonds, learn our differences and harness transformative changes we all want amongst us and beyond our self-interests.

3) It is finally about sharing and celebrating our impact as a community.

 

To sum up, CENFACS’ CVC or the CENFACS Community is our voluntary local and non-profit making arm inside which all our projects and activities carried out in the UK are grouped and delivered; the other two domains being CENFACS International and CENFACS Fund for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development.

 

• • What are those Shared Values? 

 

Good practices and good values do not need to be big or exceptional or even spectacular.  They are the simple good little things we do every day, which may have worked for us and could work for others as well.  

They could be life and work learning experiences, lifestyles, helpful differences, social responsibilities and principles that underpin them.  At this time of the continuing coronavirus disturbance with its variants, they could be all the little initiatives one has taken to care each other in order to stay safe, healthy and productive.

 

• • Sharing and celebrating impact via CVC 2021

 

CENFACS as a Community that helps to take a leaf of poverty reduction out of others’ book (or the Closing Act of the Leafy Year) will feature our year-end campaign.

This celebratory theme for CVC’s 12^th Celebration of CENFACS as a Community is and will be the Closing Act of the Leafy Year and Project.  However, this celebration will be a low key one since many of supporters and users have been affected by the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus disaster and related lockdowns.  Instead, we shall call it end-of-year sharing.

 

• • The 12^th Celebration of CENFACS Community as way of looking both back and forward

 

Looking back at 2021 will be about CENFACS as a community that helped its members to take a leaf of poverty reduction out of others’ book, that is imitate those who did well (or led by good examples) in their course of action. 

Looking forward 2022 will be a sharing to turn over a new leaf in order to begin a new and improved course of action in the New Year.

Briefly, it will be a virtual sharing of our leafiness on how the 2021 went on in everybody’s life in terms of the positive takeaways from it in order to build forward in 2022.  In this virtual sharing, the positive experience from the coronavirus pandemic and strengthened restrictions will be welcome. 

We want our community ends the 2021 on a positive note or sharing despite the ups and downs of this year, especially with the disturbance that the coronavirus pandemic has caused and is continuing to cause on many of us.  We would like as well our community to start 2022 with hope.

 

• • Share, Spread & Tweet the message

 

To enable us to build chains with you and others and to keep our support network alive and networked CENFACS, please spread the message to/pass it on around you.

If you feel that you need first to talk to us before responding to this invitation of end-of-year celebration/sharing, please let us know. 

If you prefer to respond via e-mail, you are free to do so at facs@cenfacs.org.uk. 

Whichever way or means you choose to enter this year-end sharing project, please reply by the 23rd of December 2021 so as to ease the end-of-year 2021 celebration/sharing and the start-of-year 2022 preparatory activities, projects and programmes.

For further details about this Closing Act of the Leafy Year and Project as well as the other Leaves of Poverty Reduction 2021 as a “L” Year, please contact CENFACS. 

For the timeline of the themes that made the Community Value Chains so far, please also contact CENFACS. 

As part of the closure of 2021 and preparation for 2022, we are as well doing an inventory of skills and are registering the talents and skills of the CENFACS Community. 

If you have not yet registered your skills to CENFACS’ Skills Data Bank, this is the opportunity to do it over this festive period.

To register or add your skills to the CENFACS Community’s Skills Register or Database, just contact CENFACS.    

 

 

 

• Festive Giving and Gifting

 

As part of the season of gifts and of the response to the continuing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable and poor people, we are asking supporters to go extra miles in responding in these two fundraising appeals which are: Festive Gift Set and End-of-year Support.

 

 

 

• • Festive Gift Set

 

The remaining two weeks and two days of this year starting from today are those of the last legacy of the Year 2021 as a “Leafy” Year at CENFACS. 

To mark the end of and the Closing Act of our “Leafy” Year and Campaign, we are appealing to you to support CENFACS’ year 2021 through a “Leaf” (“L”) Gift. 

Such a gift will help to cover the cost of efforts made to help reduce poverty, to knowledge CENFACS’ work and to keep its momentum over the festive period while carrying us in the New Year and future.

 

 

With the “Leaf” Gift plus the Gift of Light plus the Gift of Peace; the three of them give you a Gift Set of £5 or more.  What do these gifts express?

 

• • • Expressions from the three gifts (of Leaf, Light and Peace)

 

• • • • The “L” Gift represents the 12 Leaves of Poverty Reduction and bond with poor people as well as harmony with nature, especially during this challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic and its variants. 

 

• • • • The Gift of Light symbolises hope for the victims of coronavirus, wars and natural disasters.

 

• • • • The Gifts of Peace create long lasting relationships in a world without conflicts between humans as well as between humans and the nature (other living beings and things).  At this time of the coronavirus pandemic and of strengthened restrictions, the Gifts of Peace will enable to re-conquer the lost peace and get new form of peace from the COVID-19 led poverty.  This is without forgetting the lack of peace brought by climate change events.

 

All these initiatives represent some great ways of helping to reduce poverty at this special time of the year.  They give indeed more opportunities to supporters to do something different for those in need. 

By donating £5 or more for this Gift Set, you will help people in need to leave poverty and hardships behind them and may be for ever.

To donate and or enquire about this Gift Set, just contact CENFACS with or without your donation. 

 

 

 

 

• • End-of-year Support and Appeal

 

As 2021 is coming to an end, we would like to ask you to donate as a legacy towards CENFACS’ efforts to help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

You can donate to support CENFACS’ anti-poverty campaign and to help reduce poverty and hardships this festive season and in the New Year. 

Your support can make helpful differences to CENFACS and to those in need, the people and communities that CENFACS serves. 

 

• • • Two ways of responding to this appeal

 

1) Make a One-off Festive Donation of £5 or more this festive time…

 

as a way of helping poor people via CENFACS and / or support CENFACS’ work on poverty relief and sustainable development

You can also support one of the CENFACS projects and programmes if you wish.

 

2) Make a Monthly Donation of £5 or £10 or £15 or more per month…

 

as a legacy for CENFACS’ work

Please make an end-of-year contribution today to help us continue to deliver the work of CENFACS in 2021 and beyond.

This End-of-year Support is an inclusive relief sending a never-ending message from the giver that they are part of what we have achieved in 2021 and will do in the coming years.

To make a donation and or enquire about this End-of-year Support, just contact CENFACS with or without your donation. 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• All year round Projects (or Triple Value Initiatives): 2021 Verdict

 

The week is finally an occasion to remind the need to report on All-year Round Projects (or Triple Value Initiatives) which are:  Play, Run and Vote projects for poverty relief and development. 

As we are reaching the end of year 2021, it is now the time to report on our three All-year Round Projects – which are Play, Run and Vote. 

We know that this post-pandemic year has been challenging for some of you to run some types of activities.  However, for those who have managed to undertake and complete the above named projects, we would like them to share with us and others their experiences, stories and reports regarding these projects.

 

• • The Action-Results of 2021: Tell it!

 

You can feedback the outcomes or Action-Results of your…

… Run if you ran for poverty relief over the year 2021 (or organised a Run activity)

… Play if you played the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

… Vote if you have already voted your 2021 African Poverty Relief and Development Manager.

 

We would be more than happier to hear your Action and Results to feature and conclude CENFACS 2021 Year as Year of Leaves.  Tell it!

 

• • What or who we want to hear

 

We would like to hear from you about the Winner of CENFACS Virtual Trophy of the Post-pandemic Year, that is one of the following Three Stars or Bests of the Post-pandemic Year:

 

√ The Best African Country of 2021 which best reduced poverty

√ The Best African Global Games Runner of 2021

√ The Best African Poverty Relief and International Development Manager of 2021

 

If you have not yet told us, have your say by 23 December 2021!  The Verdict is yours!

 

 

 

 

 

• Income Generation Leads/Advice: Income Generators and Creators of the Month

 

Our advisory service on leads to income generation is still on.  Through this festive advice service, we are trying to explore the different leads or avenues that those in need can use, depending on their personal circumstances; to find the appropriate means to generate little extra income.  This is done bearing in mind that we are in post-pandemic time which itself still restricts the possibility for generating further income.

In this income generation to reduce poverty, we are as well trying to enlist those who could be named as Income Generation Models or Income Generators and Creators of the Season.  We are looking at their models or ways of generating little extra income.  We are assessing whether or not their models of generating income are generalizable or duplicatable or just are exceptions to the general rule and to the CENFACS Community.

If anyone has managed to generate little extra income and finds that their way of doing it has an underlying good value that can be shared with the CENFACS CVC members, please do not hesitate to talk to CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Structured Festive Activities or Micro-projects under Spending Limit Programme/Scheme: Deadlines expired!

 

The deadlines we set up for structured festive activities or micro-projects under Spending Limit Programme/Limit (07 and 14/12/2021) have now expired. 

For those who still need support regarding their spending limit or planning problems, they can still contact CENFACS.  They can contact us for their queries or enquiries relating to any of these following activities:

∝ Spending threshold, respect for spending restriction and little extra income generation under Spending Limit Programme

∝ Elaboration of an action plan for spending limit, and building and understanding cash flow statements or projections under Spending Limit Scheme

 

Need festive advice or support regarding your spending limit or spending planning problems, please do not hesitate to e-contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Season of Light: Starts 21 December 2021

 

The Lights Season at CENFACS kicks off with the theme of Hope as said above.  We are going to deliver this Hope with post-pandemic projects and programmes with contents of Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction.

 

• • What will shape the Season of Light?

 

As we presented in our post 224 of the 1^st December 2021, the 2021-2022 Season of Light will be about working on issues revolving around light (or energy) and poverty reduction since the global climate community has committed itself to phase down coal as source of energy whereas many energy poor people in Africa are coal-dependant.

It will be also about how to harness transformational and structural changes in the context of changing uncertainty in the Anthropocene driven by COVID-19 evolution and climate change so that those who living in poverty can find the means and spaces they need to navigate out of it.

The 2021-2022 Season of Light is also an energy transitional period to work with those living in poverty so that they transition from polluting to clean and green energy and technology.  To achieve or start or continue this energy transition to carbon net zero, it requires Hope and support. 

The two developments (COVID-19 evolution and climate neutrality) will shape our 2021-2022 Season of Light.  In the light of these developments, CENFACS will approach 2022 with a set of climate neutral projects.  Details of these projects will be unveiled in the New Year.

So, we will be developing post-pandemic projects and programmes with contents of Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction; that is climate neutral projects to help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

 

 

 

• • Two themes to bear in mind this Festive and Lights Time: Peace and Hope

 

While the theme of Peace will be dominant over the festive celebrations period, the theme of Hope is the overall theme of the Season of Lights. 

 

• • • The theme of Hope

 

The theme of Hope is made of notes or pieces of climate neutrality and energy transition.   In this sense that we shall bring a glimmer of hope through climate neutrality and energy transition under control by the poor over this Wintry season.

 

• • • The theme of Peace

 

The Gifts of Peace are included in the Season of Light.  Peace is the festive theme we choose to spread the joy of Season’s Reliefs to those in need.   We try to help their wishes of poverty relief become true through the Gits of Peace that put a smile on their faces and lips with relief notes while hoping their faces will become again uncovered in the post-coronavirus time.

 

• • The Gift of Light that Keeps on Giving this Winter

 

• • • A gift of light for every person in need everywhere!

 

The Lights season is the season during which we try to bring light or shine light to impoverished lives in the darkness.  We try to bring clarity, brightness to people who need to see clearly and accurately about their life.  It is about helping them see the light of relief so that they can see the world in a new relieved light or version.

 

• • • A gift of light that ignites and sparks the life of those in need!

 

This is why we have the Lights project at CENFACS; projects which enable us to bring lights to those in need.  Like the last Winter, this Winter 2021-2022, our Lights projects will focus on two parts or two waves of action: 

 

1) post-coronavirus, post-war and post-natural disaster developments

2) current and emerging armed conflicts and environmental catastrophes as well as new waves of coronavirus caused by new variants

 

However, in these developments and waves, we shall take into account the changing contexts in Africa where there could be scaling down or changing types of crises (for example, the policy of silencing the guns in Africa has changed the types of conflicts).  At the moment, there is a growing hunger crisis due to the drastic impacts of the coronavirus, economic slowdown and climate change.

 

• • • A gift of light that helps people to navigate their own way out poverty with pride!

 

The Gift of Light is about helping people to help themselves.  By using the light, they can find their own way out poverty and hardships, out of darkness instead of CENFACS telling them what do.  They can act with self-esteem and self-respect.  In this respect, the Gift of Light is a blessing of empowerment.

 

• • • A Blaze of Hope for post-life following coronavirus, armed conflicts and natural disasters

 

When there are environmental disasters and armed conflicts, there are pledges and commitments to end the effects of wars and disasters.  For various reasons, some of these pledges do not always materialise.  The post-war and post-disaster developments are sometimes left without support even until the conflicts and disasters return and or strike again. 

The same situation can happen with the coronavirus disaster if pledges made are not carried out by those who made them while letting the return of coronavirus-induced poverty to happen.  It can as well happen if the pledges made (at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties held in Glasgow between 01 and 12 December 2021) to help poor nations to transition towards net zero CO2 emissions world are not followed by concrete actions.

As we cannot wait the return or repeat of the same coronavirus, wars and disasters; our first Blaze of Hope will go this Winter to the unfinished business of previous destructions and disruptions brought by coronavirus, wars and natural disasters.

 

• • • A Blaze of Hope for the eruption of any coronavirus, armed conflicts and natural disasters

 

We always advocate for preventive development and we do not seek for destructive events to happen.  However, our preparedness and readiness should make us to assemble as quickly as possible advocacy tools should any effects and impacts erupt from new COVID-19 waves, wars and natural disasters in Africa. 

So, our second wave of intervention or Blaze of Hope will go this Wintry season to erupted effects of coronavirus, armed conflicts and natural disasters in the areas of our interest in Africa. 

With these two waves of action over this Wintry Season, we hope to enlighten the lives of those in pressing and emergent need.

 

• • • Examples of areas where a Blaze of Hope may be needed

 

For this December 2021, we have initially selected four areas that may need lighting a Blaze of Hope, which are as follows:

∝ Areas of countries severely affected by the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and its variants like in Madagascar, Cameroon and Burundi

∝ Areas of vulnerable countries affected by or prone to torrential rains and cyclones that could cause enormous food insecurity such as in Chad (where flooding affected almost 250,000 people last September), Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo

∝ Areas of countries devastated by killing diseases like in North Cameroon with cholera and malaria in DRC

∝ Areas of countries that are the victims of a high level of persisting civil insecurity such as in Burkina Faso,  Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Niger

∝ Areas of countries where innocent people are the victims of new forms of insecurity (e.g. interpersonal violence and gang violence) and forced displacement like in Mali and Burkina Faso

The above selection is an initial one, which may change depending how and where humanitarian events will unfold in Africa.  The selection will help to start our Light advocacy and campaign.  

We know that many of our supporters have been affected by the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus and the prolonged impacts of lockdowns as well as the new restrictions due to the newly identified COVID-19 variant, Omicron.  Let alone the restrictions on travel and free movements in other parts of the world. 

For those who can support Light project, we can count on them to move forward this advocacy or campaign.  And we would like to thank them in advance.

For any queries or enquiries regarding the Season of Light, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

08 December 2021

 

Post No. 225

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Leafy Year/Project – The 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction: Leaf to Generate Income

• Structured Festive Activities or Micro-projects under Spending Limit Programme/Scheme

• All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion 2021/2022: Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Leafy Year/Project – The 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction: Leaf to Generate Income

 

In a series of activities for the Leafy Year/Project (or the 2021 as a Year of Leaves) within CENFACS, we are undertaking the last activity this month.  This activity consists of looking at how leaves can help in offsetting the growing financial pressure on our household users’ budget and of working together with them so that they can undertake activities that could help them to generate a little extra income to tackle certain forms of poverty (like the coronavirus-induced poverty) over the festive period and beyond.

The continuing effects of COVID-19 are such that many earning capacities have dramatically collapsed while one can notice the soaring of COVID-19 debt burden for many poor households making our community.  To respond to this persisting challenge, the last episode of our series of the Year of Leaves is about finding a promising way of working with or empowering those poor beneficiaries so that they can remake their lost income earning capacity and where possible they can make a little extra income to make ends meet in a month of Income Generation within CENFACS.   In doing so, they can grow or develop a leaf to generate income and reduce poverty.

The details of this 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction or Leaf of Income Generation together with the previous Leaves of poverty Reduction can be found under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

• Structured Festive Activities or Micro-projects under Spending Limit Programme/Scheme

 

As part of Spending Limit Programme and Scheme Periods (01 to 07/12/2021 and 08 to 14/12/2021), we are available to work in hybrid way with users via a Spending Limit Programme (SLP) or Scheme (SLS) so that they can start stronger in the New Year.  Both SLP and SLS will help beneficiaries to reduce spending risks and improve their intergenerational income and transfers.  To practise SLP and SLS, we are carrying out structured festive activities for the two periods as indicated below. 

 

• • Structured Festive Activities under Spending Limit Programme (01 to 07/12/2021)

 

Under the SLP, we are currently running the following structured activities.

 

Activity 1: Spending Threshold

 

Through this activity, we can work together with the community so that users with spending limit problems can set up their spending threshold on their planned budget.

 

Activity 2: Respect for Spending Restriction

 

Through this second activity, we can work with users with spending limit problems to help them stay within the spending limit they planned/agreed themselves or agreed/imposed by third parties (like bank overdrafts).

 

Activity 3:  Little Extra Income Generation

 

Through this third activity, we can work with income poor users to explore any suitable means for them to create further income and reduce poverty as lack of income.

 

Need festive advice or support regarding your spending limit problems, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

If you have spending limit problems and missed any of the activities of the SLP, you can still contact CENFACS so that we can work together on your spending limit needs and support you to start the New Year stronger.

 

• • Structured Festive Activities under Spending Limit Scheme (08 to 14/12/2021)

 

We can work together with you and help you elaborate an action plan about your spending limit for a given period (e.g. a week or a month or a six months or a year).  Under this scheme, we can organise together the following activities.

 

Activity 1: Elaboration of an action plan for spending limit

 

Through this activity, we shall work with users with spending plan issues to produce an action plan or budget for spending limit that matches their financial circumstances and conditions of life.

 

Activity 2: Building and understanding cash flow statements or projections

 

Through this activity, we shall work with users with spending planning issues to write down their cash inflows and outflows as well as opening and closing balances so that they can start the New Year with confidence as far as their financial health is concerned.  

 

Need festive advice or support regarding your spending planning problems, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

If you have spending planning problems, you can contact CENFACS so that we can work together on your spending planning needs and help you to start the New Year stronger.

 

 

• All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion 2021/2022: Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction

 

As the 2021 will come soon to an end at the end of this year, we need to start thinking about our voluntary work.  We need to do it, although we are still dealing with the post-coronavirus pandemic legacies.  

From 05 December 2021, we started  to think of it since CENFACS is a volunteering-involved and -based organisation; meaning that CENFACS heavily relies on volunteers in order to deliver its services and programmes.  It also means we need to start planning for this next year in terms of the way in which we would like to volunteer so as to continue to achieve CENFACS’ vision, mission, aim, objectives and charitable objects.  This planning process is even important as we are in a post-coronavirus and post-exit economic era. 

Indeed, the scale of the health and economic damages caused by the coronavirus disaster is colossal and will be still felt in the future in the living memory.  In addition, there are still COVID-19 variants (e.g. like newly identified Omicron variant) that are coming to apply more threats and damages to lives.  This is despite the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine and booster jabs.  These damages will be mostly felt by those who have not got any capacity and means to deal with them.  Amongst them, there are poor people.

It will be difficult to pay for the cost of these damages in the short and medium terms.  Volunteering will be much needed to help deal with some of the legacies of the coronavirus disaster.  

Likewise, the economic impact of the UK’s exit from the EU regional economic model of integration is still felt.  The cost of changing economic ties with the EU has led to some forms of adjusted volunteering for us to continue the work of poverty reduction and sustainable development.

In order to get ready, some preparations must be done.  We already started these preparations last and this years.  We are continuing these preparations and discussions through our All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion.  These Winter e-volunteering discussions, which already began since the 5th of this month, are briefly on Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction.    

 

• • What is remote volunteering?

 

The National Centre for Voluntary Organisations (1) defines volunteering as

“Any activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives. Central to this definition is the fact that volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual”.

From the above definition, one can argue that remote volunteering is about volunteering at a time and location (that is, away from a usual workplace) that matches the volunteer’s needs while still making a positive impact on the life of those in need.  Such type volunteering requires specific types of means like distance-working technologies.

 

• • What is climate neutrality?

 

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat (2), climate neutrality refers to

“The idea of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by balancing those emissions so they are equal (or less than) the emissions that get removed through the planet’s natural absorption; in basic terms it means we reduce our emissions through climate action”.

 

From these two definitions, we are e-discussing on how volunteers can support CENFACS in the New Year in order to remotely help reduce poverty in the context of climate neutrality.  These e-discussions revolve around the following points.

 

• • E-discussion volunteering Points

 

The following points are scheduled to be part of the e-discussion:

 

√ How remote volunteers can help CENFACS to deliver an action plan for climate neutrality and poverty reduction in 2022 and beyond

√ How remote volunteers can assist CENFACS to use technologies (especially distance-working ones) to transform its volunteering operations

√ How remote volunteers can support CENFACS to deliver a strong impact digital volunteering experience in the post-pandemic age

√ How remote volunteers can effectively contribute in the situation of return of COVID-19 threats brought by its variants (like the newly identified Omicron variant)

√ How remote volunteers can deliver true value poverty reduction in the landscape of climate neutrality

 

The clarification about these points will help to determine remote volunteers’ involvement and engagement with CENFACS.  To put these points in practice, we are considering the following beyond volunteering theories.

 

• • Practical examples to remotely volunteer for climate neutrality and poverty reduction

 

The examples below are our way of engaging and involving volunteers in 2022:

 

a) Remote volunteers can help to measure or estimate their own or users’ CO2 emissions using a calculator (online carbon footprint calculator) in terms of energy consumption in Kwh/month.

b) They can as well measure heating energy source (i.e. coal, gas, wood, charcoal, electricity, etc.)

c) They can help encourage users to switch to green electricity provider, to walk or cycle.

In brief, they can help to estimate CENFACS Community’s CO2 emissions. 

 

There would be more examples and many ways of getting volunteers engaged and involved in 2022; examples which would be e-discussed. 

 

The above points are some of those issues we have identified so far which are being discussed and put to all our supporters to help us in providing their inputs.  

To add your views about Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction, please contact CENFACS.   Also, for those who would like to know more about the organisation of All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion 2021/2022, they can refer to the timeline below.

 

 

 

The above timeline indicates that from 06 to 11 December 2021, we are e-discussing Remote Volunteering within CENFACS.  From 13 to 18 December 2021, we will be e-debating Volunteering for Climate Neutrality.  These two volunteering e-discussions would include poverty reduction as well. 

Between 19 December 2021 and 02 January 2022, we will break for festivity and end-of-year celebration like everybody.  It is also a time to digest what would have been discussed and start to think of new volunteering ideas and proposals for the New Year. 

Our e-discussions will resume on 03 January 2022.  From 03 to 05 January 2022, we shall work on 2022 Action Plan with key action points and policy recommendations on the direction of All-in-Development Volunteer Scheme.  In particular, the points to be highlighted will help to indicate how we can deliver a high impact volunteer experience in the post-COVID-19 poverty reduction world in 2022 and beyond.

   

 

 

• Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme (AiDVS) 

 

It is possible to support CENFACS and its AiDVS from wherever you are (at home, work, away, online, abroad, on the go and move, etc.). 

It is true that many people are still suffering from the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic which have also affected the way in which they support good causes. 

However, supporting us does not need to be magical and majestic.  One can still support deserving causes like CENFACS while trying to recover from the health and economic effects of the coronavirus. 

Also, your support will help us to support others, like you, who have been affected by the same coronavirus crisis and effects. 

One can still enjoy a great festive season while they are supporting us. 

There are many simple helpful and useful ways of adding value to our voluntary work.

Here are some suggestions on ways of supporting with wintry and festive news, information and products:

 

√ Gift ideas for the best ways of monitoring, evaluating and reviewing projects and programmes in the New Year

√ Savings and scrimping for AiDVs

√ Festive deals, packages, coupons and vouchers for AiDVs

√ Distance working technologies for volunteering to make the world a better place for a low-carbon, COVID-19 free and sustainable future we all want

√ Low carbon economic products to protect the environment and nature

√ Digital and media support to better volunteer for a climate neutral   and sustainable world

√ COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment gifts for healthy and safe volunteering in the New Year

√ Wintry and festive giveaways for volunteering for a net zero CO2 emissions world

Etc.

 

To e-discuss Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction, please contact CENFACS or just forward your comments, views and experiences to us.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Stepping up COVID-19 Campaign this Festive Season

 

The coronavirus rules have been recently strengthened in England due to the newly identified Omicron variant.  The booster programme is being expanded and face coverings have re-become compulsory in shops and on public transport.   Because of that, we are stepping up our COVID-19 Campaign during the festive period and in the context of the Phase 3 (Rehabilitation Phase of this Campaign).  We are as well stepping up the latest development of this campaign (End of Covid-19-induced Poverty) which is related to type of poverty generated by the coronavirus or Covid-19-induced Poverty. 

 

• • What does stepped-up COVID-19 Campaign mean?

 

A stepped-up COVID-19 Campaign means a number of actions for CENFACS’ two areas of operations (in the UK and in Africa) will be undertaken within the Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Phase.  This phase or stage includes the following sub-stages: recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity. 

It also means that actions need to be taken for both the original and broad COVID-19 Campaign which mostly deals the health and economic issues posed by the coronavirus pandemic, and End of COVID-19-induced Poverty, which is a specific COVID-19 post-vaccine and post-testing campaign designed to help reduce and mostly end poverty and hardships brought by the coronavirus pandemic and its associated effects. 

 

• • • Actions relating to the operation in the UK

 

Stepped-up actions relating to this operation mean the following.

 

We are following to letter health advice and guidance from the National Health Service, the World Health Organisation and the UK authorities (both local and national) about the protection of ourselves, the community and the wider public.

We are wearing face coverings, sanitising our hands, applying social distancing rules and using personal protective equipment when it is compulsory to do so.

We are still working in hybrid format and where in-person service is unavoidable; we can intervene in a COVID-19 secure manner.

 

• • • Actions relating to the operation in Africa

 

We are continuing to follow the development of the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus pandemic and the newly identified variants in Africa where cases keep on increasing.  We are doing it via our shadowing model.

We are as well monitoring the evolution of the coronavirus vaccine rollout and testing programme in Africa.  In this checking process, we are looking at the involvement of our Africa-based Sister Organisations in supporting their local users.  Where our hands are needed, we would be pleased to help when we can.   

Furthermore, we are continuing to advocate for the reduction and or end of COVID-19-induced poverty and hardships in Africa.

The above is our stepped-up and updated COVID-19 Campaign, particularly the 3^rd Phase of this campaign.  In this phase, we shall deal with the four sub-phases (i.e. recovery, repair, strengthened restoration and functional capacity) at the same time since these sub-phases are interlinked.

For further details about this stepped-up and updated COVID-19 Campaign, please check with CENFACS’ COVID-19 Hub for Poverty Reduction. 

 

 

 

• Cost Centre Project

 

This month, we are working with individuals and families with Spending Limit problems.  Because we are talking about spending limit and cash flow statements for individuals and families, we thought that this is also an opportunity to re-introduce our Cost Centre Project.  We first introduced it when we published the 73^rd Issue of FACS (entitled as The Economic Costs of Building Forward from the Coronavirus) last October.

The project will deal with organisations that have problems or are struggling to set up and manage all their costs under the same roof, and or those that would like to set up a systematic structure of managing their costs so that they can deliver on the outcomes of their poverty reduction work. 

 

• • What is a Cost Centre Project?

 

This is a project designed to work with Africa-based Sister Organisations in order to help them alleviate poverty due to the lack of systematic and analytic method and system to set up and collect costs needed to build forward. 

 

• • Project objectives

 

The Cost Centre Project will help organisational beneficiaries to aim at the following:

 

∝ Track expenses

∝ Align costs with allocated budgets

∝ Recover overhead expenses

∝ Create more opportunities for poverty reduction within their community

∝ Conduct data analytics

∝ Help them to sustainably grow

∝ Ensure optimum efficiency and effectiveness

∝ Enable accurate forecasting and estimations about costs

Etc.

 

• • Project activities

 

Through this project, these organisations will better plan, organise, coordinate, control and monitor their cost of building forward from the economic and health impacts of the coronavirus pandemic at a cost centre or organisational unit with the responsibility for the costs these organisations incur.  The setting up of costs via this project will be aligned with poverty reduction budgets and goals of those organisations.

 

• • Supporting this project

 

To support or contribute to this project, please contact CENFACS.

 

• • Want more information about this project

 

For further details including full project proposals and budget about the Cost Centre Project for Africa-based Sister Organisations, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses the Link between Peace and Security on the one hand and Economic Growth and Sustainable Development on the other hand in Africa

 

The theme of festive season is peace within CENFACS.  To accompany those who are suffering from poverty and lack of peace and security in Africa, the be.Africa Forum is e-discussing Peace and Security versus Economic Growth and Sustainable Development (which also includes poverty reduction).

Indeed, there are those who are continuing to defend their thesis on peace and security first in Africa before anything else.  There are those who are opposing them by arguing that the only way you can have peace and security in Africa is if there are economic growth and sustainable development.  Between this opposition, there are those who believe that peace and security can be associated with economic growth and sustainable development.

For those who would like to e-discuss with us, they can contact CENFACS to let us know their thoughts and feelings on this matter.

To join the e-discussion, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

 

Redéploiement des outils de combat contre le COVID-19

Avec les menaces du nouveau variant de COVID-19, le variant Omicron, le CENFACS intensifie sa campagne contre le coronavirus.  A la suite de cette intensification, nous redéployons nos outils de combat contre ce virus, à savoir: le distanciel, les gestes barrière, les masques faciaux, les gants de protection, l’usage de gel hydroalcoolique, etc.

Nous espèrons que tout le monde dans la communauté essaie de faire la même chose. 

Nous espèrons aussi que ceux ou celles qui ne sont pas encore vacciné(e)s le feront pour l’intérêt communautaire. 

Enfin, nous prions à ceux ou celles qui manifesteront des symptômes de ce virus et/ou de ses variants de ne pas hésiter à se faire tester.

Pour plus de détails au sujet de la Campagne contre le COVID-19 de CENFACS et des différentes actions menées jusque maintenant au titre de cette campagne, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

 

 

Main Development

 

• Leafy Year/Project – The 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction: Leaf to Generate Income

 

CENFACS dedicates every year to a particular subject or remembrance.  This ending year was and has been dedicated as a Year of Leaves.  As a result of this dedication, we set up a project to enable us to formalise and implement this Leafy Year; project that is called Leafy Project.  The following will help to explain our Year of Leaves and understand what went on throughout the year of this dedication.

 

• • 2021 as a Leafy Year and Project

 

2021 as a Leafy Year and Project means for us the following:

 

√ Leaves are ways of relieving us from pains or diseases

√ Leaves have some curative properties or healing power

√ Leaves can heal from illnesses or ill health or health poverty

√ We use a leaf as our logo, a leaf of poverty relief

√ We have been celebrating throughout 2021 what leaves can do for those living in poverty

√ We turned over a new leaf from the start of 2021; a year of resolve covered with poverty reduction leaves to do better for and with those in need in 2021 and beyond

√ Leaves can help us to make New Year’s Resolutions

To deliver on the above meanings, we set up monthly activities and events that have made our Year of Leaves of Poverty Reduction, a Leafy Year. 

 

• • Monthly activities and events in the context of Leafy Project

 

• • • 11 activities or leaves of poverty reduction performed so far as part of Leafy Year/Project

 

Since we started the delivery of CENFACS Leafy Year as a Project, the following eleven activities (or leaves of poverty reduction) have been conducted so far:

 

1^st Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

This activity was and has been about Responsible and Sustainable Consumption of leaves in order to keep harmony between human consumption of leaves and nature.

 

2^nd Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Leaf of poverty reduction can be of sustainable development as leaves play a critical role in the Earth’s biosphere.

 

3^rd Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

This activity aided or has aided to take climate action to help in the reversal of new patterns and trends that conflict with the natural senescence of leaves or their seasonal course of cycles.

 

4^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

This activity was and has been about the protection of leaves from biological pest and herbivores in order to help leaves survival and reproduction while helping in the reduction of consumption.  This is despite the fact that leaves have own chemical defences.

 

5^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

The stories of poverty reduction and sustainable development can be related to leaves of poverty reduction and sustainable development.  In other words, we tried to identify the relationship between leaves and stories telling through poverty reduction and sustainable development.

 

6^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Leaves were vital in developing creative capacities in the process of poverty reduction and sustainable development.

 

7^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Leaves eased the process of discovery, interpreting and communication of meaningful patterns and trends in data about poverty reduction and sustainable development. 

 

8^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Virtual or in-person visits of leaf projects and or activities to COVID-19-hit local people and communities facilitated the connection with real needs on the grounds. 

Equally, finding natural leaf trends in the contexts of leaf-related poverty alleviation and leaf-enhancing sustainable development contributed to the deepening of our understanding of leaves in practical poverty reduction and sustainable development lives.

 

9^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Integrating leaves and advice to produce poverty reduction encouraged to achieve high impact experience within CENFACS.

 

10^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

The history of leaves of poverty reduction with CENFACS is not a new one.  Leaves of poverty reduction were and have been instrumental in helping to accomplish CENFACS’ mission and charitable objects.  They supported and continue to support us to find communicative, meaningful and powerful way of working together with those in need in the UK and in Africa to navigate their way to a sustainable poverty reduction and to enhance the quality of their lives.

 

11^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction (or Activity)

 

Skills and knowledge on leaves assisted us to work together with our users and Africa-based Sister Organisations to achieve more and better results in terms of poverty reduction and enhancement of sustainable development.    

 

More details about the above activities or Leaves of Poverty Reduction can be requested from CENFACS.

 

 

 

• • • The 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction: Leaf to Generate Income

 

The last leaf of poverty reduction will be about way in which one can use leaves in order to either set up an activity or grab an opportunity or develop an activity with leaves as an output in order to generate or boost their income.  In this respect, leaves can help to generate income to fight against poverty and hardships.

The 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction can assist poor people to generate little extra income in order to overcome income poverty.  Indeed, leaves can contribute to…

 

√ Address the root causes of multi-dimensional poverty (including intergenerational income poverty)

√ Poor people’s access basic needs of food, medicine, shelter, energy, etc.

√ Poor people to gain ownership of productive means, resources and capacities

√ People-centred approach to poverty eradication

√ The productive use of assets for income generation

 

All these elements or attributes can contribute to the increase of generational income for multi-dimensional poor children, young people and families to ensure their financial sustainability and address income poverty during the festive time and beyond. 

Briefly, there are about helping them to help themselves in generating some little extra income in the fight against poverty and hardships.

 

For further information about CENFACS Leafy Year and Project as well as the 12^th Leaf of Poverty Reduction, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

_________

 

• References

 

(1) https://www.ncvo.org.uk/policy-and-research/volunteering-policy (Accessed in December 2021)

(2) https://unfccc.int/blog/a-beginner-s-guide-to-climate-neutrality# (Accessed in December 2021)

_________

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

01 December 2021

 

Post No. 224

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• What’s on in December 2021: Festive Guide!

• Festive Shopping and Donations

• Festive Income Boost, In Focus for 2021 Edition: Spending Limit – How to live within your means

 

… And much, much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• What’s on in December 2021: Festive Guide!

 

To keep the festive month and season interesting as well as with healthcare against the rebound of the coronavirus pandemic, we have brought exciting offers and/or new developments which can be found in the Main Development section of this post.   

The above initiatives next to the key dates from CENFACS December 2021 Diary including those listed below are the ones that would make the festive month and the Season of Light at CENFACS.  They have been selected because of their special features which make them in tune with the season’s theme. 

They command the following features:

 

√ They are seasonally blended projects aiming at providing helpful, healthy and net-zero-CO2-emissions reliefs during the festive time and beyond.  

√ They are a stunning selection of poverty-relieving contents designed to help not only to reduce poverty but also to overcome the continuing health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns as well as the emerging new COVID-19 variants. 

√ They are about breaking down the traditional barriers to poverty reduction during the festive rituals while delivering high impact in terms of relief experience for the poor.  

√ They can facilitate the creation of a new life in the New Year and the post-pandemic development landscape.

 

• • Season’s Reliefs

 

The following are the selected December 2021 initiatives or Season’s Reliefs:

 

∇ Festive Income Builder, Booster & Calculator, In Focus for 2021: Spending Limit – How to live within your means

∇ Community Value Chains: The CENFACS Community and Leaves of Poverty Reduction

∇ Volunteering in 2022 with Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty reduction

∇ Cost Centre Project for Africa-based Sister Organisations

∇ Thanking 2021 Year Makers & Enablers

∇ Gifts of Peace (Edition 2021/2022)

∇ Run, Vote & Play for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development (Action-Results 2021)

 

The above mentioned projects would make the first part of Season’s Reliefs as being announced above.  Some of them intertwine between our monthly and seasonal development calendars.  All will depend whether one is reading our development calendar on a monthly or seasonal basis.

To support and or enquire about Season’s Reliefs, please contact CENFACS. 

All these initiatives can be found in CENFACS Festive Guide.  This Guide for Festive Season is made of the following contents: festive services, gifts of peace and the theme of season’s reliefs.

For further details about the Festive Guide, read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

 

• Festive SHOPPING and DONATIONS at http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

 

• • CENFACS Charity e-Store

 

Go Relief with CENFACS’ Charity e-Store this Festive Season!

 

CENFACS Charity e-Shop is open for both online festive purchase and goods donations.  Under the current strengthened rules and approach to COVID-19 with the return of face coverings on transport and in shops because of Omicron variant in England, we are following the strict restrictions and guidance regarding the control and surveillance of COVID-19 as well as the protection and saving of lives.

For the health and safety of everybody, all goods donations will be quarantined for at least 72 hours.

We have re-enhanced our sanitation and cleaning methods and practices. 

We hope you are doing the same in the interest of public health and safety.

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

Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic.  Those who managed to survive need help.  We need help as well to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its continuing effects.

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

 

• • Festive season is an opportunity to do something against poverty

 

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

We understand that many people including our supporters continue to seriously suffer from the health and economic effects of the coronavirus and related lockdowns.  However, for people who are already living in poverty, these effects are even intolerable and unbearable for them.  There is a reason to support them during this festive season.   

You can give your unwanted and unneeded goods to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the shop built to help relieve poverty, including coronavirus-induced poverty.  You can buy second hand goods and bargain priced new items and much more.  Amongst the goods to donate, we are asking carbon neutral goods as well.

 

• • Donation of CARBON NEUTRAL GOODS this Festive Season

 

You can donate carbon neutral or net zero CO2 emissions goods to help reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and poverty, while creating an opportunity to save non-renewable natural resources.  This type of donation can boost the circular economy and improve the upkeep of the nature.

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

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

You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:

 

√ DONATE unwanted GOODS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Charity e-Store during the festive period and beyond

 

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

 

Your SHOPPING and or GOODS DONATIONS will help to the Upkeep of the Nature and to reduce poverty as well as the continuing health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

 

 

• Festive Income Boost, In Focus for 2021 Edition: Spending Limit – How to live within your means

 

The 2021 Edition of our Autumn ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) resource, known as Festive Income Boost and which is designed to support Multi-dimensionally Income Poor Children, Young People and Families (MIPCYPFs) was already published at the beginning of November 2021. 

This year, our focus is on Spending Limit; that is on ways of Living within your means and earnings.  We have included it in these Key Messages as we are in the Festive Month.  Also, it is an occasion to remind the CENFACS Community that this resource or additional support is available for use during the festive season.

The resource is available as a booklet from CENFACS Charity e-Store.  It is normally free of charge but we will appreciate a donation of £5 to help us help reduce poverty and the cost of renewing and producing this resource on an annual basis. 

At this prolong time of the coronavirus and of huge challenge for those living in poverty, we need financial help like many voluntary and charitable organisations do to work with the most in need in the community.

To order and or find out more about the Autumn ICDP resource, please contact CENFACS with your mailing details.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign (this impact was scheduled for 29 and 30/11/2021)

 

Although we finished to compose the seven notes or themed activities of the “A la une” Campaign during our 7-week campaign, this campaign for the Upkeep of the Nature does not stop with these notes.  Our action for the Upkeep of the Nature continues. 

We are now carrying on with the collection and analysis of information regarding this 7-week campaign in order to get its impact or at least its output.  The findings from this Impact Monitoring and Analysis will help to figure out what has been achieved through this campaign and give us some flavour about the future direction of this campaign.

As part of this Impact Monitoring and Analysis exercise, we would like to ask to those who have been following our 7-week campaign to share with us their feelings and thoughts about these two areas:

(a) The overall “A la une” Campaign

(b) Any of the themed activities you/they followed with us during this campaign

 

By sharing with us your feelings and thoughts about “A la une” Campaign, this could suggest that you value our work and show interest in what we are trying to achieve as an organisation generally and or in respect to the Upkeep of the Nature specifically.  Your intervention could as well indicate that we share interest and concern regarding the health and wealth of the nature.

You can share your feelings and thoughts with us by:

 

∝ Phoning

∝ Texting

∝ E-mailing

∝ Completing the contact form with your feelings and thoughts

 

When sharing your feelings or thoughts on the matter, please do not make statements to only please us.  We do not expect people to please us.  Instead, we would like you to give an objective and fair opinion.

We would like to thank in anticipation those who will be giving their opinions about the “A la une” Campaign.

 

 

 

• Learning, Development and Action Plan from the Month of Economics of Education and Skill Formation (Skills Development Month)

 

Through November month of Skills Development, we focused on the following: planning skills, implementation skills, analytical skills, and income generation skills.

As part of keeping the culture of continuous learning and professional development within CENFACS, we are examining what the running of Skills Development and Skills Focus have brought and indicated to us.  We are particularly looking at the learning and development priorities and initiatives in the post-pandemic and post-exited economic development worlds.  In this exercise, we are considering the action points and plan we may need to make in order to improve or better change the way in which we deliver our services and work with users.

For those who have been following the running of the Skills Development Month with us, this is the time or opportunity they can add their inputs to our learning and development experience so that we can know the skills gap that need to be filled up in 2022 and beyond.  They can as well have their own action plans on how they would like to take forward the contents of Skills Development month.  And if they have a plan and want us to look at it, we are willing to do so.

Have an action plan for your skills development and want CENFACS to look at it, please do not hesitate to contact us.  To add your input to our exercise on learning, development and action plan; just contact CENFACS.

 

 

• Review of our Appeals for the Horn of Africa Region

 

• • What this review is about and how different it is 

 

This review is different from the one we did about Tigray in Ethiopia, which was about what specifically happened in Tigray.  The current review is instead about the greater Horn of Africa Region appeals we previously made to help the peoples of this region to help themselves to deal with drought and hunger they were experiencing.   

 

• • Why we are reviewing our previous appeals about the entire Horn of Africa Region

 

The Horn of Africa Region is under review within CENFACS as climate change is not doing justice to the poor people, fauna and flora there, particularly in the North of Kenya (in arid and semi-arid areas).  In this part of Kenya, thirsty and hungry humans and animals are looking for water and food as drought and aridity have destroyed crops and breeding.

According to the United Nations and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (1), 465,000 children of ages below 5 years and 93,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from malnutrition there.  Food insecurity touches almost 2.5 million people in the North of Kenya as they heavily depend on cattle breeding.     

The situation is so tragic that there are scenes of animals (such as okapis and others) killed by thirst of water and hunger while they were on the way of searching for water and food.  There could be an increasing risk that this life-threatening and –destroying situation could expand to other parts of the greater Horn of Africa (such as South Ethiopia, Somalia and North-Eastern Uganda).

Due to this alarming humanitarian situation, this week we are reviewing our previous appeals about the Horn of Africa Region for a new action plan for the region.  While we are reviewing these appeals, we would like to remind those who do not know that we are running a Humanitarian Relief Appeal this Autumn 2021. 

Through this appeal or campaign, people can donate at least £2 to create two benefits:

one benefit for humans and one benefit for other living beings (e.g. flora and fauna) in Africa. 

People can donate or gift aid or support otherwise, according their financial ability and capacity. 

 

• • Contacting CENFACS about this review and support

 

You can contact CENFACS to discuss or talk about this review and support at http://cenfacs.org.uk/contact-us/

 

 

 

La saison de la lumière débutera ce 21 décembre 2021 et se terminera le 21 mars 2022. 

Pendant cette période, nous développerons des projets de lumière pour travailler ensemble avec et accompagner ceux ou celles qui souffrent ou continuent de suffrir des effets néfastes des événements suivants:

∝ des guerres civiles (comme dans le Burkina Faso et le Mali)

∝ le dérèglement climatique (tel qu’en Corne de l’Afrique)

∝ des désastres naturels (comme dans la République Démocratique du Congo avec l’éruption volcanique de Nyiragongo).

On peut espérer qu’à travers ce travail commun et cet accompagnement, les bénéficiaires retrouveront la lumière ou le chemin de la réduction de la pauvreté  et du développement durable.

Pour ceux ou celles qui veulent travailler avec nous sur les sujets susdits, veuilez contacter le CENFACS. 

 

Main Development

 

• What’s on in December 2021: Festive Guide!

 

• • Festive Guide

 

Inside this guide, there are three main listings: Festive Services, Gifts of Peace and Season’s Relief Theme.

 

• • • Festive Services

 

These services are made of two types of projects: regular and festive projects.

(a) Regular or on-going projects are continuous including during the festive period.  The project known as All-year Round Projects (Triple Value Initiatives) is one of them.

(b) Projects for the festive occasion only; projects which are specially designed for that occasion.   The project Community Value Chains is one of them.

Both types of projects are included in our December 2021 programme and planned to be delivered over the month of December 2021.

 

• • • Gifts of Peace

 

These are CENFACS Wintry Gift Appeal initiative to support people living in poverty in Africa.

CENFACS’ Winter Gift of Peace to Africa is indeed …

 

√ A festive life-sustaining support that helps to reduce poverty and bring sustainable peace  

√ A festive giving to acknowledge and do something about poverty over the festive period, which is also an occasion to trans-give and think of those who are not as fortunate as others

√ A festive means to support those who don’t have peace because of poverty, particularly in the developing regions of the world like Africa

 

As the world is still battling against the economic and health legacies of the coronavirus pandemic at multiple speeds, there are many of these people who desperately need support. 

However, we must acknowledge that this is a challenging time for both those who support and those who receive that support.  We have various situations like the following:

 

∝ There are those who are trying to build back from the coronavirus

∝ There are those who are trying to build forward from the same coronavirus

∝ There are those who are caught or threatened by COVID-19 mutation with its new variants

∝ There are those who are trying to build back and forward at the same time.

 

Because of this collective and differentiated challenge, we are going to make sure that our appeal reflects the circumstances of the post-pandemic time at various speeds.  This appeal (CENFACS’ Winter Gift of Peace to Africa) will be launched by the end of Autumn 2021.

In meantime, those who would like to have for more information about this Wintry appeal, they need to contact CENFACS.

 

• • • Season’s Relief Theme

 

The theme for Season’s Reliefs which would carry us throughout the entire festive period is Peace. The Festive Season, which is part of the worldwide celebration, kicks off in December for CENFACS and ends by the 31^st of January in the New Year.

During the Festive Season, we normally start the Season of Light.  The Season of Light is one of the four seasons of CENFACS Development Calendar.  It is the Winter season which goes on until March and is featured by Winter Lights and Light Projects or Light Appeals. 

During this Season of Light, we shall also do a lot of work about light (or energy) and poverty reduction since the global climate community has committed itself to phase down coal as source of energy whereas many energy poor people in Africa are coal-dependant.

 

 

• • What the Month December is about at CENFACS

 

December is a month of Income Generation, Record Tracking and Winter Lights at CENFACS.

 

• • • December as Income Generation Month

 

December is the Income Generation month according to CENFACS monthly development calendar and planner.  It is the month during which we advocate and provide tips, hints and other types of advisory support on how to generate additional income to cover shortage in regular income, by using other avenues within the boundaries of the law and order.

This additional income can enable multi-dimensional income poor children, young people and families (C, YP & Fs) to exercise their basic human right to celebrate the end of the year in their own way. 

However, this December 2021 will be mostly about Spending Limit as we highlighted in this year Edition of Festive Income Boost, rather than Income Generation.  This is to help C, YP & Fs to have a control over their spending in order to avoid poverty or further poverty because of lack of control over spending.

The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have created the collapse of many ways and capacities of earning income especially for the kinds of people we are trying to look for support.  Many of them have become further income deficit.  To help them live within their means and earnings/capacity, we will be working with them during the festive season to balance their household books via spending limit.

So, supporting multi-dimensional poor C, YP & Fs to explore ways of improving their spending habits, and where possible generating, building and boosting their incomes to exercise their human right to a decent end-of-year celebration is not only a one-off or seasonal business to make ends meet; but can also become an additional way of building and developing the capacity to reduce and end income poverty.  They are poor not only because of lack of income but also due to their failing capacities to control their spending as well as generate enough income to cover their needs.  

As part of festive support, our Edition 2021 Festive Extra Income Builder, Booster and Calculator would be available for those who need it.  We launched this resource earlier in Autumn in order to enable those in need of the resource to get the tips and hints they need to early start exploring ways of reducing their unneeded or not life-saving spending while finding ways of boosting their income and generational economy. 

This year, this resource focuses on Ways of Living within your/our Means as the means to overcome intergenerational income poverty and improve intergenerational transfer accounts.

Besides this resource, we planned two periods of work on spending limit programmes and schemes starting from this Wednesday as follows.

  

⇒ 01 to 07/12/2021: Spending Limit Programmes (SLP) Period

 

SLP is a set of initiatives designed to help users to set up a spending threshold on their entire budget (including billed and unbilled invoices) and stay within self-restriction and/or restriction agreed/imposed/suggested by third parties.

During the SLP period, we will be working on how people and families can set up and or be involved a series of structured activities or small projects to limit their spending without creating damages to their basic life-sustaining needs, and where possible to generate little extra income in order to reduce poverty.

For example: In the activity relating to Spending Limit Plan, it could be about what items of spending limit budget to cut or to cancel or to increase in order to maintain a healthy and affordable spending limit.  Fig. 2 gives an idea of Spending Limit Plan or Budget.  In this exercise, potential users will be remembered the following say from ‘raisingchildren.net.au’ (2):

“The key to budgeting is sticking to a basic rule – Spend less than you earn” 

 

Another example could be to help families to write their Cash Flow Statement like in Fig. 1.  Although, this Fig.1 does not show the opening and closing balances, it is nevertheless useful in understanding cash receipts and cash payments. We can as well lead project beneficiaries to a variety of resources on the matter such as online budget planners, builders and calculators, etc.

 

⇒ 08 to 14/12/2021: Spending Limit Schemes (SLS) Period

 

SLS helps to work with users so that they can elaborate an action plan about their spending limit for a week or month or year (2022).  Through this exercise, we shall use some tools to work with users.  In particular, we shall look at with them household or family cash flow projections or statements, particularly the spending side.  Again, during this exercise we shall focus on a spending limit plan that does not adversely impact the basic life-sustaining needs of a given household or family.  As it is said on the website tomorrow.me (3):

“Cash flow is a great tool to help you establish New Year’s Resolutions, but they can be done at any time”.

We shall work with family/household users to evaluate their financial health and better plan for 2022 via cash flow projections or statements.

 

 

In the Fig.2, the Grand Total Expenses could be your Spending Limit which you will try not go beyond in your plan in order to stick to the basic rule of spending less than you earn.

Briefly, during the SLS period, we will be working on how people and families with spending limit problems can find available systematic plans for future action to limit their spending without damaging their health and welfare, and where possible generate income in order to reduce continuing poverty and hardships; particularly what scheme is workable or unworkable for them.

Throughout and at the end of these two periods, we hope that people and families with spending limit problems can develop their own individual working SLP and SLS plans or policies to limit spending and generate little extra incomes not only for the festive period, but also beyond the festive time. In doing so, they can improve their intergenerational economy and transfer accounts.

 

 

• • • December as Record Tracking Month

 

December is also the time of record tracking on our All-year Round Projects (or Triple Value Initiatives), particularly

 

√ CENFACS Poverty Relief League (The African Nations Poverty Relief League)

√ Run to Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2021

√ Vote your African Poverty Relief and Development Manager of the Year 2021

 

We expect those who took part and or organised activities on our behalf about these projects to come forward, report and share with us their actions, results and experiences about the three stars or bests of 2021 (Best Country, Best Runner and Best Manager). 

As these activities have been organised within the difficult contexts of enduring coronavirus pandemic which has taken almost two years and half, we can count on them to tell us their Winner of CENFACS Virtual Trophy of the Post-pandemic Year.

 

 

• • • December as the start of Winter Lights Season

 

As said above in our Festive Guide, December is finally the month we start CENFACS Winter Lights Season, the first season of our development seasonal calendar.  The Season of Light, which kicks off around Mid-December, includes the Gifts of Peace. 

Each year, we produce an edition of the Gifts of Peace that makes up our final fundraising campaign and last humanitarian appeal of the year.  This year, we are doing the same while taking into account the continuing health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in our last humanitarian appeal or fundraising campaign of 2021.

Peace is the festive theme we choose at CENFACS to spread the joy of Season’s Reliefs to those in need, especially at this time of the post-coronavirus pandemic and post-lockdowns.  We try to help their wishes of relief become true with the Gifts of Peace, by putting a smile on their face with relief notes. 

With face coverings imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, many of them cannot find the smiles they need for relief.  One can hope that the Gifts of Peace will bring back the lost smiles.

To support the Edition 2021/2022 of Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS.

 

• • • CENFACS Community Value Chains Celebration

 

As part of the Season of Light is the CENFACS Community Value Chains celebration.  This celebration generally closes our seasons at the end of the year and concludes our yearly development calendar and planner, while marking the end of civil year at CENFACS. 

It is an end-of-year eventful project enabling us to look upon us again as a community of shared vision, values and beliefs which connect us as human chains with a purpose of reducing and ending poverty amongst us, and of enhancing sustainable development as well. 

This year we shall again focus on ourselves as a Community with its Leaves of Poverty Reduction.  It will be about re-purposing leaves of poverty reduction in face of the continuing health and economic damages brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

• • • Sustainable Volunteering: 05/12/2021 to 05/01/2022

 

To carry the CENFACS Community into the New Year, our discussion on Sustainable Volunteering is scheduled to take place from 05 December 2021 to 05 January 2022.  The discussion theme for this year is on Volunteering in 2022 with Remote Volunteering for Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction. 

 

• • • CENFACS into 2022

 

To take the other two domains (International and Fund) of CENFACS into 2022 and engage with stakeholders, we shall develop post-pandemic projects and programmes with contents of Climate Neutrality and Poverty Reduction.

For any enquiries or to support CENFACS in the month of December 2021 and in the New Year, please contact CENFACS.

 

Before closing this week’s post, we would like to inform all our readers and stakeholders that the above planned programmes, projects and activities are subject to the evolution of COVID-19 and its new variants.  If there are any significant changes in terms of this evolution and rules to combat any new threats from COVID-19, we shall revise our initial festive plan and activate our contingency plan.

 

_________

 

• References

 

(1) www.un.org & https://fews.net (accessed in November 2021)

(2) https://raisingchildren.net.au/grown-ups/family-life/managingmoney# (Accessed in November 2021)

(3) https://tomorrow.me/general-family-lifestyle/how-to-create-a-family-cash-flows-statement/

_________

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

24 November 2021

 

Post No. 223

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Guidance for Investing in African Not-for-profit Organisations and Causes in Africa

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No. 7 from Week beginning 22/11/2021: Effects of Logging on Plants

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 24/11/2021: Skills to Create Income (Income Generation Skills)

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Guidance for Investing in African Not-for-profit Organisations and Causes in Africa

 

Guidance for Investing in African Not-for-profit Organisations and Causes in Africa (in short: Guidance for Investing in Africa) is one of CENFACS Starting XI Projects and Campaign to build forward better this Autumn.  It is a set of advice and information that can be given to those who would like to invest in the not-for-profit development in Africa, especially in the African not-for-profit organisations and causes engaged with the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The advisory information for investing, which is part of our International Advice Service, is indeed designed to help them make an investment decision based on unbiased information and objective analysis of the not-for-profit market trends and opportunities in Africa.  The advisory information will help them to efficiently direct their investment towards market niches and developments with less risk, but with higher opportunity to achieve great poverty reduction results. 

Briefly, the service will give the not-for-profit investors the opportunity to understand available different options and drive their resources where they can achieve optimal results in terms of poverty reduction.

Under the Main Development section of this post, we have highlighted the key elements of this guidance.    

    

 

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No. 7 from Week beginning 22/11/2021: Effects of Logging on Plants

 

To approach this 7^th Action of our 2021 “A la une” Campaign, we are going to briefly explain the effects of logging and spell out actions.  Some of these actions have been already taken.

 

• • Effects of logging

 

Logging (that is, the cutting down of trees for timber) can have detrimental effects on forest.  These effects include: loss of biodiversity and impacts on wild birds, large mammals, plants and other species. 

For example, it can destroy spatial biodiversity like birds.

There are many individuals and organisations across the world taking actions against various forms of illegal logging that destroy forests and nature.  In the context of the Action 7 of our nature campaign, “A la une” Campaign, the focus is on the effects of logging on Crop Wild Relatives and actions that need to be taken against those effects.

 

• • Actions against logging on plants

 

The actions we are going to highlight come from the unedited version of a paper submitted to XII World Forest Congress (1).  These actions could include the following:

 

√ Tackle extinction crisis caused by people

√ Have a crops planting programme

√ Give local people (e.g. villagers) the rights to manage their plants and crops

√ Stop the cycle of destruction of forest

√ Save the remaining forests

√ Preserve traditional non-destructive uses of the rain forests

√ Protect skilled husbandry of the forest resources

√ Monitor crops threatened by logging and commercial trade

√ Identify plant species and crops

√ Help change attitude toward forest preservation and destruction

Etc.

 

To sum up, “A la une” Campaign is more about actions than words.   Because it is about actions, what we are interested in is action to deal with forest logging so that the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives can be a reality, not a matter of theory only.  There is more that can be done to make this reality happen.

To support this 7^th Action relating to the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives and the entire “A la une” Campaign, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 24/11/2021: Skills to Create Income (Income Generation Skills)

 

Riding on the heels of this week’s agenda is also the last skills focus of our Skills Development Month; skills focus which is about Income Generation or Skills to Generate Little Extra Income.  This Skills-focus is also part of this Season’s theme from this year’s edition of Festive Income Booster; edition which is one of CENFACS’ ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) resources. 

The focus for this edition is on Spending Limit.  For more details about this edition, please contact CENFACS.  Before going any further, let us try to understand income generation skills.

 

• • What are Income Generation Skills (IGS)?

 

IGS are the dexterity or talents that enhance the capacity to generate income.  They are about CENFACS working with those in need to seize or search for opportunities while using existing or new resources in order to generate additional income streams that can be added to their insufficient or limited income to make up what is needed to make ends meet over the festive season and then afterwards.

 

• • Skills development or training for income generation

 

Income generation has always been at the heart of poverty reduction and any development process or policy.  Skills development or training for income generation is one of the vehicles to generate income and achieve poverty reduction outcomes and impacts or results.  Depending on people’s needs and demand; there are many types of skills one can develop to generate income. 

These skills can include the following:

 

∝ Production skills (e.g.: skills to produce cosmetics, soaps, making clothes or sewing, etc.)

∝ Marketing skills 

∝ Sale skills

∝ Communication skills

∝ Job search skills

∝ Persuasion skills

∝ Trade skills

∝ Literacy skills

∝ Statistical numeracy skills

∝ Social intelligence skills

Etc. 

 

To the above skills, one can add online income generation skills, which could include:

 

∝ Digital literacy skills

∝ Mobile money management skills

∝ Online analytical skills

Etc. 

 

Skills can be from basic to the very complex ones to generate income.

This week, the focus is on basic income generation skills; particularly those one needs to develop in order to generate some little extra income, as highlighted in the 2021 edition of CENFACS’ Festive Income Booster resource. 

Next month, we shall expand more on income generation matters as December is the Income Generation month according to CENFACS development calendar. 

If one is particularly interested in a particular skill or has something to share about a specific skill developed so far, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

  

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Integrating Climate Advocacy and Nature Campaign

 

We are continuing with the integration between our Climate Advocacy and our Nature Campaign as we did it last year.  The Climate Advocacy is being conducted through Climate Talks Follow-up Project while Nature Campaign has been undertaken via the theme of the Upkeep of the Nature. 

Through the integration of the two, we are carrying on in exploring synergies between the two (climate advocacy and nature campaign).  In other words, the combined action of climate advocacy and nature campaign can have positive synergistic effects on the ability of children and future generations to meet their own needs.

Using an integrative or synergistic approach, it is possible to identify some interconnectedness between the goal of the upkeep of the nature and that of keeping global average temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius.     It is as well conceivable to associate the upkeep of the nature and the meeting of the needs for climate protection and stake for children, particularly but not exclusively African children. 

In the context of this year’s “A la une” Campaign, we are analysing if there is any link between the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives on the one hand and climate protection and stake for those in need on the other.  For example, we are trying to find out how the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives can improve the health and well-being of children and future generations who may consume crops (like tomatoes, maize, beans, etc.) threatened by extinctions. 

For those who would like to find out more about this synergistic integration of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy and Nature Campaign, they can contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Climate Talks Follow-up project: What’s next?

 

Since a new global climate agreement known as the Glasgow Climate Pact was reached at the COP26 summit (2), our Climate Talks Follow-up project  needs some reassessment in order to take into account this change.  To rethink, we need to consider what was agreed that can affect our work and users.

 

• • What was agreed at COP26 that may affect CENFACS’ work and users?

 

It was agreed

∝ A plan to phase down coal and reduce the use of coal which is responsible for almost 40% of annual CO2 emissions

∝ To phase out subsidies that artificially lower the price of coal, oil, or natural gas

∝ To stop deforestation by 2030 (this was agreed by more than 100 countries)

∝ A scheme to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030 (this was agreed by more 100 countries)

∝ To back clean technology (such as renewable energy) and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries (this was agreed by financial organisations)

∝ To significantly increase money to help poor nations to cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy.

The above agreements will affect people with whom we work as well as our work on poverty reduction and sustainable development.  However, are these agreements and other ones deriving from COP26 enough to meet our demand for the climate stake and protection for children and generations to come?  We are not sure.

 

• • Gaps in COP26 outcomes compared to our climate demand

 

Despite what was agreed at COP26, it is worth noting the following:

∝ There is still less money to pay for new technology and infrastructure which children, especially those from poor nations, could benefit

∝ There is little or less money in the forms of grants, loans and private investments to support efforts to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects

∝ There is less support to switch to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro-power for children and future generations   (for example, how do you expect coal-dependent energy poor families to switch to clean source of energy if they do not have the means to do it for themselves and their children?).

One can hope that when the United Nations will meet in Egypt in 2022 for COP27, this will be another opportunity to raise ambitions, to look into those gaps and to provide ways forward.  In doing so, this will provide us a basis for clarity about climate protection and stake for children and generations to come. 

 

• • What next for our Climate Talks Follow-up project?

 

We are still at the implementation phase, which is Phase 3 of our Climate Talks Follow-up project.    The sub-phases or segments of the implementation phase for this project are: exploration, installation, initial implementation, full implementation and expansion. 

So far, we have been dealing with the exploration sub-phase (Phase 3.1).  Since the new global climate pact (the Glasgow Climate Pact) has been agreed, we can now start with the installation sub-phase (Phase 3.2).   As project planning is a backward and forward process, we shall deal with the two sub-phases at the same time. 

So, after monitoring and evaluation of the Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3 (CPSAC – P.3) and the last follow up this year, there has been some consensus within CENFACS so that our Climate Talks Follow-up project starts Phase 3.2 from 2022.

 

• • Phases of CENFACS’ Climate Talks Follow-up

 

The following are the phases making our Climate Talks Follow-up.

Phase 1: The First African Children Generation of the Millennium Development Goals and the Climate State

Phase 2: Climate Protection and Stake for African Children

Phase 3: Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation Phase

 

• • 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up

 

As argued above, 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up will start with the installation sub-phase (Phase 3.2).  In other words, the next follow-up will be on Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation Phase with Installation sub-phase (Phase 3.2).

The details of this new follow-up will be unveiled in the New Year. 

For any further details and to support 2022 Climate Talks Follow-up project, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• CENFACS’ be.Africa debates Forest Exploitation versus Forest Protection

 

As part of this week’s “A la une” Campaign which consists of taking actions against illegal forest logging, CENFACS’ be.Africa will debate the conflicts between forest exploiters and forest protectors in Africa and the way forward.  This debate is the continuation of the discussion on forest economy of last week. 

For example, there are those who believe that the cutting of trees for timber should continue as long as it is done legally.  In contrast, there are those who think this cutting of trees needs to be stopped and it is having a detrimental effect on the need to move to net zero CO2 emissions.

This disagreement goes over other forest resources.  However, between the two lines of arguments, there is a balance between exploitation and protection.  The debate will try to find out if there is any balance between the two and how to determine it.

You can tell CENFACS’ be.Africa your argument over the conflicts between forest exploiters and forest protectors.  To add your input or tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think, just contact CENFACS on this site.

 

 

Le tableau de bord ci-dessus est une interface graphique pour nos usagers; tableau indiquant la performance de CENFACS en ce moment, c’est-à-dire à partir de 24 novembre 2021.

Pour ceux or celles qui veulent en savoir plus, veuillez contacter le CENFACS. 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Guidance for Investing in African Not-for-profit Organisations and Causes in Africa

 

We have assembled the following items to highlight the Guidance for Investing in Africa:

What the guidance is about, for whom the guidance is, not-for-profit investment analysis, what to expect and not to expect from the guidance, investment choices, types of investment to consider, risk and opportunity attached to not-for-profit organisations, rate of return about poverty reduction and risk tolerance, and guide as a resource.

 

• • What the guidance is about

 

The guidance covers the basic principles of investment that apply to the not-for-profit sector in Africa.   It also shades some lights about what is specific for the not-for-profit sector in terms of investment.  It will help altruist investors to achieve their utility in reducing poverty rather than maximising their financial profitability. 

 

• • For whom the guidance is

 

The guidance is designed for those who would like to invest in small and medium-sized not-for-profit organisations in Africa.  It is a specific and customised support rather than general in the arena of investing in the African not-for-profit organisations in Africa.  It is meant to work with potential altruist investors to explore the options they can consider in terms of African not-for-profit organisations and asset classes.  It helps them to define clear investment goals and objectives while supporting them to weigh both the risks and benefits of investing in Africa.

 

• • Not-for-profit investment market analysis

 

Before undertaking any investment, one needs undertake market analysis.  We shall conduct on behalf of potential not-for-profit investors both fundamental and technical analyses. 

Fundamental analysis – which will be based on economic data and reports, African organisations’ financial statements and annual reports, and reports from multilateral agencies like the World Bank – will help to analyse investment market and trends in the not-for-profit sector in Africa. 

Technical analysis, which will be based the performance of targeted African organisations for investment purpose, will be thoroughly conducted by using technical indicators (such as the number of people lifted out poverty) and statistics.  We shall as well study the investment flows (both inward and outward investments) in those organisations.

 

• • What to expect and not to expect from the guidance

 

The organisations in which potential not-for-profit investors are willing to invest in are specialised in activities that are not for the financial benefit of individuals or board of directors.  Therefore, those who are going to invest in the not-for-profit sector and in poverty, they should not expect to gain any profit as a return.  They will be investing the areas where per capita income lags behind the rest of the world.

Instead, they should expect more and better results or outcomes in terms of poverty reduction, if possible the end of poverty for the end-users or beneficiaries.  Their return on investment will be the rate of poverty reduction achieved.  The higher this rate will be the higher the number of people will be lifted out of poverty.

 

• • Investment choices

 

The guidance can help potential not-for-profit investors to make many types of choice including the three following: choice of asset classes, organisation to become part of governing body and market segment.

 

• • • Types of investment to consider

 

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. 

Physical or real investment normally includes fixed capital assets (such as machinery and equipment) and stocks.

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.

 

• • • Choice of asset classes

 

We can work with the prospective not-for-profit investors to help them identify and choose the asset classes (e.g. cash, shares, bonds, equities/stocks, real estate, exchanged-traded funds and mutual bonds, etc.) they need in order to penetrate the organisations they would prefer to invest in.

 

• • • Choice of governing body or board of directors

 

We can as well work with prospective not-for-profit investors to help them choose the governing body or board of directors that suits them or matches with or best represents their need to invest.  The bodies or boards that we are talking about are those of not-for-profit organisations (whose activities are not for the financial benefit of individuals or board of directors) registered as charity or non-registered as charity. 

Organisations that are registered as charities could be charitable incorporated organisations or charitable companies limited by guarantee, unincorporated associations or charitable trusts like in the UK. 

Besides that we shall use the classification and terminology of the given African organisation within their country as well as their business structure to find out whether or not they can be classified as not-for-profit.  And if they are because of their status of not-for-profit, we shall search on implications in terms of foreign direct investment in those organisations.

 

• • • Choice of market segment

 

The African not-for-profit development and poverty reduction Africa are a huge market for poverty reduction goods and services.  We can help select or pitch which segment of the market investors want.  For example, a potential investor can make a decision to pitch the market segment of children needs, or water projects, women needs, energy projects, projects targeting COVID-19 induced hardships, etc.

 

• • Risks and opportunities attached to not-for-profit organisations in Africa

 

It is well known that investing is at the same time a risk and an opportunity.  The risks linked to investment in Africa include: possibility of civil wars and conflicts, lack of adequate infrastructures, corruption, political change, etc.  Beside these risks, there are opportunities such as untapped resources, growing population, etc. 

Through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors) analyses, we can work together with prospective investors to minimise investment risks while maximising opportunities or benefits for their investment to succeed.

It is also worth noting that they need to be aware that the more they want to invest, the greater could be this risk.  However, where there are large economies of scale, this risk can be spread over.  Through CENFACS‘ Guidance for Investing in Africa, we can help potential investors to maximise risk-adjusted returns for a given level or rate of poverty reduction.

 

• • Rate of return about poverty reduction and analysis of risk tolerance

 

We can advise on most popular places and organisations in Africa that can provide high rates of return in terms of poverty reduction.  Likewise, we can advise potential investors against organisations and places with greater degree of risk in terms of their investment.  We shall systematically analyse the degree of risk attached to investments.  In other words, we can give evidence-based advice on the correlation between risk and potential return in terms of poverty reduction.

For example, how much risk can a not-for-profit investor can accept in return for a certain level of poverty reduction for a particular project or for a given organisation?

 

• • From Guidance to Guide for Investing in the Not-for-profit African Organisations and Causes

 

For those potential investors who would like to go extra miles in understanding what we have just highlighted, there will be a booklet (a 2021/2022 Guide for Investing in Africa) on the matter that will be issued by CENFACS.  The booklet will provide basic information, guidance and advice for those who would like to dive into the world of not-for-profit development and /or invest in Africa-based Sister Organisations engaged with the African Continental Free Trade Area. 

As argued earlier, the above highlights CENFACS’ Guidance for Investing in Africa.  For those who would like to find out more or to seek guidance, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

_________

 

• References

 

(1) https://www.fao.org/3/XII/0751-B1.htm (accessed in November 2021)

(2) HOME – UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021 (ukcop26.org) (accessed in November 2021)

_________

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

17 November 2021

 

Post No. 222

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• The 12^th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2021: Foresight Skills Development

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No. 6 from Week beginning 15/11/2021: Invasive Species, Pests and Crop Diseases

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 17/11/2021: Analytical Skills

 

… And much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• The 12^th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2021: Foresight Skills Development

 

The Development Day is a day that is annually held on 19 November to raise awareness and learn about development issues that women and children of our community face.  It is also a day to re-communicate our poverty reduction message about women and children matters while exploring ways of solving these issues.  It is finally a day to re-engage with new and old stakeholders on these matters.

As announced last week, the 12^th Women and Children FIRST Development Day (in short: Development Day) will prolong our Reflection Day of last April as we will be celebrating and thinking of Foresight Skills to help improve our capacity to predict and forecast future risks and crises (similar to the coronavirus) as well as plan actions based on improved knowledge, estimations and prospect.  Additionally, by dealing with skills, this year’s Development Day will resonate with November month of Skills Development within CENFACS.

Just to remind you that our Virtual Reflection of last April focused on Ring-fencing Protection for Women and Children to Become More Resilient and Vigilant in face of Future Risks and Crises.   Foresight Skills, which are the theme of our Development Day, is one of the many ways of ring-fencing protection for them.

In addition, we changed the organisation of our Development Day last year.  This was due to COVID-19 and lockdowns.  We could not hold in-person event like we did in 2019.  This year, we will be working in hybrid way by splitting the two aspects of this year’s Development Day, which are: Thinking and Celebration.  It will be about celebrating the good results of poverty reduction and exploring the future through Foresight Skills.

Details about this hybrid way of working are given under the Main Development section of this post, where you can also find other details about the Development Day.

 

 

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No. 6 from Week beginning 15/11/2021: Invasive Species, Pests and Crop Diseases

 

In this 6^th Action, we are going to deal with three types of sub-action against what can cause harms to Crop Wild Relatives.  Harms to them can be caused by invasive species, pests and diseases.  To reduce and or eliminate these harms, actions need to be taken.

 

• • Action against invasive species

 

Before thinking of any types of action against invasive species, it is better to understand what they mean. 

 

• • • Basic understanding of invasive species

 

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

“Aggressive introduced species which spreads and dominates its new location, competing with and often replacing native species and proving difficult to remove” (p. 238)

The website ‘oceanservice.noao,gov’ (2) states that

“Invasive Species can harm both the natural resources in an ecosystem as well as threaten human use of these resources… Invasive Species are capable of causing extinctions of native plants and animals, reducing biodiversity, competing with native organisms for limited resources, and altering habitats”.

In the context of “A la une” Campaign theme and the sub-theme of Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives, what we are interested in is actions to stop or reduce threats of extinctions that can be caused by invasive species to Crop Wild Relatives and other plants.  

 

• • • Actions against Invasive Species

 

On the website of the National History Museum (3), it says that

“Migrating and non-native species do not necessarily become invasive.  However, when they become invasive, it must be dealt with”.

To deal with invasive species, the following actions can be taken:

 

√ Stop or regulate human activities that spread invasive species (activities such as moving plants, ornamental plants, around the world for various reasons)

√ Deal with the consequences of climate change that cause species migration

√ Stop threats to native plant species

√ Differently manage plant and animal habitats to cope with invasive species and threats

√ Redesign conservation goals to deal with the problems caused by invasive species

√ Keep the control of both old and new species, including their data and inventory

√ Inform the relevant conservation agencies about any invasive species one may spot

Etc.

 

Briefly, stopping the threats of extinctions to Crop Wild Relatives from Invasive Species concern the native, non-native and introduced species.

 

• • Action against pests

 

• • • What is pest?

 

Pest is “a destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, livestock, etc.,” according to bing.com (4).  For example, white fly attacks tomatoes.

Because pests can attack and destroy Crop Wild Relatives, actions need to be taken to deal with them and their attacks. 

 

• • • Actions against pests

 

Actions could include activities to restrict or reduce or eliminate pests or organisms (such as action against oak tree pest) that directly or indirectly cause extinctions to Crop Wild Relatives.

For example in Tigray (in Ethiopia), there is a lack of equipment, sprayers and pesticides to effectively control Desert Locust infestation and other agricultural diseases.  Taking actions to control Desert Locust infestation can be life-saving gift for the peoples of Tigray.

 

• • Action against crop diseases

 

• • • What is crop disease?

 

Like humans and animals, plants and crops can be affected by diseases.   The Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation (op. cit.) defines disease as

“Any disorder in the normal function of an organism, which can be genetic but often caused by pathogenic bacteria, fungi, or viruses” (p. 123)

According to the ‘colors-newyork.com’ (5) website,

“Crop disease involves any harmful deviation or alteration from the normal functioning of the physiological processes”

To heal or stop crop diseases, actions are required.

 

• • • Actions against crop diseases

 

Actions can be taken to deal with factors that cause crop diseases.  These actions can be directed against factors such as insects, poor soil nutrition content, toxic chemicals, etc.  These actions will deal with the offending pathogen or environmental causes of crop diseases.   This kind of actions will be against leaf diseases, root diseases and seed diseases.

 

To sum up, “A la une” Campaign is about actions, not words only.   Whether it is about invasive species or pests or crop diseases, what we are interested in is action to deal with them so that the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives can be a reality, not a matter of theory only.  There is more that can be done to make this reality happen.

To support this 6^th Action relating to the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives and the entire “A la une” Campaign, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 17/11/2021: Analytical Skills

 

In our presentation of the skills to build forward better, we have now reached the level of skills to analyse our build-forward-better project or programme.  It is at this level that one can look into the amount of data generated via the implementation of their build-forward-better project.  Using their analytical knowledge and skills, they can identify any meaningful information and study the patterns and trends about this information.

To navigate these analytical skills, we are going to give a basic understanding of them and their types. 

 

• • What do we mean by analytical skills?

 

There are countless definitions of analytical skills within the analytics literature.  To simplify the matter, we have selected the definition given by the website ‘corporatefinanceinstitute.com’ (6), which is:

“Analytical skills refer to an individual’s ability to identify a problem, investigate to find out relevant facts, and find a logical solution”.

The same website provides four types of analytical skills, which are: communication, creativity, critical thinking and data analytics.

 

• • Types of analytical skills to analyse your build-forward-better project or programme

 

• • • Communication skills

 

These are the skills to effectively communicate the analysis.

For example, one of our users can communicate to the CENFACS Community the analysis they conducted about their build-forward-better project from the COVID-19.

 

• • • Creative skills

 

These are the skills to think creatively.

For example, one of our community members can creatively think about the stages and steps they would like to take in their process of building forward better from the adverse impacts of the coronavirus and the legacies of lockdowns.

 

• • • Critical thinking skills

 

These are the skills relating to objective analysis.

For example, through advice sessions, one of the advisees can objectively disclose after critically thought if they can afford their cost of building forward better.

 

• • • Data analytics skills

 

These are the skills to analyse large volumes of data and identify patterns and trends.

For example, one of our beneficiaries can share with us their experience in manning a large amount of data from the execution of their plan to build forward better from COVID-19.   

In short, the above named analytical skills will help us as a community to handle the analytical process of building forward better together from the legacies of the coronavirus and lockdowns.

For those who need help from CENFACS about the analytical skills they need in order to analyse their build-forward-better project, they can let us know. Together we can conduct a needs assessment and explore the analytical skills they need in order to better analyse their project.

To get further insight into Skills Development Month at CENFACS, please continue to read our weekly posts.  To support the Skills Development Month, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Review of 2020 Peace Appeal for the Horn of Africa Region

 

• • What this appeal was about

 

It was about supporting the victims of continuing insecurity and displaced persons who were fleeing fighting in Tigray which would have expanded beyond it to reach other parts of the Horn of Africa Region.  This appeal was about helping to prevent the Ethiopia’s Tigray Crisis to create further poverty and humanitarian crisis for the innocent civilian people of the Horn of Africa Region.

 

• • Why this appeal is under review 

 

The appeal is under review due to increasing humanitarian needs in Tigray, including emergency shelter, food, safe and drinking water, medicine and health services, dignity and hygiene kits for women and protection services.

According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (7),

“An estimated of 2.7 million children in northern Ethiopia are affected by destroyed or damaged schools or by internally displaced persons sheltering in schools.  It is estimated that 80 per cent of essential medication is no longer available in Tigray while most health facilities are not functional due to damage and lack of supplies”.

Although the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other agencies are working to meet the needs on the ground, there are still many gaps to be filled in Tigray. 

So, this week we are reviewing the Tigray appeal to assess if the main goal of the 2020 appeal has been met and if not what else we can do. 

 

• • Contacting CENFACS about this Appeal review

 

You can contact CENFACS to discuss or talk about this appeal review at http://cenfacs.org.uk/contact-us/

 

 

 

 

• E-workshop: Spending Limit

 

This is an e-workshop to enable interested people/households to help them reduce poverty linked to the lack of matching skills to set up a spending limit in their household accounts.  The e-workshop will empower them to work out their in-comings (total income) for a given period and set the overall spending limit so that they do not overspend or run into a permanent income deficit. 

The e-workshop will as well address the thorny problem of permanent income shortages experienced by ordinary households.  In doing so, the e-workshop will help them to lay down the foundations for protection against the adverse consequences of spending limit default. 

Those who may be interested in this e-workshop, they need to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Be.Africa e-debates Forest Economy and Poverty Reduction in Africa

 

How to make forests to remain and be reliable as a driver for poverty reduction in Africa in the world of phasing down coal-power generation

 

Since many Centuries, humans have been using forest resources and products (e.g. woods) in their daily life.  Natural forest resources and products help in many ways in reducing poverty and enhancing sustainable development. 

As the global climate world has agreed, via the Glasgow Climate Pact, to phase down coal-power generation and the use of coal as a source of energy, as well as restriction on other fossil fuels; CENFACS’ be.Africa will e-debate the following questions:

How much can we rely on forest economy and its products to service the reduction poverty in Africa?  

Is there any affordable alternative source of energy for those living in poverty and heavily relying on coal in Africa in the ever changing global energy development landscape?

What help can they get in the process of phasing down the coal in order to meet their daily energy needs?

To tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think, just contact CENFACS on this site.

 

 

La journée de développement des femmes et enfants d’abord (en bref: journée du développement) prolongera notre journée de réflexion d’avril dernier.

Nous célébrerons nos résultats acquis en matière de réduction de la pauvreté et penserons aux compétences prospectives.

Les compétences prospectives nous aideront à améliorer notre capacité à prévoir et à mieux faire face aux risques et crises futurs comme la pandémie de coronavirus.

L’occasion nous permettra aussi de planifier des actions basées sur l’amélioration des connaissances, des moyens, des estimations et des perspectives.

De plus, en traitant des compétences, la journée du développement de cette année résonnera avec le mois de novembre du développement des compétences au sein du CENFACS.

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

 

 

Main Development

 

• The 12^th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2021: Foresight Skills Development

 

To help those who might be interested in the Development Day to prepare themselves; we have assembled the following items:

the meaning of foresight, future risks and crises our community may face, the types of skills we need in order to respond to those risks and crises, how this year’s Development Day is organised and can help us to mitigate these risks and crises, and a timeline about our previous Development Days.

 

• • What is foresight?

 

To define foresight, we are going to refer to the website foresight.com (8) which states the following:

“Foresight is simply the act of looking to and thinking about the future”. 

According to Foresight.com (op. cit.), foresight, which is a critical personal and social skill, is also an activity that can be amateur or professional, trained or untrained.  Through foresight, one can predict, create and lead the future for themselves, their family, their community, their organisation, etc.

Foresight.com (op. cit.) distinguishes four domains or fields in terms of professional foresight, which are:  personal foresight, organisational foresight, global foresight and universal foresight.

In the context of our Development Day, we shall more focus on personal and community foresight than other types of foresight.  However, this focus does not exclude us to touch upon the other types of foresight in order to help us to help better reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

What we are as well and mostly interested in is the practice of foresight which helps to combine the science and art of foresight to work (like a futurist, forecaster, advisor and climate activist, etc.) on issues we are concerned with (such as future risks and crises).

 

• • Future risks and crises that women and children may face

 

To simplify the matter, we are going to refer the 16^th edition of the World Economic Forum’s annual analysis – the Global Risks Report 2021 (9).  In its report, the Forum categorises risks into the following types: economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological ones.  On the page 12 of this report, there are 10 top risks that are likely to happen and 10 top risks that may impact over the course of the next ten years. 

Additionally, it is indicated in this report that further to the survey respondents’ results, the 10 top global risks by likelihood (from unlikely to very likely to occur over the course of the next ten years) are:

∝ extreme weather 

∝ climate action failure 

∝ human environmental damage 

∝ infectious diseases 

∝ biodiversity loss 

∝ digital power concentration 

∝ digital inequality 

∝ interstate relations fracture 

∝ cyber-security failure 

∝ livelihood crises

For the same survey respondents’ results, the 10 top global risks by impact (from minimal to catastrophic impact to occur over the course of the next ten years) are: 

∝ infectious diseases

∝ climate action failure 

∝ weapons of mass destruction 

∝ biodiversity loss 

∝ natural resource  

∝ human environmental damage 

∝ livelihood crises 

∝ extreme weather 

∝ debt crisis 

∝ IT infrastructure breakdown

If any of these risks happen, they can affect the quality of life and well-being of women and children, especially the poor ones.  Because of that, we can look to and think about them as well as actions to protect women and children from these future risks. 

For example, if there is a natural resource crisis, how can women and children foresee it or know it is coming and protect themselves?  Another example, if the COVID-19 debt becomes a crisis, how could women and children think of the consequences of COVID-19 debt fallout?

The Development Day can help to shine lights or simply have some thoughts and feelings about the answer on these questions.

In the light of these future risks, there is therefore a need to improve and or develop Foresight Skills so that our community can better read the future.  What are those Foresight Skills we need in order to think about the future?

 

• • Foresight Skills

 

The 2021 Development Day is about Foresight Skills.  What are the Foresight Skills we need? 

All depends on the type and level of foresight one would like to embark upon.  If we refer again to refer to the foresight models given by foresight.com (op. cit.), we would mention three core Foresight Skills or thinking styles which are:

a) Thinking about probable futures (that is, predictable futures)

b) Thinking about possible futures (that is, unpredictable futures)

c) Thinking about preferable futures (that is, preferred futures)

 

Foresight Skills or thinking styles will help to determine what probable or possible or preferable crises and/or risks which may happen to women and children in our community.

In addition to the above three core or fundamental skills or styles, one can have the following ones:

d) Skills to deal with plausible futures (that is, possible or preferable futures)

e) Skills to deal with expected futures (that is, highly preferable or probable)

f) Skills to deal with wildcards (that is, low or probable events)

 

These additional skills or thinking styles will also help to determine what possible or highly preferable or probable crises and/or risks which may happen to women and children in our community.  In this thinking exercise, one needs to use developmental and evolutionary processes.  However, thinking exercise may not be enough unless one put those styles of thinking to adapt and mitigate risks and crises.

 

• • Mitigating future risks and crises

 

Since our capacity to stop these crises and risks to happen is limited or null, we shall instead think of probable or possible or preferable actions (depending on which crisis or risk) to take either to reduce or nullify the severity of any adverse impacts on women and children in our community and on our system of poverty reduction. 

Taking actions means preparedness in one’s mind set and the way one runs their life.  People could remember when the coronavirus broke out the majority of people was not prepared or not enough prepared at least in their mind set.   Foresight Skills development can help the community to avoid the mistakes of the past.  And the community with women and children in it can anticipate, create and manage future risks and crises.

 

• • How this year’s Development Day will be organised

 

The Development Day will be organised in two parts:  Thinking and Celebration.

 

• • • Thinking part

 

Since we are going to work in hybrid way, the participants to the Thinking part can remotely (from their home or office or anywhere else) share their thoughts on the Day using their Foresight Skills and any other skills about the future crises and risks, particularly what they can do if any of these crises and risks become a reality.

 

• • • Celebratory part

 

Potential Development Day celebrators could group themselves in a small COVID-19 secure working space (let say a group made up of 2 to 10 people including children) to share and recognise the value of poverty reduction and sustainable development amongst women and children.  They can make up a COVID-19 Secure Development Day Small Group (CSDDSG).

 

• • • • What is a COVID-19 Secure Development Day Small Group (CSDDSG)

 

A CSDDSG is a number of two to ten adults including children gathered in a COVID-19 secure space to share their poverty reduction and sustainable development experiences and wins in an informal and unstructured way.  Like in a discussion focus group, the group can systematically collect important information shared for impact monitoring and evaluation, learning and development purposes.  The group can as well seize the outputs or outcomes achieved.  Finally, the group can report to the community their experience of taking part in a CSDDSG.  

 

• • • Have queries or enquiries for the Development Day 2021

 

The above are the main items that will feature this year’s Development Day.  For any queries or enquiries about them, please do not to hesitate to contact CENFACS.

At the end of the Main Development section of this post, we have appended a timeline of CENFACS Development Day milestones. 

Wishing you a SUCCESSFUL, HEALTHY AND SAFE Development Day 2021!

_________

 

• References

 

(1) Park C., (2010), Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York

(2) https://oceanservice.noaa,gov/facts/invasive.html (accessed in November 2021)

(3) National History Museum at https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-are-invasive-species.html (accessed in November 2021)

(4) www.bing.com (accessed in November 2021)

(5) https://colors-newyork.com/what-is-a-crop-disease (accessed in November 2021)

(6) https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resource/careers/soft-skills/analytical-skills/ (accessed in November 2021)

(7) United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2021), Ethiopia – Northern Ethiopia Humanitarian Update, Situation Report at https://report.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia (accessed in November 2021)

(8) https://www.foresightguide.com/what-is-foresight/ (accessed in November 2021)

(9) World Economic Forum (2021), The Global Risks Report 2021, 16th Edition, Insight report

At https://www.weforum.org/global-risks

_________

 

• Appendix

 

Women and Children FIRST Development Day (WCFDD) Timeline: 2010 to 2020

 

Since its inception in 2010, the WCFDD provides an opportunity and scope to communicate CENFACS’ anti-poverty work/message and the need to develop new ideas and proposals, and improve practices to enable us to enhance the quality of life of multi-dimensionally-deprived women/mothers and children.  The following are the milestones so far for WCFDD. 

In 2010, the WCFDD was devoted to AWARENESS on SUSTAINABLE ACCESS TO & PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGIES

In 2011, CENFACS’ WCFDD tackled the challenging issue of BARRIERS TO POVERTY REDUCTION, with a special emphasis on one particular way of overcoming them, which is participation.  Women & Children’s Participation was looked at within the context of Race in the Road to Poverty Reduction.

In 2012, our Development Day in Putting Women and Children FIRST went further with the sub-theme of participation as it was organised around the theme of IMPROVING WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE RACE TO REDUCE POVERTY. 

In 2013, WCFDD at CENFACS extended and deepened the idea of more and better participation by focussing on Infrastructures for Women’s and Children’s contribution to poverty relief.  The theme for 2013 was “INFRASTRUCTURES FOR A POSITIVE ECONOMY TO REDUCE POVERTY”.

In 2014, we guesstimated and compared the cost for acting to the cost for inaction to reduce poverty.  The theme of COSTING DOING NOTHING FOR POVERTY RELIEF improves our understanding on an early prevention that helps reduce costs and avoid escalating or detrimental effects for poor Women and Children.

In 2015, WCFDD was dedicated to MAKING THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WORK FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN (W&C).  This was the local community response from the W&C of CENFACS to the 2030 Global Agenda and Goals for Sustainable Development.

In 2016, the theme for our Development Day was ENSURING HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTING WELL-BEING FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN.  This was the continuation of 2015 Development Day.  Ensure-Healthy-Lives-and-Promote-Well-being is itself Goal no.3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  One day of development thoughts does not make the 2030 Agenda works as we need more times and days. But it helped to look at Goal 3 (G3) as both global and local concept, G3 as a practical response and G3 as Protection for W&C in the CENFACS’ Year of Protections. 

In 2017, ENDING POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN was our working theme for the WCFDD

In 2018, we thought ways of working together to come out of the linear model that consists of make, use and dispose goods and resources; to embrace the CIRCULAR ECONOMY

In 2019, we discussed and put ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY into practice via three specific activities which were: advice, art and design, and clothes recycling as an example to end clothing poverty.

In 2020, we formalised and structured CORONAVIRUS TALKS BUBBLE by giving it purpose and objectives so that participants to it can measure its impact or output on their lives.

 

• Note: For your information,

 

3W (What Women Want) is a CENFACS support network scheme to enhance the lives of multi-dimensionally deprived women/mothers and families.

PPS (Peace, Protection & Sustainability) is a CENFACS child and environmental protection programme to support multi-dimensionally vulnerable children, young people and families

W&CSDP (Women & Children Sustainable Development projects) – a CENFACS amalgamation of 3W and PPS projects

 

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 consider a recurring donation to CENFACS in the future.

Donate to support CENFACS!

FOR ONLY £1, YOU CAN SUPPORT CENFACS AND CENFACS’ PROJECTS, 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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

10 November 2021

 

Post No. 221

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2021 Edition: Spending Limit – How to live within your means

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No.5 from Week beginning 08/11/2021: Genetically-modified and –engineered Crops

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 10/11/2021: Skills to Execute a Build-forward Plan (Implementation Skills)

 

… And much more!

 

 

COMING NEXT WEEK: 

The 12th Women and Children FIRST Development Day (in short Development Day) will prolong our Reflection Day of last April as we will be celebrating and thinking of Foresight Skills to help improve our capacity to predict and forecast future risks and crises (similar to the coronavirus) as well as plan actions based on improved knowledge, estimations and prospect. 

Additionally, by dealing with skills, this year’s Development Day will resonate with November month of Skills Development within CENFACS.

For further information, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2021 Edition: Spending Limit – How to live within your means

 

The 2021 Edition of Festive Income Booster (FIB) focuses on Spending Limit.  Indeed, in order to meet everyday consumption and the needs of poverty reduction, low income people and families need to spend or get support to spend if their income is not enough.

However, when talking about spending limit, low income people and families, especially those who live in poverty or on a very low budget, have a problem to limit their spending.  The majority of them do not have enough income to cover the minimum required spending to live decently.  Many of them cannot afford or sustain the minimum requirement of spending in terms of costs of living a decent life. 

Yet, like everybody they need to consume to function as normal human beings.  They are bound to consume in order to meet their basic life-sustaining needs (of food, shelter, transport, health, education, clothing, information, etc.) like everyone else.  Around the special time of year, like of festive season, this life-sustaining requirement of spending could be even very pressuring for many of them in such a way that some of them can disregard the tenets of spending limit, the level of spending they may not afford or find help for.

To work with them and help them live within their financial means and capacities, the 2021 Edition of FIB deals with some of the key issues surrounding Spending Limit.  Particularly, the 2021 Edition of FIB resource will provide multi-dimensional income poor children, young people and families (CYPFs) with some tips, hints and hacks to work out their realistic and reasonable limits for spending while considering the restrictions on spending stemming from third parties (like credit card payment or others). 

The 2021 Edition of FIB refers to the definition of Spending Limit provided by some of the banking and financial institutions as a foundation from which we can build the notion of Spending Limit in order to extrapolate and customise it for multi-dimensional income poor CYPFs in the context of home economics.

The 2021 FIB Edition further explains how the respect of the basic financial rule like Spending Limit for these CYPFs can contribute to not only sound and sustainable financial management of poor households’ assets and liabilities but also to bring to them a happy life and future as they will have less concern about overspending.

Finally, the 2021 FIB Edition sends an unambiguous message to these CYPFs that they can still have a happy festive season without overspending or running an income deficit.

More information about this year’s Edition of Festive Income Booster has been provided under the Main Development section of this post.

 

• 2021 “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Themed Activity and Action No.5 from Week beginning 08/11/2021: Genetically-modified and –engineered Crops

 

There are pros and cons about Genetically Modified Crops (GMCs or GM Crops).  In the context of “A la une” Campaign and of Action 5 regarding the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives, we are mostly interested in actions than talks or thoughts.  Therefore, our actions will be on what one can do in order to tackle the disadvantages of GM Crops, particularly if these crops are wild relatives.  However, one cannot take actions unless they understand what they are talking about.  So, one may need to understand GM Crops.

                                                                  

• • Basic understanding of GM Crops

 

After reviewing the literature on GM Crops, we have selected their definition from the online website toppr.com (1) which defines them as follows:

“Genetically modified crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods.  In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species”. 

Examples of GM Crops include: cotton, soya beans, maize, papaya, etc.

From the above definition, it makes sense to clarify the meaning of genetic engineering.  The Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation written by Chris Park (2), states that

“Genetic engineering is the selective, deliberate alteration of the genetic makeup [*DNA] of an organism by removing, modifying, or adding genes to a chromosome in order to change the information it contains, which enables cells or organisms to make new or different substances [*proteins] or perform new functions.” (p. 188)

As argued earlier, there are advantages and disadvantages about GM crops or plants.  However, in the context of this campaign we are more interested in disadvantages than their advantages. 

 

• • Disadvantages of GM Crops

 

Amongst the disadvantages that one can find within the literature and practice of GM Crops, and can come across are the following:

X  Disruption of ecosystem and biodiversity

X  Disruption of healthcare

X  Increase in the cost of cultivation

X Marketization of for-profit farming to the detriment of not-for-profit farming

X  Threats to the environment

X  Risk to human health

Etc.

Because of the above disadvantages, which are documented in many research studies or work, there is a need to continue to take actions against these disadvantages.

 

• • Actions against Disadvantages relating to GM Crops

 

Many individuals and environmental and green organisations (e.g. the Friends of Earth) have been campaigning for years and decades about GM Crops since they came to life and to the market.   The actions we are taking this week are the continuation and improvement of what it has been done so far.  These actions are for example to STOP THE DISRUPTION OF THE ECOSYSTEM AND BIODIVERSITY via the introduction of new traits to plants which has far reaching consequences on the environment, humans, animals and plants themselves.

These actions are about the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives (like maize, pepper, avocado, etc.) to deal with some of the listed disadvantages relating to the genetic engineering of these crops.

To support this Fifth Action relating to the Safeguard of Crop Wild Relatives and to the “A la une” Campaign, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Skills to Build Forward Better – Skills Focus from Wednesday 10/11/2021: Skills to Execute a Build-forward Plan (Implementation Skills)

 

Our month of Skills Development continues as we are dealing with the Skills to Implement Build-forward Projects and Programme (or Implementation Skills).  What do mean by Implementation Skills?

 

• • Knowing a little bit about Implementation Skills

 

Before summarising implementation skills, let us talk about implementation itself.   According to the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Centre (3), implementation is

“The process of moving an idea from concept to reality”

In the guide of the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Centre, the implementation process is made of stages; each stage having specific steps and activities.

In this process of moving an idea from concept to reality, one may require skills or implementation skills.

Implementation Skills are the dexterity, ability and competences to turn a plan or strategy or programme (for example of building forward) into action.  These are the competences and talents to follow a roadmap (such as implementation process) in order to achieve build-forward objectives.  What are these skills?

 

 

 

• • Types of Implementation Skills

 

The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Centre (op. cit.) gives the following stages in the implementation process: exploration, installation, initial implementation, full implementation, and expansion and scale-up.

One can extirpate from the Early Childhood Technical Centre’s model of implementation process the following implementation skills.

 

• • • Exploration skills

 

They are the skills to identify the need for change and to decide to move ahead with implementation process.

 

• • • Installation skills

 

They are the skills to develop a written implementation plan and to build system capacity to support the implementation plan.

 

• • • Initial implementation skills

 

They are the skills to put the initial elements of your build-forward plan into practice where you think they can work and fit in.

 

• • • Skills for full implementation

 

They are the skills to assure that the practices of building forward are loyal and sustainable in providing expected outcomes at all levels.

 

• • • Skills to expand or scale up

 

They are the skills to help people increase the number of outcomes with fidelity.

 

So, those who need skills to build forward, they can refer to the Early Childhood Technical Centre’s model and find way or help to develop their implementation skills. 

For those who need help from CENFACS about the implementation skills they need to execute their build-forward plan, they can let us know. Together we can work and explore the implementation skills they need in order to deliver their plan.

To get further insight into Skills Development Month at CENFACS, please continue to read our weekly posts.  To support the Skills Development Month, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Leafy Year and Skills Development Month

 

Leafy Year is our dedication of 2021 as a Year of Leaves within CENFACS, meaning that we are celebrating the role that leaves play in our work and life, particularly in helping us to help reduce poverty poverty and enhance sustainable development. 

Leaves of Poverty Reduction have been instrumental in helping CENFACS to achieve its charitable objects since CENFACS began.  This acknowledgement of leaves in our work continues in this November month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation. 

Skills Development Month is the month that we recognise the economic value of education as well as of the non-economic benefits from education.  It is also the month we pay particular attention to the technology of skill formation. 

During this month, we will be trying to work on the link between Leafy Year and Skills Development Month within CENFACS.  This is because the skills and knowledge we have about leaves can help us to work together with our users and Africa-based Sister Organisations so that together we can achieve more and better results in terms of poverty reduction and enhancement of sustainable development.

To find more about how CENFACS is trying to deal with the relationship between the Year of Leaves and Skills Development Month, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-Discussion and Food for Thoughts

 

We have two areas of work through CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum; areas we expect people to share ideas and actions with us and between them.  These areas are:

(a) E-discussion on the relationship between BEV (Battery, Electric Vehicle) and poverty reduction in Africa

(b) Thoughts on deforestation, methane, coal and poverty reduction as a result of COP26

 

• • CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum e-discusses the relationship between BEV (Battery, Electric Vehicle) and Poverty Reduction in Africa

 

As the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC) is planning to host a multi-stakeholder Business Forum from 24 to 25 November 2021 to foster development of robust battery, electric vehicle (BEV) and renewable energy value chain and market in Africa; CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum would like to hear from you about how this BEV development will impact poverty reduction in Africa and in particular in the DRC. 

Our e-discussion revolves around answering this question:

Is any relationship between the BEV development and poverty reduction in Africa?  If, there is any, what is the direction of this relationship?  

To tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think, just contact CENFACS on this site.

 

• • CENFACS be.Africa Forum’s Food for Thoughts on Deforestation, Methane, Coal and Poverty Reduction as a result of COP26

 

As more than 100 world leaders promised to tackle deforestation, more than 100 countries joined a scheme to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030, and more than 40 countries agreed to shift away from coal; how these new developments will impact poverty reduction in Africa.

Our thoughts are about answering this question:

What will the change be in terms of poverty reduction in Africa if deforestation is seriously tackled, methane is reduced by 30% and there is global shift away from the fossil fuel coal?

To tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think, just contact CENFACS on this site.

 

 

 

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3 (CPSAC-P.3): Glasgow Steps It Up

 

Our process of advocating better climate deals for children, particularly but not exclusively African children, in the context of global climate talks continues this week as we are following what is happening during the climate talks which are still in progress in Glasgow.

As part our follow-up process, we followed young climate advocates and protesters, particularly on the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on 06 November 2021.  It is always interesting and a learning process when young climate advocates and enthusiasts put their heavy weight in to make their points during the global climate talks as they do and are doing for COP26.  Whether it is about the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg or the Kenyan Elizabeth Wathuti or any other young climate personalities or young climate supporters, they carry weight in the climate debate and action.

In fact, when at CENFACS we talk about Climate Protection and Stake for African Children; it is about those young people and children who are pushing for concrete actions so that COP26 in Glasgow should not be another missing and wasted opportunity in living memory. 

Some of these climate advocates and enthusiasts make and shape the current climate movements (like the Green Initiative in Kenya, the ‘Association congolaise de défense des droits des communautés affectées par l’exploitation forestière’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I Lead Climate in Nigeria, the ‘Association Jeunes volontaires pour l’environnement’ in Senegal, etc.) in Africa.

One can hope that their views and actions will be considered so that a truly net zero-carbon emissions world will come to effect for them and for future generations to come.

Having said that one can also hope that 28 Climate Campaigning Points made in our Compendia of Climate Advocacy will be considered at COP26 climate negotiations and final outcomes in Glasgow. 

One can finally expect that Glasgow could step it up and make history happen for children and the generations to come.

To support CPSAC-P.3 and the sub-theme of ‘Glasgow Steps It Up’ as well as any of the 28 Climate Campaigning Points of CENFACS’ Compendia of Climate Advocacy, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Le mois d’économie de l’éducation et de formation des compétences au sein de CENFACS continue avec au menu ce qui suit pour chaque mercredi.

 

Mercredi                   Compétences à mettre l’accent sur

03/11/2021: Compétences pour préparer un plan d’avancement 

10/11/2021: Compétences pour éxécuter un plan d’avancement

17/11/2021: Compétences pour analyser les données de ce plan

24/11/2021: Compétences pour générer des revenus 

 

Pour plus d’information à propos de ce calendrier de travail sur les compétences et pour demander un soutien sur des compétences relatives à votre  plan d’avancement, veuillez contacter le CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Development 

 

• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2021 Edition: Spending Limit

How to live within your means

 

• • What is this year’s Festive Income Booster about

 

The Festive Income Booster is CENFACS’ Autumn ICDP (Autumn Individual Capacity Development Programme) and poverty-relieving resource that provides some income generation leads and tips.   The 2021 Edition of this ICDP resource is about Spending Limit.

 

• • The contexts of this year’s Festive Income Booster: Economic, Climate and COVID-19 Contexts

 

The economic context of this year’s FIB is of soaring energy prices together with the prices of goods and services as the non-essential and essential business sectors are trying to catch up with losses made during the long period of COVID-19 lockdowns. 

It is also a climate context of the rebound of CO2 emissions near pre-COVID-19 levels as transport, travel and other polluting activities have resumed or increased. 

It is finally the context of return of COVID-19 cases in some places with all the health and other far reaching consequences.

In this kind of circumstances, the question is: How far should people and families, especially those who are income poor, go with spending? 

This question remains unsolvable and a tricky one for many of them.  This demands the use and or development of appropriate skills to deal with spending within this complex situation.

Spending Limit existed before these conditions appear and has always been there.  However, under the current conditions and constraints, Spending Limit has become harder for them to maintain or manage.   The 2021 Edition of FIB is a resource to help them find the tips and hints they need in order to prudently approach their Spending Limit.

 

• • Who the 2021 FIB resource is for

 

Festive Income Boost is for Multi-dimensionally Income Poor Children, Young People and Families (MIPCYPFs) and it is designed to support them throughout the entire festive season and beyond.

 

 

 

• • Key Concepts

 

There are two key concepts to help the users of the 2021 FIB resource.

The first key concept in this Edition is Spending Limit.  The other key term is real disposable income.

 

(a) Spending Limit.

 

The 2021 FIB resource uses an online definition of Spending Limit as given by the website lawinsider.com (4) as follows:

“Spending limit means any daily restriction on the amount that the Cardholder can spend when making a Transaction.  The Spending Limit on a Deposit Card will be set at zero”.

This website uses a number of variant definitions of Spending Limit to explain the same idea in different ways.  The common denominator from these variant definitions of Spending Limit is that there is a maximum amount or available overdraft/balance that the Cardholder should not cross.  This is the limit.

One can use the above banking or financial definition to set up their own Spending Limit which could be on a daily or monthly or quarterly basis.  When setting up self-agreed Spending Limit, they will include any Spending Limit they have with any third parties (like a bank or financial institution).  This self-agreed Spending Limit can be on the overall spending that a person or family agrees to set up on a daily or weekly or monthly basis.  

Following this idea, MIPCYPFs can set up their own total Spending Limit according to their circumstances and means so that they do not overspend or run into deficit.  The trouble is that many of them may not have the necessary resources they need in order to organise such a Spending Limit. 

To overcome this problem, through the 2021 Edition of FIB we shall try to work with them so that they could understand or improve their understanding of this notion of Spending Limit and develop an overall Spending Limit policy for those who need it.  Our work with them will be customised; meaning that not done on the basis of ‘one-size-fits-all’.

 

(b) Real disposable income

 

Real disposable income is one of the factors that influence Spending Limit.     Disposable income is an income after the deduction of direct taxes and addition of welfare benefits. 

So, knowing their real disposable income, MIPCYPFs can be in a better position to use it to determine their Spending Limit.  However, they also need to consider other economic factors such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, the cost of accessing and servicing debts, savings, their own confidence, COVID-19, etc.

The above two key terms or concepts (Spending Limit and real disposable income) and any others will be considered when one is trying to navigate their way of setting up a Spending Limit that is realistic and suitable to them and other parties they are dealing with (such as banks or card companies).

 

• • Key Highlights

 

As the focus for this year’s edition is on Spending Limit, the resource includes the following items:

 

∝ How to set up a Spending Limit that matches your personal circumstances in terms of your earning capacity, assets and liabilities, savings and owing, support from others, etc.

∝ How to keep your Spending Limit manageable and affordable

∝ How to work out your overall debit balance (beyond the bank balance)

∝ How to respect what you have agreed by yourself as your Spending Limit

∝ How to restrict to what you have agreed with others (e.g. banks) as your Spending Limit

∝ How not to cross your Spending Limit transactions/arranged overdrafts/amount of available funds

∝ How not to go in your spending beyond the maximum debit balance permitted or the maximum permissible limit prescribed to you by third parties

∝ End-of-the-year earning opportunities and openings to cover the Spending Limit

∝ How to earn and save money in the post-COVID-19 era

∝ Online and offline opportunities from both essential and non-essential economic activities

∝ How to successfully manage Spending Limit during the festive season

∝ Tips and hints to make savings from Spending Limit

For example, how can you improve your spending habits and plans during the festive season?

 

• • What other highlights it covers

 

The resource covers some ways of dealing with the following:

 

√ Casual job interview questions (online, video calls and distance job interviews)

√ Seasonal job search techniques (for both online and offline searches)

√ Job search engines and leads

√ Guidance on job applications and CV

√ Reference building techniques

√ How to highlight your skills in your job application and or CV

√ Job adverts and alerts

√ Credit history or score

√ Diary of online job fairs and events

√ Job matching to person specification and profile

√ Online job fraud and employment agency scams

√ Details can potential employers ask and not ask as well as how they can ask them

√ What details to provide and not to provide in your job enquiries and when filling job applications

Etc. 

 

It goes further in exploring e-skills as well as stages and steps that poor families can take to skill up themselves.

In addition, the resource covers security and protection matters when trying to organise Spending Limit or generate a little extra income to make ends meet.  In this respect, it deals again with the general data protection regulations, child protection and safeguarding issues as well as COVID-19 restrictions for jobs where these requirements apply.

The resource does not stop there as it includes online employment agency scams and job advert scams which sometimes has dramatically increased in today’s world and employment market as there are always unscrupulous players (scammers, hackers and fraudsters) on the market who try to take advantage of the poor and vulnerable people like MIPCYPFs. 

 

• • What’s more?

 

The resource finally reminds us the areas of law or legal requirements in terms of whatever we do to try to organise Spending Limit or raise additional household income to reduce poverty.  We should always try to lawfully act and live within our means.

 

• • How to access this resource

 

The resource will be available as a booklet from CENFACS e-Store.  It is normally free of charge but we will appreciate a donation of £5 to help us help reduce poverty and the cost of renewing and producing this resource on an annual basis.  As the side effects of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns continue to have repercussions on us, we need financial help like many voluntary and charitable organisations do.

To order and or find out more about the Autumn ICDP resource, please contact CENFACS with your contact details.

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• References

 

(1) https://www.toppr.com/ask/questions/define-the-term-genetically-modified-crops/ (accessed in November 2021) 

(2) Park C., (2010), Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York

(3) https://ectacenter.org/~pdfs/implementprocess/implementprocess-stagesandsteps.pdf (accessed in November 2021)

(4) https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionaryspendinglimit# (accessed in November 2021)

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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 2021 and beyond.

With many thanks.