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Essential 2020 Review

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

30 December 2020

 

Post No. 176

 

 

The New Year’s Eve Contents

 

• Year in Review Recap

• End of year Fundraising Campaign

• End of Year Advice-giving Service

…. and much more!

 

 

 

The New Year’s Eve Key Messages

 

• Year in Review Recap

 

The first New Year’s Eve Key Message of this year-end post is about covering the events of the year 2020 from the perspective of recapping the year for CENFACS’ 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 CENFACS’ year-end review.

 

 

• End of year Fundraising Campaign

 

Our End of Year Fundraising Campaign continues until the last day and hour of 2020.  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 2020 ends, please do not hesitate to donate.   You can still make a helpful difference before 31/12/2020.

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 last post on this platform, we are in holiday break until the 5th of January 2021.  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 the tier four of COVID-19 system of restrictions.

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.   

 

 

 

The New Year’s Eve 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 good 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 talk to CENFACS to discuss the reuse of your items since we are under the constraint of tier four of COVID-19 system of restrictions.

 

 

 

• 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 2020-21 tax Year will end on 5 April 2021 in the UK.  Understandably, the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns may have impact on 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 2020, we will be looking at from the start of January 2021 when we return on 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.

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

COVID-19 Floor Signs and Symbols for Coronavirus-induced Poverty Relief in 2021

 

Following the floor signs and symbols of protection against the coronavirus pandemic can help to reduce coronavirus-induced poverty now and in 2021.   The problem is that not many people do follow the signs and symbols that meant to guide and help them.  As we move into 2021 and there is a new COVID-19 variant, how do we make sure to follow the signs and symbols that are meant to protect us and others, especially if you are in need of relief from health and economic hardships?  

It is life-saving to follow the floor markings designed to protect everybody against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.    This issue of COVID-19 floor signs and symbols is part of our COVID-19 Campaign, which is still active during the festive holiday.

For any enquiries and or queries about this part of our COVID-19 Campaign, please e-contact CENFACS.  

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

Year in Review Recap

 

This review is about telling the story about what went on within and around CENFACS from the beginning to the end of 2020.  To be fair with readers of this review, we did not plan from the onset some of the events and campaigns which occurred and shaped the running of the year 2020.  Amongst these events is the coronavirus pandemic which in fact changes the year for us to becoming almost a pandemic year. 

In 2020, there have been many episodes that made these year-end review events which are: the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns, the reconnection to the essential economy, the revalorisation of health economics, the growing uncertainty linked to the UK’s changing trade ties with the EU, the progress in African continental free trade integration, transitional democratic process in Africa, etc.

Amongst the above mentioned events or factors, the coronavirus pandemic has been a dominant one and continues to dictate the performance of many of our actions.  It carries on in shaping up the poverty reduction agenda and policy.  In face of this dominance and disturbance of the COVID-19, we had to react and find creative and innovative ways to meet users’ needs in this development landscape.  Before going further in this review, let us start from the beginning to the end of the year 2020.

 

• • How did we start the year 2020?

 

We started the year 2020 with Energy for the Poor and energy projects to deal with energy poverty.  It was about how to help poor people to help themselves in meeting their sustainable energy needs in a changing climate.  This starter was part of the discussions we had with stakeholders and of the debate to reduce the adverse effects of climate change.  In addition to this, we dedicated year 2020 as a “Mission” Year.  As a result of this dedication, we set up a “Mission” Project to deliver this mission.

As the coronavirus pandemic broke out and influenced our direction of travel, we had to adjust our plans and thinking to deal with this health emergency and urgency which has become the dominant feature of 2020.  2020 which was supposed to be partly of sustainable energy has entirely become a pandemic year for us.  This dominant feature has been coupled with other features as the following shows about how the year 2020 went for CENFACS.   

 

• • How did the year 2020 go through within and around CENFACS?

 

To underline the way in which the year 2020 went within and around CENFACS, we are going to highlight the essential features of 2020 and the contributions we made.

 

• • • Year 2020 in features

 

There are several features in the way 2020 went for CENFACS which are as follows.

 

• • • • 2020 as a “Mission” Year

 

CENFACS “Mission” Year is a coordinated plan by CENFACS to provide what is needed and necessary to support any efforts of poverty reduction.  CENFACS “Mission” Year is a sequence of tasks and activities undertaken as monthly operations in order to deliver the year 2020 dedication.  It is finally a specific task of the year 2020 or way of putting into practice poverty reduction.  In total, we had 12 acts to accomplish and fuel our “Mission” Year campaign.

 

• • • • 2020 as a pandemic year

 

The most dominant feature of 2020 is of a pandemic year.  Due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, we had together with stakeholders to respond in developing projects, programmes and activities to deal with life-threatening and –destroying impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.  Amongst these projects and programmes include the Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus Pandemic; cube which has many projects in it to protect the community.   We also set up a Campaign of Resilience against the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

We had to deal with the implications of COVID-19 for poverty reduction work.  One of the implications was altering the contents of projects (for example our Happiness projects became Healthiness projects).  Briefly, we worked to adapt to COVID-19 environment while continuing to help to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

 

• • • • 2020 as an economic lockdown year

 

Over 2020, we experienced two lockdowns of the non-essential economy.  During the lockdowns, the help of supporters for us to adjust and develop e-services and e-activities to deal with the situation has been instrumental.  They motivated us to distance work and redevelop our advice-giving service to cope with new demand of advice and the unprecedented challenge we faced in the COVID-19 lockdowns.

 

• • • • 2020 as a year of essential economy

 

2020 has been a year of recognition of essential economy as an economy that serves the poor and does not leave anyone behind since it is an economy for everybody.  Essential economy has the capacity to pull out people out of poverty.

To put into practice essential economy, we set up CENFACSEssentia” Project, which is an example or model of working together so that no one is left behind.  The “Essentia” project is indeed a poverty-relieving initiative that uses the tenets and attributes of the essential economy in order to help people and communities in need to escape from poverty and hardships.  The project connects these people and communities to essential activities while motivating them to use non-polluting ways of resolving their long standing problems of poverty and hardships.

 

• • • • 2020 as a year of health economics

 

2020 has been as well of the study of the supply and demand of healthcare resources and the impact of healthcare resources on a population, especially the poor and vulnerable ones. 

As far as CENFACS is concerned, it has been about how this study can be correlated with measures to reduce the state of this population having little or lacking money or material possession.  Through our virtual festival of thoughts on health economics, participants tried to learn how to make health economics work for the poor and the neediest.

In order to execute health economics from our perspective, we designed the Project of Sanitation Relief or Health Economics for the Poor to help improve the cost-effectiveness of healthcare provision to the poor in terms of positive health outcomes at the level of organisations that implement this project. 

This project reflects the circumstances of the time of the coronavirus pandemic.  From its various components, the project seeks to address sanitation poverty not only now, but also in the post-pandemic period. 

 

• • • • 2020 as a year of economic uncertainty linked to exit economy

 

What we do as an organisation depends on the economic environment in which we operate.  Since the economic uncertainty around changing nature of trade ties of the UK with the EU was pending, we had to work with many assumptions or models revolving around or between trade deal and no trade deal.  This economic uncertainty meant that we had to be cautious in taking any commitments in terms of resources and capacities until this uncertainty will be resolved. 

 

• • • • 2020 as a year of transitional development programme

 

Our Africa-based Sister Organisations did continue to work with those places in Africa where democratic transition was happening like in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Together with them through a transitional development programme we gave our hands in helping the happening transition to mature and work for those in most need.

 

• • • • 2020 as a year of impact monitoring and evaluation

 

2020 has been the year that we have tried to monitor and evaluate the causal effects of COVID-19 and the exited/transitional economy on CENFACS’ system of poverty reduction.  In other words, we looked at causality and attribution on CENFACS, if the cofactors (that is, COVID-19 and exited/transitional economy) could have causal effects on CENFACS.   

Besides the above features of 2020, there are some achievements that we would like to mention.

 

• • • 2020 Key Achievements/Contributions

 

2020 has also been a year of accomplishments.  After doing a round-up of all efforts we made to support the causes of those in need, we could name the following contributions:

Further to advice received from some of our followers and supporters, we brought and lighted a Blaze of Hope for the Victims of Armed Attacks and Conflicts in Burkina Faso.

Through an open dialogue, consultation and inputs of stakeholders, users and supporters we were able to develop CENFACS’ 2020s Development Agenda and Poverty Reduction Programme.

To help reduce poverty in 2020, we developed together with the community a Box of Poverty Reduction Tools.  Thanks to the eight tools that it contains, we were able to use some of them to reach out to those in need before and during the coronavirus pandemic.

To support children in Africa, we asked for the halving of poverty for and with the Educationally Needy Congolese children.  As a result of this ask, a number of children received some support until the COVID-19 broke out to change the educational dynamics there on the ground where support is still mostly needed.

We could not be insensitive about what was happening in the African Sahel where innocent lives were unnecessary taken since armed attacks and violence were mounted against civilians.  Together with our supporters, we launched the African Sahel Peace Appeal to end insecurity and violence there in 2020.

Likewise, to raise awareness about the effect of COVID-19 on the African Sahel, we advocated through the African Sahel Humanitarian Corridors Appeal to end food insecurity, water shortage and income decline exacerbated by COVID-19.

We carried out a Peace Appeal 2020 for the Horn of Africa, and the African Sahel and Lake Chad Basin Appeal against Extreme Poverty to support those in need in these two regions of Africa.

The above are just the few selected accomplishments we wanted to share with readers and stakeholders in this year in review campaign.  However, for those who would like get more insights into them and other achievements of the year 2020, they can still let us know.

 

• • How the year 2020 has ended

 

In the process of ending the year 2020, there was a need since Autumn to accept and integrate the coronavirus pandemic factor in our mind set and work with others in order to build back better by the end of the year and from the New Year.  This need has led to a build back better campaign for both our work in the UK and Africa.

Additionally, there is no a better way of ending any year than by appealing for peace and wishing hope for those living in poverty and hardships; as well as  by thanking all those who produced poverty reduction with us and those who made poverty reduction possible for those in need and for us throughout 2020.

2020 was a memorable year for CENFACS for those who inspired us in responding to local needs at the challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic.  We could not do it without their support. 

To end this year-in-review report, we would like to continue to thank them as we did in last week’s post.  We thank them for making possible 2020 as another year of poverty reduction and of sustainable development.

For further information or a full story of 2020 and to discuss any issues regarding this essential review of 2020, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going this Festive Season.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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End-of-year 2020 Thanks & Season’s Greetings

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

23 December 2020

 

Post No. 175

 

 

Festive Week’s Contents

 

• Thanking 2020 Poverty Relief Makers and Enablers

• Festive Season’s Arrangement

• Peace, Hope and Charity e-Store

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Festive Messages

 

• Thanking 2020 Poverty Relief Makers and Enablers

 

As the end of year 2020 is nearing, 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 the work for relief in this pandemic year.

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

 

 

• Festive Season’s Arrangement: from 24 December 2020 to 5 January 2021

 

The following is the arrangement we have made for the above stated period.

 

• • Queries and enquiries

 

During the festive holidays and the new tier 4 of COVID-19 restrictions in London, we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 5th of January 2021.  However, our All-in-Development Winter e-discussion on Post-coronavirus Volunteering is still on until the 5th of January 2021 as planned.

 

• • Opening hours and days

 

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 coronavirus turbulence.

Those who want to donate to our fundraising campaigns and projects (such as Gifts of Peace and End-of-Year 2019 Support); they are welcome to do so. 

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

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

All the above initiatives can create magical reliefs during this Festive Season and disturbing moment of tier 4 of COVID-19 restrictions.

 

• • Season of Light

 

Our Season of Light continues as planned.  However, some of our services and activities (such as advocacy, physical fundraising events, etc.) as well as development campaigns are scaled down until the 5th of January 2021.  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.

 

• • What’s on from 24 December 2020 to 5 January 2021!

 

We are breaking for the festive holidays while following the new COVID-19 restrictions in the tier four.  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 moments of human history and 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 coronavirus pandemic and post-lockdown tiers.  Many of them need support which includes advice at any time.     

The above figure shows what is on between 24/12/2020 and 05/01/2021.  For those who want to get a further picture about what has been happening at CENFACS during the remaining days of December 2020, we recommend them to read our three last posts on the Blog page of this site.

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 new tier systems of restrictions 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 2020 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year.

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

 

 

 

• Peace, Hope and Charity e-Store

 

• • Peace and Hope

 

Our celebratory theme for the Season’s Reliefs is Peace and continues to be alive to the end of this season.  Our theme for the Season of Light is Hope and is still featuring what we have planned to achieve over this season.   

 

 

• • Charity e-Store

 

Following the new COVID-19 variant and the current restrictions which have led to the tier four, CENFACS’ Charity e-Store is opened for Click and Collect only.  We are not taking goods donations at the moment, just as we do not have a Drop and Go policy.  Under exceptional circumstances and our Recycle and Give policy, we can however arrange for goods to be safely collected at an agreed location, day and time.   

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

The above are the Season’s Triple Reliefs.  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 support however small it may be.  

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

To click and collect, go to 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 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 tier four of COVID-19 restrictions since the coronavirus is taking a sinusoidal shape as we thought it at the beginning of Autumn 2020.  The campaign is still in its Phase 3 of Rehabilitation Strategies for our work 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. 

So far, our campaign has been on the COVID-19 as originally named by the World Health Organisation.  Now that COVID-19 has mutated, there is a need to adapt our campaign and model of fighting 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.

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 people lives. 

 

• • Breaking out the vicious circle of the new tier four and economic inactivity

 

As many members of our community are living in the areas of the new tier four of COVID-19 restrictions, there could a need for some of them to find way to break out the vicious circle of the new tier four and economic inactivity.  The exercises we provided during the Summer lockdown are still relevant and can be applied to manage the new tier four.  

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 proposals to manage this challenging situation of COVID-19 changing faces and spikes which 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 socio-economic effects of the new tier four.

Need support to break out the vicious circle of the post-lockdown tiers, 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 for not to carry forward income deficit into 2021.

 

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

 

As our All Year-round Projects or Triple Value Initiatives (i.e. Play, Run and Vote for poverty relief and development) come to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank those who responded to our call for Action-Results 2020.

 

• • 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

 

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.  Already, COVID-19 lockdowns had beneficial effects on nature and climate to a certain extent last Summer.  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 climate-friendly and that preserves the wealth and health of the nature.

Briefly, this extra 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. 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.     

 

 

 

 

Main Festive Development

 

Thanking 2020 Poverty Relief Makers 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 2020, either as poverty relief maker or enabler or even both.

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

Year 2020 has been a historically challenging one for CENFACS and many people/organisations in the world as the world is battling against the coronavirus pandemic.  Despite this unparalleled challenge of the pandemic year, the commitment of various individuals and organisations to what we are trying to achieve has been undisputable 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 2020 has been dedicated as a “Mission” Year, a mission of poverty reduction.  During this year, we have tried as much as we can to reach out to those in need of relief from poverty and hardships.  As it has been as well as a 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 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 our audience and a global audience.

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. 

Small charitable organisations do not always have the financial means to put their messages across.  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.

2020 will be remembered by many including CENFACS as a pandemic year.  The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns 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 punch above our weight in delivering poverty reduction outcomes for those in extreme and urgent need.

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 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 creatures of the nature that helped us to put our messages across.

To sum up, we are using the opportunity of the end of year to thank all those who made and enabled the year 2020 work for CENFACS, its beneficiaries and other deserving 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 2020 Poverty Reduction Makers and Enablers.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going this Festive Season.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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Season of Light

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

16 December 2020

 

Post No. 174

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Season of Light: Starts 21 December 2020

• Festive Trends

• Festive Gifting

 

… and much, much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

• The Lights Season: Starts 21 December 2020

 

Autumn Fresh Start to the Season of Light

The Autumn season officially ends this weekend.  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 21st of December next week.

This weekend is thus the end of Autumn Fresh Start projects and programmes, and the beginning of the Season of Light; 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. 

This Season of Light, our Blaze of Hope will be extended to those who are still struggling against the adverse health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns.  The Season of Light comes with the Lights Appeal, which is the project that features the Season of Light, while the Gifts of Peace keep on giving the Festive Season

At CENFACS, 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.  In the case of Gifts of Peace, we try to reduce poverty as a lack of peace, whereas in the context of the Season of Light we are working 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.

 

• Festive Trends

 

December and End of Autumn 2020 Updates and Trends 

The following updates and trends cover three initiatives: All in Development Winter e-Discussion, Gifts of Peace and Community Value Chains.

 

• • All in Development Winter e-Discussion: Volunteering in the Post-coronavirus and Post-exit Economic Era

 

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.   So far, the items e-discussed are the following:

The state of volunteering 2020 within CENFACS

The 2021 volunteering budget

Quantitative effects or legacies of COVID-19 disturbance and exited economy on our volunteering action

Forecast about volunteering opportunities for the next year

To e-discuss volunteers’ matters relating to Volunteering in 2021, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• • Gifts of Peace

 

Our Wintry fundraising appeal, known as Gifts of Peace, has now been launched and is trending over this Season’s Reliefs.  It is run in parallel with our Autumn 2020 Humanitarian Relief Appeal which is due to officially close by this coming weekend.

For those who could not support our Autumn fundraising appeal, they can still support and their donation will be welcome, although this appeal is not live on this website. 

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/

 

 

• • Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community –

CENFACS as a Community with Poverty Reduction Mission, which is the Closing Act of the 2020 Year, is being prepared and trended. 

 

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

 

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.

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. 

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 Relief and 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 coronavirus disturbance, they could be all the little initiatives one has taken to care each other in order to stay safe and healthy. 

 

• • • In focus for CVC 2020 Celebration/Sharing:

CENFACS as a Community with Poverty Reduction Mission (or the Closing Act of the “Mission” Year)

 

This celebratory theme for CVC’s 11th Celebration of CENFACS as a Community with Poverty Reduction Mission is the Closing Act of the “MissionYear and Project.  However, we will not call it celebration 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.

It will be a virtual sharing of how the 2020 went on in everybody’s life in terms of the positive takeaway from it in order to build better in 2021.  In this virtual sharing, the positive experience of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns will be welcome. 

We want our community ends the 2020 on a positive note or sharing despite the ups and downs of this end year, especially with the disturbance that the coronavirus pandemic has caused and is continuing to cause on many of us.

 

• • • 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 en-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 sharing project, please reply by the 23rd of December 2020 so as to ease the end-of-year 2020 celebration/sharing and the start-of-year 2021 preparatory activities, projects and programmes.

For further details about this Closing Act of the “MissionYear and Project as well as the previous Acts of 2020 as a “M” Year, please contact CENFACS

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

As part of the closure of 2020 and preparation of 2021, 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 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 of this year starting from tomorrow are those of the last legacy of the Year 2020 as a “M” Year at CENFACS.  To mark the end of and the Closing Act of our “M” Year and Campaign, we are appealing to you to support of CENFACS’ year 2020 through a “Mission” (“M”) 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 “M” 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?

The “M” Gift represents the 12 Acts about poverty relief and bond with poor people, especially during this challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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, the Gifts of Peace will enable to re-conquer the lost peace and get new form of peace from the COVID-19 led poverty.

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 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 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

 

As 2020 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. 

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.

 

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 2020 and will do in the coming year and decade.

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

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Poverty Reduction Goals Project, Goal No. 1: Reduction of Income Poverty and of Poverty in Earning Capacity

How to remove obstacles blocking people’s efforts to escape from income poverty

 

Our help for income generation by poor people to make ends meet continues this week.  We have brought in the first goal of our 2020s Poverty Reduction Goals, which is the Reduction of Income Poverty and of Poverty (or weaknesses) in Earning Capacity.

Income poverty is just an iceberg of the all spectrum of the income problems that many poor people face.  Income may not be enough to meet poor people’s needs because people’s earning capacity may be limited or they may be experiencing the lack of opportunities. 

In those circumstances, our help for income generation is about working together with them so that they can improve or create new capacity to boost the earning potentials as well as explore any windows of opportunities for income generation.  It is about working with them so that they can find ways of removing obstacles blocking their efforts to escape from income poverty.  This help will enable them to mitigate the spending challenge they face on their daily life.  

To make more understandable what we are arguing about, let us explain income poverty, essential income and the kind of work that CENFACS can do with income poor people.

 

• • What is income poverty?

 

There are many money metric measures of poverty or definitions (both in relative and absolute terms) of income poverty.  Most of them revolve around the statistical notions of average or median of standards of living.

For example, the European countries use a line at 60% of the median of standards of living in order to measure poverty in relative terms or approach.  Likewise, the UK Government provides a yearly survey of income poverty in the UK known as Households Below Average Income.  From this provision, a household is absolute poor if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median as it stood in 2011.

Besides the above ways of approaching income poverty, we can add the following online generative definition from Development Initiatives (1):

“A person (or household) is considered poor if the person’s (or household’s) income cannot acquire the basket of goods and services used to define a threshold for poverty.  The monetary value of the basket is poverty line and the population of people and households whose incomes are below this line, is then derived through a head count”.

 

• • Essential income

 

As we are in the time of the coronavirus pandemic and essential economy, we would frame our definition of income poverty around essential income.  Essential income is needed to reduce income poverty.  It is the level of income that enables to meet essentials to live as human beings in a dignified way.

 

• • Removing obstacles blocking efforts to reduce income poverty

 

Through Goal No. 1 of our Poverty Reduction Goals Project, we are trying to advocate and work with income poor people to reduce deprivations that exacerbate income poverty.  These deprivations can include: lack of access to basic infrastructure, education, health services, etc.  In doing so, they can break the poverty circle and progressively come out it.  This is a long process that may take the all life of our Poverty Reduction Goals Project.

We shall come back from time to time to the Goal No. 1 during the life time of the 2020s Poverty Reduction Goals and Development AgendaIn meantime, if anyone has any issue regarding this Goal No. 1, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

(1) https://devinit.org/wp-contents/uploads/2016/07/definitions-and-measures-of-poverty.pdf

 

 

 

 

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

 

Our advisory service on leads for 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 exceptional time of the coronavirus pandemic which itself considerably restricts the scope for generating 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 under the COVID-19 constraint.  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 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.

  

 

• All year round Projects (or Triple Value Initiatives): 2020 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 2020, it is now the time to report on our three All-year Round Projects – which are PlayRun and Vote

We know that this 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 2020: Tell it!

 

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

… Run if you ran for poverty relief over the year 2020 (or organised a Run activity)

… Play if you played the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

… Vote if you have already voted your 2020 African Poverty Relief and Development Manager.

 

We would be more than happier to hear your Action and Results to feature and conclude CENFACS 2020 Year as “Mission” YearTell it!

 

• • What or who we want to hear

 

We would like to hear from you about one of the following Three Bests of the Pandemic Year:

 

√ The Best African Country of 2020 which best reduced poverty

√ The Best African Global Games Runner of 2020

√ The Best African Poverty Relief and Development Manager of 2020

 

If you have not yet told us, have your say by 23 December 2020!  The Verdict is yours!

 

 

Main Development

 

The Lights Season: Starts 21 December 2020

 

The Lights Season at CENFACS kicks off with the theme of Hope as said above.  We are going to deliver this Hope with Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring and Post-exit Economic Development Projects

The 2020-2021 Season of Light is about how we can implement structural changes to deal with poverty and any new COVID-19 waves since new COVID-19 vaccines have already been given to people and the new COVID-19 vaccination campaign is under way. 

The 2020-2021 Season of Light is also a transitional period since the UK will theoretically cease from the 31 December 2021 to apply the EU trade rules.  This situation requires Hope to manage the post-exit economy and trade rules since our action depends as well on the health of the UK economy and its trade ties with others.

The two developments (post-coronavirus and post-exit economy) will shape our 2020-2021 Season of Light.  In the light of these events, CENFACS will approach 2021 with a set of post-projects, which are:  Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Projects and Post-exit Economic Development Projects.  We started this approach a few years ago with Post-exit Economic Development Projects since the process of exiting economy began.  Next year, we will deepen our action on this approach. 

So, we will be developing Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Projects and Post-exit Economic Development Projects to help reduce post-coronavirus poverty and post-exit economic hardships.

  

• • 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 is made of notes or pieces of restructuring and economic development.   In this sense that we shall bring a glimmer of hope through restructuring and economic development over this Wintry season.

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 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. 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 2020-2021, 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

 

• • • A gift of light that helps people to find 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 we 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.

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 made 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 2020, we have 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 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 Djibouti, 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

The selection will help to start our Light advocacy.   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 restrictions on travel and free movements.  For those who can support Light project, we can count on them to move forward this advocacy.  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 in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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The 12th Act: Help for Income Generation

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

09 December 2020

 

Post No. 173

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• “Mission” Year / Project – The 12th Act: Help for Income Generation

• Income Deficit Reduction as Festive Activity

• Poverty Reduction Goals Project, Goal No. 5: Reduction of Intergenerational Poverty

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• “Mission” Year / Project – The 12th Act: Help for Income Generation

Working with Poor People to Make Little Extra Income

 

The last Act of our “Mission” Year / Project is about conducting a specific task to work with and help poor people to generate little extra income to enable them tackle poverty, particularly coronavirus-induced poverty.  This task is highly needed at this testing time of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Many income poor people are facing enormous financial and economic difficulties to cope with the financial pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.  To conclude our “Mission” Year, we thought it will be a deserving task to work with them so that they can find their way out income poverty and constraint.

The details of this 12th Act together with the previous Acts of the “Mission” Year / Project can be found in the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

 

• Income Deficit Reduction as Festive Activity

 

In the context of Income Deficit Reduction and How Not to Carry Forward an Income Deficit in 2021, we have planned to have two types of activities: activities to increase income and those to reduce spending.  In real world, these two activities can be conducted at the same time.  This is the basic principle to avoid and reduce income deficit.

As far as the increase of income is concerned, this could be difficult to achieve for many income deficit households and families at this challenging time of the coronavirus disturbance since many opportunities and capacities to earn some extra income have been threatened or simply destroyed.  However, our work on the matter is not only for now.  It is also for the future.

Concerning the reduction of spending, one must recognise that those on income below the international poverty line of let say US $3.20 a day may find extremely difficult to cut expenses.  However, we can still work with them on the possible best way of reprioritising their expenses in order to avoid a strong negative impact and any other cumulative damaging effects from their spending cuts. 

In these two activities, the aim is to reduce intergenerational poverty by not carrying forward income deficit in the next year.  This is because often carrying forward yearly income deficits can result in the future in cumulative deficit which can be translated in further poverty and hardships.  In simple mathematical terms, the sum of many years of income deficits could become equals to intergenerational poverty.

For those who are interested in these festive activities for income deficit reduction, they can contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Poverty Reduction Goals Project, Goal No. 5: Reduction of Intergenerational Poverty

 

Since we are dealing with Income Deficit particularly How Not to Carry Forward an Income Deficit in 2021, we have included the 5th Goal (that is, Reduction of Intergenerational Poverty) of our Poverty Reduction Goals Project.    Not carrying forward income deficit is in itself not transmitting poverty if one refers to income poor families or households.

Through this Goal No. 5, we are dealing with the intergenerational transmission of poverty.  To do that, we are going to undertake some basic generational economics which explains us how resources are being allocated between different generations at a point in time and analyses how this is done.  In this respect, we are going to include economic theories of the family as explained by Ronald D. Lee and Andrew Mason (1) in their article entitled ‘Generational Economics in a Changing World’.

In this inclusion, we are involving economic resources model of the intergenerational transmission of poverty.  In particular, we are referring to Kate Bird (2) who explains the five models or theories of intergenerational transmission of poverty in the United States, which are: economic resources, family structure, correlated disadvantages, welfare culture and social isolation. 

She refers to Becker and argues about the allocation of limited resources between current consumption and investment in children’s schooling.  She says that poor parents are on constant state of economic crisis and must concentrate on survival.  

 

    

Through Goal No. 5, we are going to raise awareness about inter-generationally-transmitted poverty from poor families and parents to their children and grant children since many of those in need may not be aware of this fact.  Part of this awareness work will be on investing and developing children’s human capital or earnings potential.

This awareness raising work on intergenerational poverty this festive time is just the beginning of the implementation of the Goal No.5 of CENFACS 2020s Poverty Reduction Goals.  In other words, we shall continue this work in the life of these Goals since intergenerational poverty takes many generations to be eradicated. 

For further discussions about Goal No. 5 relating to the reduction of intergenerational poverty, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion: Volunteering in the Post-coronavirus and Post-exit Economic Era

 

• • Volunteering in the Post-coronavirus and Post-exit Economic Era 

 

As the 2020 will come soon to an end at the end of this year, we need to start thinking about our voluntary work in the light of the coronavirus pandemic legacies.  We have started from 05 December 2020 to think of it since CENFACS is a volunteering-involved and based organisation, meaning that CENFACS relies much 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 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 moving towards a post-coronavirus and post-exit economic era. 

Indeed, the scale of the health and economic damages caused by the coronavirus disaster is enormous and will be still felt even after the coronavirus vaccine becomes effective and operational.  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 this damage 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 yet to come.  The cost of changing economic ties with the EU may require 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 (especially those relating to post-exit economy) and 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 the following:

(a) The effects of COVID-19 legacies and exited economy on our voluntary work

(b) The volunteering opportunities in the post-coronavirus and post-exit economic era

(c) Rethinking volunteers’ roles, tasks and activities in the light of these events and poverty relief and sustainable development architectures (For example: What the messages and signals of international calendars of events and forecasts or outlooks published by other organisations are sending to us in terms of poverty relief and sustainable development)

(d) The needs of users in 2021: (How can we anticipate them, plan and develop services and activities to meet them?  What the evidence and data especially the big data are telling us)

(e) The 2021 volunteering budget and other resources

Etc.

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 Volunteering in the Post-coronavirus and Post-exit Economic Era, please contact CENFACS.

 

• • 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, who may be 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

√ Digital and media support to better volunteer for a climate-friendly   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 better world

Etc.

To e-discuss Volunteering in the Post-coronavirus and Post-exit Economic Era, please contact CENFACS or just forward your comments, views and experiences to us.

 

 

 

• Autumn 2020 Humanitarian Relief Appeal: Only 1 week and half remaining

 

Our Autumn 2020 Humanitarian Relief Appeal will end soon.  You can support poor people, flora, fauna, communities and organisations in Africa before the official end of Autumn 2020.  Your support can make data change their lives.

CENFACS is appealing to you to donate £2 to create 2 benefits (1 for humans and 1 for the other living beings) as you wish to achieve one last benefit or relief.

To support and or enquire about this appeal, please go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

 

 

• African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Poverty Reduction

 

As African countries continue to ratify the AfCFTA agreement which is scheduled to start trading on the 1st of January 2021, CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum is discussing the future implications of the implementation of this agreement on poverty reduction in Africa. 

 

• • What is the AfCFTA?

 

In simple terms, the AfCFTA is free trade area created by the AfCFTA agreement amongst 54 of the 55 African Union nations.  It is a single continent-wide market for goods and services as well as to promote the movement of capital and natural persons.  It is about deepening continental integration through trade.

More on this agreement can be found online and on the Africa Union website at https://au.int/

 

• • What are the discussions on the AfCFTA within CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum about?

 

It is expected that the AfCFTA will boost intra-african trade.   Amongst the benefits to be considered from Africa’s continental trade integration are: job creation, promotion of industrialisation, competitiveness, improvement in the regional value chains, etc.  These anticipated benefits derive from the general theory of regional economic integration. 

However, will all these trade creating advantages result in poverty reduction across Africa?  Let take for example job creation.  Will jobs to be created as a result of AfCFTA go to the poor or divert to the well-off or go to both of them?  This is because poverty reduction is more than just about trading together.  It is possible to trade together without reducing poverty; just as trade can lead to poverty reduction or poverty increase.  It all depends on the trading conditions and environment.  In other words, trade more and together may not be enough to reduce poverty.  There must be perhaps a safeguard or conditional trade; that is trade to reduce poverty.

The above are the exchanges of ideas about the impacts of the AfCFTA on poverty reduction in Africa.  There are about answering questions about the relationships between continental trade integration and poverty reduction; questions such as:

√ Do the expected trade creation advantages result in poverty reduction outcomes?

√ Meeting the needs of consumer goods as a result of the implementation this agreement will it lead to the eradication of poverty in the African continent and if so by how much?

√ What are the provisions inside the AfCFTA for poverty reduction and the poor?

√ Would a fully functioning AfCFTA better address the coronavirus-induced poverty?

√ Will the implementation of this agreement be to simply give a further opportunity to multinational corporations to freely move across the African continent in search of lucrative advantages and deals but at the expense of poverty reduction or will African nations better protect their national and natural resources from uncontrolled exploitation at the expense of ordinary people?

√ Do really poor African people have any stake in this agreement, if not how can the agreement be made poor people-friendly in its imlementation?

The above are the few questions we are discussing about the AfCFTA.  There could be many.

You can tell CENFACS’ be.Africa Forum what you think.

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

“Mission” Year / Project – The 12th Act: Help for Income Generation

Working with Poor People to Make Little Extra Income

 

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

 

• • What is a “Mission” Year?

 

CENFACS “Mission” Year is a coordinated plan by CENFACS to provide what is needed and necessary to support any efforts of poverty reduction.

CENFACS “Mission” Year is a sequence of tasks and activities undertaken as monthly operations in order to deliver the year 2020 dedication.

It is finally a specific task of the year or way of putting into practice poverty reduction.

 

• • CENFACS “Mission” Year as a Project

 

CENFACS “Mission” Year has all the attributes or components of a project which are: aim, objectives, activities, inputs and outputs, monitoring and evaluation, review and performance.

 

• • CENFACS “Mission” Year and Community Value Chains

 

CENFACS “Mission” Year (CMY) can be associated with CENFACS Community Value Chains (CCVCs).  CCVCs is a community value control, inspirational and motivational project of end-of- year celebration introduced by CENFACS in 2009.  It is the Closing Act of the year before we move to the next year.  The theme for this year’s celebration is: CENFACS as a Community with Poverty Reduction Mission.  As some of you can notice, this theme is inextricably linked to CENFACS “Mission” Year of Poverty Reduction.  This link is via poverty reduction which can be found in both CMY and CCVCs.

 

• • CENFACS “Mission” Year as part of CENFACS Mission Statement

 

As an essential component or product or service to our desirable outcome, it connects us to CENFACS Mission Statement which is:

TO ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR AFRICANS IN AFRICA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.

In doing what is needed and necessary to support any efforts of poverty reduction, we are trying to enhance the wellbeing and quality of life for Africans in Africa and the UK.

 

• • The 11 Acts performed so far of CENFACS “Mission” Year as a Project

 

Since we started the delivery of CENFACS “Mission” Year as a Project, the following eleven activities have been conducted so far:

Act 1: Reduction of negative wasteful and unneeded consumption

Act 2: Preservation of healthy relationships between sustainability and poverty reduction

Act 3: Taking action against adverse impacts of climate change that create or increase poverty

Act 4: Protection of poor people and communities against the coronavirus-induced poverty

Act 5: Telling the story of poverty reduction achievement for those in need of inspiration and motivation

Act 6: Production of poverty-relieving creations and innovations to reduce sanitation poverty like the coronavirus-induced poverty

Act 7: Tracking priorities, tasks and deliverables of our CENFACS “Mission” Year as a Project

Act 8: Conducting Mission Activities about social distancing running and online searches

Act 9: Helping beneficiaries to access life-protecting and –saving advice service and activities

Act 10: Learning the history of poverty reduction and sustainable development in Africa

Act 11: Enabling skills development and maintenance in the fight against poverty and COVID-19

More details about the above Acts can be requested from CENFACS.

 

• • The 12th Act: Helping Poor People to Generate Little Extra Income

 

As it stands, Act 12 helps poor people to generate little extra income in order to overcome income poverty.  In doing so, this Act …

√ Addresses the root causes of poverty in all its dimensions

√ Helps poor people to get basic needs

√ Ensures poor people to have access to productive resources

√ Promotes people-centred approach to poverty eradication

√ Facilitates the productive use of an asset for income generation

All these elements contribute to the increase of income for multi-dimensionally 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 “Mission” Year and Project as well as the 12th Act, please do not hesitate to contact us.

________

References

 

(1) Ronald D. Lee and Andrew Mason, Generational Economics in a Changing World at https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3143474/ (accessed December 2020)

(2) Kate Bird (2007), The Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty: An Overview, Overseas Development Institute, UK at k.bird@odi.org.uk (accessed December 2020)

________

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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What’s on in December 2020: Festive Guide!

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

02 December 2020

 

Post No. 172

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• What’s on in December 2020: Festive Guide!

Festive Shopping and Donations after Lockdown 2

• Festive Income Boost, In Focus for 2020 Edition: Income Deficit – How Not to Carry Forward an Income Deficit in 2021

 

… and much, much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• What’s on in December 2020: Festive Guide!

 

To keep the festive month and season interesting as well as with healthcare against the spread 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 2020 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 for 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 and healthy 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 health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. 

=> They can facilitate the creation of a new life in the New Year and the post-coronavirus development world.

The following are the selected December 2020 initiatives or Season’s Reliefs:

Festive Income Builder, Booster & Calculator, In Focus for 2020: Income Deficit – How Not to Carry Forward an Income Deficit in 2021

Community Value Chains: CENFACS as a Community with a Poverty Reduction Mission

Post-coronavirus Volunteering

Advocates against Sanitation Poverty and Unsustainable Ecology

Thanking 2020 Year Makers & Enablers

Gifts of Peace (Edition 2020/2021)

Run, Vote & Play for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development (Action-Results 2020)

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 GuideThis 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/After Lockdown 2

 

• • CENFACS Charity e-Store Reopen!

 

CENFACS Charity e-Shop is now reopened for both online purchase and goods donations.

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.

We have enhanced our sanitation and cleaning methods and practices as well as we have updated them following the latest information relating to the three-tiered system.

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

Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic.  Those who managed to survive, they need help.  We need help to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic and associated prolong effects.

To 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 happiness to those who do not have. 

We understand that many people including our supporters have been seriously affected by 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 difficult time for everybody.    

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 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 health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

 

 

• Festive Income Boost, In Focus for 2020 Edition: Income Deficit – How Not to Carry Forward an Income Deficit in 2021

 

The 2020 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 2020. 

This year, our focus is on Income Deficit; that is on ways of Not Carrying Forward Income Deficit into 2021.  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 turbulent time of the coronavirus three-tiered system, 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 mailing details.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Advocates against Sanitation Poverty and Unsustainable Ecology

 

The Advocates against Sanitation Poverty and Unsustainable Ecology, which is an environmentally friendly health project, extends our work on sanitation poverty.  It does it with a particular emphasis on sanitation poverty and unsustainable ecological externalities within the mining sector. 

Through the Advocates against Sanitation Poverty and Unsustainable Ecology, we are taking stock of the issues discussed in the 67th Issue of FACS, which consisted in Extractive Mining Activities, Ecology, Sanitation and Poverty Reduction in Africa in the Era of COVID-19.  The 67th Issue provides us some pointers about how Africa-based Sister Organisations can bring extractive activities in line with poverty reduction and ecological sustainability.

 

• • Who are these advocates?

 

They are the Africa-based Sister Organisations and anyone who can hold to account the extractive activities in Africa for the sake of improved sanitation and sustainable ecology.

 

• • What are these advocates asking in order to reduce sanitation poverty and unsustainable ecology induced by mining activities?

 

They want…

√ The stepping up of the holding to account extractive activities with negative externalities

√ Concrete action taken against environmental degradation linked to mining activities

√ The increase in the share of value added from extractive mining activities to the reduction of poverty

√ Mining codes to be designed to meet the needs of the reduction of poverty and environmental degradation

√ Ecological improvement and progress in hygiene in Africa in the age of COVID-19

 

The above is just a highlight of what the Advocates against Sanitation Poverty and Unsustainable Ecology are asking for to reduce sanitation poverty and unsustainable ecology. 

As far as CENFACS is concerned, we shall continue to support their action and advocate along with them so that improved sanitation and sustainable ecology continue to on top of the agenda in the post-pandemic development time.

As we move into 2021, one can hope that health insecurity and sanitation poverty in the mining fields will be taken seriously.  

For those who would like to add their voices to this advocacy for the relief of sanitation poverty and unsustainable ecology, they are welcome to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign – In Focus on 30/11/2020: Impact Monitoring and Evaluation

 

Although we finished to compose the seven notes or themed activities of the A la uneCampaign during our 7-week campaign, this campaign for the Upkeep of the Nature does not stop with these notes. 

We are now carrying on with the collection and analysis of information regarding this 7-week campaign in order to get its impact.  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 aboutA la uneCampaign, 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. 

You can share your feelings and thoughts with us by:

√ Phoning

√ Texting

√ E-mailing

√ Completing the contact form with your feelings and thoughts

When you are 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 uneCampaign.

 

 

• The Month of Economics of Education and Skill Formation (Skills Development Month): What have we learnt and what can we develop from it?

 

The Skills Development Month is now closed.  Through this month, we focussed on the following: health and economic protection skills; financial and economic skills; survival, coping and transition skills; and income-making and –saving 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 for the post-pandemic and post-exited economic development worlds.

In this exercise, those who have been following the running of the Skills Development Month with us can as well add their inputs to our learning and development experience so that we can know the skills gap that need to be filled up in 2021 and beyond.

To add your input to our learning and development exercise, just contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Development

 

What’s on in December 2020: 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:

(1) 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.

(2) 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 2020 programme and planned to be delivered over the month of December 2020.

 

• • • 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 experiencing the economic and health effects of the coronavirus pandemic, 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.  Because of this collective challenge, we are going to make sure that our appeal reflects the circumstances of the coronavirus time.

For more information about this Wintry appeal, 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 31st 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.

 

 

• • 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.

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 2020 will be mostly about Income Deficit Reduction as we highlighted in this year Edition of Festive Income Boost, rather than Income Generation.  This is due to the prolong health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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 support.  Many of them have become further income deficit.  To help them not to carry forward income deficit on their accounts in 2021, we will be working with them during the festive season to balance their household books.

So, supporting multi-dimensional poor C, YP & Fs to explore ways of reducing income deficit, 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 income 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 income deficit as well as generate enough income to cover their needs.  

As part of festive support, our Edition 2020 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 income deficit while finding ways of boosting their income and generational economy. 

This year, this resource focuses on Ways of Not to Carry Forward Income Deficit in 2021 as the means to overcome intergenerational income poverty and improve intergenerational transfer accounts.

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

=> 02 to 08/12/2020: Income Deficit Reduction Programmes (IDRP) Period

During the IDRP period, we will be working on how income deficit people and families can set up a series of structured activities or small projects to reduce income deficit and where possible to generate little extra income in order to reduce poverty.

=> 09 to 15/12/2019: Income Deficit Reduction Schemes (IDRS) Period

During the IDRS period, we will be working on how income deficit people and families can find available systematic plans of future action to reduce income deficit 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 can develop their own individual working IDRP and IDRS plans or policies to reduce income deficit 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 2020

√ Vote your African Poverty Relief and Development Manager of the Year 2020

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 bests of 2020 (Best Country, Best Runner and Best Manager). 

As these activities have been organised within the difficult contexts of coronavirus pandemic which has taken almost one year, we can count on them to tell us their Winner of CENFACS Virtual Trophy of the 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 health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in our last humanitarian appeal or fundraising campaign of 2020.

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 coronavirus pandemic and 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 2020/2021 of Gifts of Peace, please contact CENFACS.

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 a Poverty Reduction MissionIt will be about repurposing poverty reduction in face of the health and economic threats brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

To carry the CENFACS Community into the New Year, our discussion on Sustainable Volunteering is scheduled to take place from 05 December 2020 to 05 January 2021.  The discussion theme for this year is Post-Coronavirus Volunteering

To take the other two domains (International and Fund) of CENFACS into 2021 and engage with stakeholders, we shall develop projects and programmes with contents of Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring and Post-Exited Economy.

For any enquiries or to support CENFACS in the month of December 2020 and in the New Year, contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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Health Economics for the Poor

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

25 November 2020

 

Post No. 171

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Health Economics for the Poor (Sanitation Poverty-relieving Project)

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 7 – In Focus for Week Beginning 23/11/2020: Finance for Ecology

• Skills to Cope with Financial and Economic Pressure from COVID-19 and Lockdowns – Skills Focus from Wednesday 25/11/2020: Income-Making and –Saving Skills

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Health Economics for the Poor (Sanitation Poverty-relieving Project)

 

The Project of Sanitation Relief or Health Economics for the Poor, which is part of CENFACS’ Autumn Starting XI Projects, is designed to help improve the cost-effectiveness of healthcare provision to the poor in terms of positive health outcomes at the level of organisations that implement this project. 

This project reflects the circumstances of the time of the coronavirus pandemic.  As the various components of this project will show below, the project seeks to address sanitation poverty not only now, but also in the post-pandemic period. 

Sanitation itself is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal targets (1).  Particularly, Goal 3 target relates to the access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all; and Goal 6 target refers to access to basic sanitation services such as toilets or latrines. 

Additionally, the coronavirus pandemic has made the problem of sanitation to resurface and be at the centre of health and economic development debate and policy making.  To deal with it and following the demand from our Africa-based Sister Organisations, we have developed this project.

Under the Main Development section of the post, you will find more details about this project.

 

 

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 7 – In Focus for Week Beginning 23/11/2020: Finance for Ecology

 

Finance for Ecology includes what the banks, other financial institutions, investors and actors can do to drive forward the agenda on the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures.  In this drive, financial markets and instruments are also part of the game.

At practical level of the “A la une” Campaign, this Note No. 7 is about what all the above players did and will continue to do to support the restoration conducted by African Organisations, amongst them are CENFACS’ Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs).  This simply means that CENFACS working together with ASOs can continue the organised series of environmental actions under the “A la une” Campaign to gain support for substantial financial resources to be directed or redirected towards the goal of restoration of ecosystem infrastructures in Africa.

It is true that at this challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic, health and economy are the top of priorities.  However, our action on finance to restore the ecosystem infrastructures is not only for this week or now.  It is for the post-coronavirus poverty relief and sustainable development.  In other words, the financial needs to improve the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures will still remain amongst other priorities of the future.

Briefly, undertaking action to finance the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures is relevant now during the coronavirus pandemic time as it will be in the post-coronavirus sustainable development world.  

To support this Note No. 7 and action on the Finance for Ecology, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Skills to Cope with Financial and Economic Pressure from COVID-19 and Lockdowns – Skills Focus from Wednesday 25/11/2020: Income-Making and –Saving Skills

 

Our month of Economics of Education and Skill Formation (or Skills Development) is still on course with attention devoted on Income-Making and –Saving Skills this week.  Let us look at these skills.

 

• • Income-Making Skills

 

Income-making skills are productive capacities that can be turned or converted into an actionable marketable product.  There are lots of skills related to income making (e.g. CV writing, knitting, soap making, making of face coverings against the coronavirus pandemic, etc.).

Of particular importance amongst the skills to make or increase your income is the skill to follow income or financial news and information that may benefit you.  This is because sometimes there is support for those on low income, but some of them may not know this support exists for them, especially at this difficult time of the coronavirus and lockdown in which every of these people is literally looking for financial support to make ends meet.

Challengingly, at this time we are mostly interested in income-making skills that help to break through the double constraint of COVID-19 and lockdowns.  There are many sources of information on internet that give many ways or skills that one can use to make income in order to cope with financial and economic pressure from COVID-19 and lockdowns.

 

• • Income-Saving Skills

 

These are the capacities to set income aside for future use.  One can put aside other items than just money.  One can save on foods, drinks and other household items. 

At this time of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, income-saving skills could be crucial since no one knows when the battle against the coronavirus will be over.  Therefore, the capacity to save on any income to meet basic life-sustaining needs is vital. 

Like for income-making, there are a lot of online and print resources that provide ways of saving income in normal and exceptional time of the coronavirus pandemic.  These resources are easily accessible for everyone.  For those who are having some problems in accessing them, CENFACS can still assist them.

For any queries and or enquiries about this week’s Skills Focus, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Integrating Climate Advocacy and Nature Campaign

 

The 26th Session of the Conference to the Parties (CO26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was expected to take place from 9 to 20 November 2020 at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow.   Although these United Nations climate talks have been postponed for next year, this postponement does not mean we should not continue our process of advocating better climate deals for children.

Our Climate Advocacy under the Project Climate Talks Follow-up and sub-project “Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3” will carry on.  As part of this continuation, we are integrating our Climate Advocacy and our Nature Campaign.  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 looking at if there are some synergies between the two (climate advocacy and nature campaign).  Using an integrative 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 uneCampaign, we are analysing if there is any link between the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures on the one hand and climate protection and stake for those in need on the other.  In other words, we are searching on the idea that the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures should not happen at the expense of the need for climate protection and stake for children and generations to come.

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

 

 

• 4-week Lockdown 2 Programme: Coronavirus Support Finder

 

Our Four-Weeks-Lockdown-Two Programme is still on course this November 2020.  As part of this short programme, we are offering to the community a basic autumnal service to find support to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

We have noticed that many people have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.  Some of them know where to get support whereas others do not know or simply they are not aware of existing support.  There are those who are accessing the different types of support available now on the market to resolve their problems.  There are also those who are still waiting for the end of lockdown in order to address the problems they have. 

Through the Coronavirus Support Finder, which is part of this programme and our advice services, it is possible to work with those who would like to take action now to deal with their problems.  The Coronavirus Support Finder will help them get or be directed to the right support they need at this challenging time.  Also, this support is jointly giving with our Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Need to find what types of support available for the problem you are experienced in relation to COVID-19, please do not hesitate to CENFACS.   

 

• CENFACS’ Health Dashboard

 

CENFACS’ Health Dashboard, which has been updated on the 25/11/2020, is a graphical user interface giving CENFACS’ performance in terms of projects, services, activities, events and enquiries during this time of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

As far as projects and services are concerned, they are running at reduced capacity and pace as we are complying with travel restrictions and we are not meeting beneficiaries physically.  Also, many of our Africa-based Sister Organisations are experiencing disruption about their activities on the grounds during this challenging time.

As for events, we are not holding any internal physical events, just as we are not attending any external physical events.  We only respond to events held virtually or remotely or even online.

It is important to stress that at this difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic, many of our users need advice.   Our advice is fully functioning, especially in matters relating to the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.  If anyone needs advice, they can access our advice services via phone, text, e-mail and contact form.

For any other queries or enquiries about this dashboard, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.  

 

 

 

Main Development

 

Health Economics for the Poor (Sanitation Poverty-relieving Project)

 

Before giving you the idea of the components of this project, let us check some facts about sanitation in Africa.  We are going to do it through what is said about the state of sanitation in Africa.

 

• • What is said about sanitation in Africa?

 

• • • The State of Sanitation in Africa

 

The United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organisation (2) argue the following:

“An estimated 213 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school in which there is no sanitation facility at all” (p. 43)

“Analysis of data from rural schools in 12 Sub-Saharan African countries revealed that many school toilets did not meet criteria for accessibility, quality or acceptability” (p. 44)

“In the Sub-Saharan African countries with data, 29 per cent of health care facilities had no sanitation service” (p. 47)

The African organisations with whom CENFACS deals are operating in Africa where the above sanitation estimations and data analysis apply.  One can assume that the project beneficiaries of these organisations are also included in these data. 

 

• • • What are Africa-based Organisations arguing about sanitation?

 

Many organisations that CENFACS deal with have acknowledged the issue relating to the lack of safe sanitation facilities in places where they work, especially in rural poor areas where sanitation facilities are sometimes perceived as a luxury.  They have also pointed out the problem of safe drinking water and hygiene.   In this respect, the coronavirus crisis has just exposed what was already known to many Africans for many years.

These data and the testimonials from our Africa-based Sister Organisations working on the grounds have helped us to plan and develop the basic elements that define Health Economics for the Poor (Sanitation Poverty-relieving Project) .

 

• • Basic components of Health Economics for the Poor

 

The following are the key highlights of the Health Economics for the Poor.

 

• • • Project Aim

 

The Health Economic for the Poor (Sanitation Poverty-relieving Project) is a sanitation poverty-relieving initiative that addresses a set of sanitation and hygiene deprivations that may affect poor people or households in the areas of Africa where CENFACS operates. 

As sanitation cannot be tackled without including water and hygiene, the project will have a multi-dimensional perspective.  In other words, the project will consider various elements contributing to sanitation poverty such as lack of access to basic water and hygienic services.

Through this project, CENFACS hopes to work with local people and organisations in Africa to help reduce the lack of standards in health and preserve healthy life and well-being while empowering them to control the spread of infectious diseases such as the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

• • • Objectives

 

The Sanitation Project, which uses the contents and tenets of the Human Right to Sanitation as an approach, has the following key objectives:

√ Tackle multi-dimensional sanitation poverty at people and local levels

√ Reduce the lack of access to an improved sanitation

√ Cut down the health impacts of poor sanitation such as stunting

√ Protect poor people’s essential economy

√ Promote good health amongst local people

√ Prevent the spread of diseases (such as COVID-19 and other ones)

√ Protect the environment from waste disposal

The above are the statements about how the project aim will be achieved.  These objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based.

 

• • • Beneficiaries

 

Generally, the beneficiaries of this project will be the local people making the community that our Africa-based Sister Organisations are working with. 

Specifically, the project will benefit local people without access to improved sanitation facilities (e.g. flush/pour flush latrine), to safe sanitation, to basic hand washing facilities, etc.

 

• • • Activities

 

Under the full project proposals, a number of activities have been planned for a successful implementation of the project.  Amongst these activities are: awareness sanitation campaign, workshop sessions on sanitation, training on sanitation and hygiene, etc.

 

• • • Project average capital cost per beneficiary

 

It is estimated that the average capital cost per beneficiary to gain access to safely managed sanitation is US$28 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project will use this average cost as an indicator for project fundraising and implementation purposes.  Therefore, we would like to ask to any potential supporter or donor who are willing to donate or support otherwise to have this cost in their mind.

 

• • • Impact monitoring and evaluation

 

As part of impact monitoring, there will be routine gathering of information on all aspects of the project.  In other words, we will systematically collect and analyse information to keep regular checks and balances on the project.

Likewise, we shall assess what the project will achieve in relation to the overall objectives it was set up.  This is to say that evaluation will be conducted regarding the efforts spent on this project to find out whether or not these efforts are value for relief from sanitation and hygiene deprivations.

In proceeding in this manner, we will be able to measure the impact or at least the outcomes from this project.

 

• • • Outcomes

 

The following are the expected measurable positive health changes or indicators that may be achieved from this project:

√ Increase in the number of sanitation facilities

√ Improvement of sanitary conditions amongst local people

√ Raising of the quantity and quality of hand-washing facilities and soaps

√ Boost in the number of people with improved sanitation facilities

√ Enhancement of safety and security of hygienic facilities

√ Reduction of the number of ill persons due to poor sanitation

√ Amelioration of water and hygienic services as indirect effect of this project

√ Progress of project users’ productivity as another indirect effect of this project

Etc.

The full project proposals including budget are available on request.  It is known that this time of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown is a difficult one.  However, for those who may be interested in this project, they should not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

________

 

References

(1) http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2015/09/24/undp-welcomes-adoption-of-sustainable-development-goals-by-world-leaders.html

(2) United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization (2020), State of the World’s Sanitation: An urgent call to transform sanitation for better health, environments, economies and societies. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization, 2020. (State-of-the-world’s-sanitation-2020.pdf)

________

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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Peace Appeal 2020 for the Horn of Africa Region

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

18 November 2020

 

Post No. 170

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Peace Appeal 2020 for the Horn of Africa Region

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign, Note No. 6 – In Focus for Week Beginning 16/11/2020: African Organisations’ Restoration Work on Ecosystem Infrastructures

• The 11th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2020: Coronavirus Talk Bubbles

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Peace Appeal 2020 for the Horn of Africa Region

 

This is an appeal to help stop the Ethiopia’s Tigray Crisis to draw in other countries making the Horn of Africa region and create further poverty and hardships while reversing the hard won 20 years of peace in the same region.

This November 2020 appeal, which is a variation of Light Projects, will introduce us to the Season of Lights, which is due to start in Mid-December.  More explanation about this year’s Light Projects will be provided in due course. 

For further information about the Peace Appeal for the Horn of Africa Region, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign, Note No. 6

– In Focus for Week Beginning 16/11/2020: African Organisations’ Restoration Work on Ecosystem Infrastructures

 

We are continuing ourA la une” Campaign with the ecosystem restoration work carried out by our Africa-based Sister Organisations and other organisations in order to re-establish the structure and function of the nature for the damages caused to natural habitat and ecosystems; damages caused either by environmental events or human made behaviour or both.

Although it is quite difficult to get the exact picture about the damages to the nature in Africa during this turbulent time of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, it is worthwhile finding out how our African partners are doing in restoring the structure and function of the nature to close to its original condition in Africa.  To do that, it is better to highlight the types of restoration they do and give some examples of these organisations.

 

• • Types of restoration work carried out by Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs)

 

There are ASOs that are involved in activities supporting the restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity as well as their infrastructures in Africa.  These ASOs include:

√ Those that are helping in stopping the cutting of trees for timber or charcoal and wild fires

√ Those that are restoring destroyed or degraded rain forests

√ Those that are trying to reverse the impoverishment of soils and arable lands

√ Those that are running projects such as nurseries and reforestation by working on forest landscape restoration

√ Those that are working on water long term security to mitigate water supply and quality issues

Etc.

Some of these organisations, especially those working on forest landscape restoration, are committed to AFR100, which a continental initiative under the Bonn Challenge which seeks to place 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands capes under restoration by 2030.

 

• • Examples of Organisations Working on Restoration of Ecological Infrastructures

 

One of the examples is APAF-Bénin (Association Suisse pour la Promotion des Arbres Fertilitaires de l’Agroforesterie et de la Foresterie).  This is a sister organisation that works on the introduction of fertilizing trees by using natural regeneration techniques.

L’ONG-Centre de Production de Pépinières et de Formation du Togo, which is an organisation that CENFACS dealt with and which produces nurseries and runs training on the matter.

The above is just two examples.  However, there are many organisations that work on similar restoration projects that we have not mentioned here. 

For those who would like to know more about these organisations and their relations with CENFACS, they can contact us.

 

 

• The 11th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2020: Coronavirus Talk Bubbles

 

As we informed you last week, we have changed the formula about the holding of our Development Day for this year.  This is due to the coronavirus pandemic and second lockdown.  To enable those who may be interested in being part of this year’s Development Day, we have put together the following items for them.

 

• • What is a Coronavirus Talk Bubble?

 

The idea of Coronavirus Talk Bubble (CTB) comes from the support bubble.  What is then support bubble?  From the UK government website (1), this is what it says about a support bubble:

“A support bubble is a close support network between a household with only one adult or a household with one adult and one or more people who were under the age of 18 on 12 June 2020 in the home (known as a single-adult household), and one other household of any size.

This is called making a ‘support bubble’.

Once you’re in a support bubble, you can think of yourself as being in a single household with people from the other household. It means you can have close contact with that household as if they were members of your own household.

Once you make a support bubble, you cannot change who is in your bubble.

Continue to follow social distancing guidance with people outside of your household or support bubble. This is critical to keeping you, your family and friends as safe as possible”.

 

• • Forming a CTB

 

From this idea of support bubble, we thought that a household  has women or mothers can follow this model of support bubble and talk about the coronavirus pandemic as we will not hold the Development Day in the way we are used to.  Drawing inspiration from the support bubble, they can form their own CTB.

Everybody knows that discussions about the coronavirus pandemic have transcended all sections and members of society.  Everyone talks about the coronavirus pandemic in the news, at work, at home, in the streets, through the social media platforms, etc.  However, through the CTB the purpose is to formalise or structure these talks in terms of project so that we can together mark CENFACS’ Development Day in different way this year.

 

• • Coronavirus talking-points

 

People can talk about anything that matters to them.  There is no guideline or a suggested model for the points to be made when holding a CTB.  However, where people may run out inspiration, they may think to consider the following points for their discussion: childcare and protection issues, coping and survival strategies, common problems tha women/mothers and children face, recreational activities, work/life balance, health/home economics balance, etc.

 

• • Impact monitoring and evaluation

 

Participants to a CTB can routinely gather information on all aspects of their CTB.  In other words, they can systematically collect and analyse information to keep regular checks on their talks, especially if they choose to meet often after the Development Day

Likewise, they can assess what the CTB has achieved in relation to the overall objectives they set it up.  This is to say that the time spent on talking about coronavirus is value for relief from health and economic pressure from COVID-19.

In proceeding in this manner, they will be able to measure the impact or at least the output from their CTB.

 

• • Learning and development

 

It is a good idea to learn and grow from your CTB.  In this respect, CTB will not only be a meet-up or a talking-shop, but also an opportunity to create a learning culture and development process.  Additionally, this would drive engagement for future talks to deal with the life-threatening and destroying impacts of the coronavirus pandemic or any other disaster or threat. 

 

• • Sharing CTB experiences and outcomes

 

It could be better to share your experience or outcomes of the formation of a CTB in terms of both positive and negative aspects from it.  This sharing exercise can help to get the effectiveness of CTB.  In this respect, CENFACS would want to hear from you about your experience.

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 HEALTHY AND SAFE Development Day!

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Skills to Cope with Financial and Economic Pressure from Covid-19 and Lockdowns –

Skills Focus from Wednesday 18/11/2020: Survival, Coping and Transition Skills

 

COVID-19 and the lockdown that is attached to it have forced humans to navigate in their mind sets in the way of living life.  In this navigation, humans (here CENFACS users) may need to develop a set of skills to successfully survive, cope and transition.  However, before dealing with the above named skills focus; let us try to understand the meaning of skills.

 

• • Understanding skills development

 

Our understanding of skills development will be through the following selected definition given by Kenneth King and Robert Palmer (2) who argue that

“skills development is productive capacities acquired through all levels of education and training, occurring in formal, non-formal and on-the-job settings which enable individuals in all areas of the economy to become fully and productively engaged in livelihoods and to have the opportunity to adapt those capacities to meet the changing demands and opportunities of the economy and labour market” (p. 16)

From this definition, it is possible to argue that productive capacities can help us to survive, cope and transition during the unprecedented time of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns.  What are those productive capacities or skills which enable us to do that?  Let us look at them one by one.

 

• • Skills to survive, cope and transition

 

(a) Survival skills

 

These are the techniques use to sustain life during COVID-19 crisis and lockdown as they help us to remain alive in spite of a health disaster like COVID-19.  Amongst these skills, they are those…

√ To access foods and drinks

√ To shield or self-isolate to protect our health and of others

√ To find shelter in a COVID-19 secure property

√ To better manage utility bills during the lockdown

√ To stay informed during the lockdown while following the evolution of the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus pandemic in our own local area, nationally and internationally

√ To access water and medicine

√ To secure income to help us fight COVID-19

√ To seek and earn help during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown

Etc.

   

The above skills depend on whether those in need are based in an urban or rural area.  In an urban area, one may need money to buy electricity from an electricity company whereas in a rural area one may use their human power to get dry wood to make fire.  

 

(b) Coping skills

 

Coping productive capacities are efforts in consciousness or psychological mechanics to solve the health and economic pressure brought by COVID-19 and lockdown in order to reduce stress level and potential conflicts within oneself or with others.  Through these skills, one can successfully manage COVID-19 and the second lockdown.

In the context of COVID-19 and lockdowns, coping skills can involve for example: occupy yourself with activities such as reading, walking, watching TV or movie, playing games, gardening, doing meditation, relaxation, etc.

CENFACS’ Triple Value Recreational activities which we offered during the first shock wave of COVID-19 and lockdown can help to break out the vicious circle of the COVID-19 lockdown.  These activities can support their users to successfully cope with the lockdown pressure.

 

(c) Transition skills

 

They are essential productive capacities to manage change, to move from the situation of an open economy to lockdown, and vice versa.  As skills to navigate transition, they can help to build resilience, self-reflection and self-belief. 

For example, to move from working away (building office) to working from home, one may need transition skills to manage this change.

Briefly, Survival, Coping and Transition Skills can support us to cope with financial and economic pressure from Covid-19 and Lockdowns.

To further discuss this Skills Focus, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• CENFACS Charity e-Shop: OPEN FOR ONLINE PURCHASE BUT CLOSED FOR GOODS DONATIONS

 

CENFACS e-Store is online open for those who would like to purchase goods online.  However, we are not taking any goods donations at the moment due to the coronavirus upsurge and the second lockdown.

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.

We have enhanced our sanitation and cleaning methods and practices as well as we update them following the latest information received.

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

Please keep your goods donations until the second lockdown finishes or until such time we are able to take them.

Many lives have been threatened and destroyed by the coronavirus pandemic.  Those who managed to survive, they need help.  We need help to help them come out poverty and hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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

 

 

• Essentia Project

 

• • What is Essentia Project?

 

The Essentia Project, which is part of CENFACS Starting XI Projects for this Autumn 2020, is a sustainable development and poverty-relieving initiative that uses the tenets and attributes of the essential economy in order to help people and communities in need to escape from poverty and hardships while connecting them to essential activities and motivating them to use non-polluting solutions to resolve their long standing problems of poverty and hardships. 

Through this essential economic project we can work together with local people to support them in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

 

• • How CENFACS can work with the community to develop and apply this project

 

Generally, many people use essential economy in their daily life without realising it until when the coronavirus pandemic broke out and the first lockdown started. 

Through Essentia Project, CENFACS can go deeper with users in their use of the essential economy by focussing on essential needs, products, services and outcomes.  CENFACS will work together with them to create their own Essentia Project to not only cope with the life-threatening and destroying effects of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, but also to make essential economy as a working model in their daily life.  

Working with the community on essential economic model will bring many benefits to those making our community.  These benefits include:

√ Developing essential household budget

√ Setting up essential expenditure and income accounts

√ Carrying out an inventory or management of essential household assets and liabilities, etc.   

Through this project, we hope to approach poverty reduction from the perspective of essential economy during and in the post-coronavirus and post-lockdown era.

 

• • The balance between essential and non-essential economies via Essentia Project

 

The Essentia Project does not exclude non-essential economy or items.  It just compliments them and works with users in understanding that there is a lot to gain than to lose in keeping and taking the essential economic drive in meeting their basic life-sustaining needs and in mitigating the impacts of the climate change in their daily life.  

In fact, through this project users will be able to measure the weight of essential and non-essential economies respectively in their life.  In doing so, this will enable them to decide which of the two economies provide most value for poverty reduction and the enhancement of sustainable development.

For those users who would like to work with CENFACS in developing their Essentia Project or applying this project, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Development

 

Peace Appeal 2020 for the Horn of Africa Region …

 to Support the Victims of Insecurity and Displaced Persons

 

• • What this appeal is about

 

It is about supporting the victims of continuing insecurity and displaced persons who are fleeing fighting in Tigray which may expand beyond it to reach other parts of the Horn of Africa Region.  This conflicting situation can lead to a decline of the security in the areas of fighting while increasing instability and ethnic violence in the Horn of Africa region. 

This appeal is 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 at this already challenging time of the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn in the world.

 

• • What is said about Tigray

 

International aid agencies, in particular the United Nations, are saying that 10% of the population in Tigray is already relying on food aid and 7 million people there face food shortages.  If this crisis continues, this can make the situation worse there as there will be an increase in the numbers of people needing assistance, uncontrolled diseases and desert locust infestation could spread in the region with humanitarian fall-out.

At this perilous moment of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, we think that it will be unfair and unjust for the innocent people of Tigray and others of the region to undergo such terrible and miserable life.

 

• • Poverty data that speak for the Horn of Africa with Ehthiopia’s Tigray in it

 

Writing on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme, Milorad Kovacevic and Admir Jahic (3) argue that  

“The percentage of the population with a deprivation score of at least 33 per cent (that is, the percentage of population in multidimensional poverty) between 2007 and 2018 was 83.5 in Ethiopia”.  And Tigray is part of it. 

They also contend that

“The percentage of the population living below the international poverty line of $1.90 (in purchasing power parity terms a day) between 2010 and 2018 was 30.8 in Ethiopia”.  Again Tigray is part of it.

Likewise, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and others (4) say that  

“The percentage of the population who cannot afford the cost and affordability of nutrient adequate diet  (that is, the proportion of people who cannot afford the cost of healthy diet) is 47.7 in Ethiopia”.  This percentage includes Tigray as well.

The above data could be self-explanatory to predict the future if the crisis in Tigray is not stopped; a crisis which has started to go beyond control.  Those who know the history of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa Region, they do not need complex data and analysis to understand what may happen if this crisis continues.

 

• • CENFACS’ role in making this appeal

 

Our appeal is not to interfere in people’s and communities’ ways and rights of running their places, affairs, countries or region.   Our role is purely humanitarian one especially where lives have been already taken and a considerable number of people have been displaced.  There is a growing number of risks (such as poor health, sanitation, violation of human rights, humanitarian crisis, etc.) if this situation goes on.  This can expand in the entire region of Horn of Africa.

 

• • What CENFACS wants you to do: Provide a Peace-Giving Gift 

 

CENFACS wants you to create a magic by providing Peace-Giving Gift to the victims of this insecurity without giving money.  How?

We are appealing to you to try to do something about what is happening in the Horn of Africa Region, particularly in Ethiopia’s Tigray, so that the poor civilians can enjoy sustainable peace and internally displaced people can safely return to their homes by the end of this year.

We often argue that there are always some little things one can do to create a BIG change or simply to try to change a very complex situation on the grounds without sometimes giving money, although there is a say that Money is King.  These little things include the following:

√ Talking to someone who has influence on what is happening on the ground can change life

√ Networking, campaigning, responding to a petition, and so on can make a significant impact

√ A phone call or a mobile phone text message or even a tweet or a video can save millions of lives  

√ Raising your voice about the crisis in the Horn of Africa Region at a peace talks or rallies

√ Spreading the news in your social networks and contacts about the issue and the potential threat this may bring to the Horn of Africa

√ Having some thoughts about what is happening in Tigray and on practical ways of helping, as part of coronavirus lockdown activity

Etc.

These kinds of simple things that one can do matter a lot for those whose life is at risk.  It is not surprising if Professor Wangari Maathai said that

“It is the little things citizens do.  That is what will make the difference.  My little thing is planting trees”. (Professor Wangari Maathai, Environmental Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner) 

CENFACS hopes you will act upon this humanitarian November 2020 appeal and create the magic of Peace-Giving Gift without giving money so that the sufferers in Ethiopia’s Tigray can rediscover their way to sustainable and inclusive peace. 

 

• • Contacting CENFACS about this Appeal

 

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

Thank you for considering delivering on this appeal.

________

References

(1) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-a-support-bubble-with-another-household

(2) Kenneth King and Robert Palmer (2006), Skills Development and Poverty Reduction: The State of the Art, Centre of Post-Basic Education and Training, Working Paper Series-No.9, University of Edinburgh

(3) Milorad Kovacevic and Admir Jahic (2020), Human Development Data Story: COVID-19 AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT – Exploring global preparedness and vulnerability, United Nations Development Programme, 29 April 2020

(4) FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO (2020), The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020: Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets, Rome, FAO. (https:doi.org/10.4060/ca 9692en

________

 

Appendix

 

Women and Children FIRST Development Day (WCFDD) Timeline: 2010 to 2019

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 2011CENFACS’ 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 2013WCFDD 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 ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

 

NoteFor 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 in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Leave a comment

Income Deficit

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

11 November 2020

 

Post No. 169

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2020 Edition: Income Deficit – How Not to Carry Forward Income Deficit into 2021

• Skills to Cope with Financial and Economic Pressure from Covid-19 and Lockdowns – Skills Focus from Wednesday 11/11/2020: Financial and Economic Skills

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 5 – In Focus from Week beginning 09/11/2020: Ecosystem Investments

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2020 Edition: Income Deficit – How Not to Carry Forward Income Deficit into 2021

 

The next issue 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); will focus on Income Deficit.

This year, our focus will be on ways of Not Carrying Forward Income Deficit into 2021.  It is known that many people, especially but not exclusively MIPCYPFs, have experienced unbearable income pressure from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.  Some of them have hit the bottom of extreme poverty.  

While efforts should be made to work with them and pull them from there, one can as well work on similar projects so that these poor people do not carry on their income deficit into the next year if they want to reduce poverty and hardships amongst them in 2021.  In this respect, the 2020 Edition of our festive resource provides some good tips and hints on way of reducing income deficit.

More information about this year’s Edition of Festive Income Booster has been provided under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

• Skills to Cope with Financial and Economic Pressure from Covid-19 and Lockdowns –

Skills Focus from Wednesday 11/11/2020: Financial and Economic Skills

 

The focus for November 2020 Skills Development is on enhancing skills to manage health uncertainty and economic hardship threats linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the second lockdown. 

After looking at the Skills to Manage COVID-19 Health and Economic Uncertainty and Threats (that is, skills to protect the community’s health, healthcare systems and the economy) during the lockdowns, we are now dealing with Financial and Economic Skills that one may need during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns in order to cope with financial and economic pressure.

To develop the skills to cope with this type of pressure, it is better to know what financial and economic pressure does or creates to people, especially to those living in poverty. 

 

• • What financial and economic pressure can do or create

 

Financial and economic pressure can cause a number of problems such as anxiety, psychological drain or pain, anger, conflict, illness, etc.   By acquiring or developing skills, it is possible to deal with these kinds of pressure.

 

• • Skills Formation and Development to handle financial and economic pressure

 

Skills can be developed to deal with these issues.  There could be a particular skill or a group of skills.  For example, we can have a variety of skills as follows:

√ Networking skills for anxiety

√ Social skills for psychological problems

√ Anger management skills for anger

√ Peace-building or negotiation skills for conflicts

√ Healthcare skills for ill people (especially to deal with COVID-19)

√ Job search and social intelligence skills for unemployed people

√ Personal skills to seek and earn help

√ Life-changing skills to transform life for a better one

√ Creative skills to manage the vicious circle created by the second lockdown

√ Digital and distance working skills to work from home

√ Socially distancing skills to reduce the spread of COVID-19

Etc.

We can even give a more detailed example. Let’s take conflicts for example.  Developing advocacy, communication and negotiation skills can enable unhappy and deprived people or communities to overcome the idea of resorting to violence to deal with their problems.  They would rather use the tenets of virtuous advocacy, communications strategy and negotiation to bargain their power to change the conditions of their life than using violence.

Besides these skills, they are technical financial and economic skills that could also be considered. 

 

• • Financial and economic skills

 

Like in any financial and economic course of actions, it is better to deal with its causes and develop coping skills or long term strategies.  It means finding the abilities to deal with financial stressors and the causes of the inability to make ends meet on life-sustaining needs. 

These abilities include those to do the following:

√ Deal with accounts

√ Create and understand a budget (e.g. a familiy/household budget)

√ Conduct cost-benefit analysis

√ Understand basic financial literacy and numeracy

√ Manage debt and loans

√ Financially manage household matters, etc. 

So, this week we are looking at ways of enhancing users with skills where they feel they lack financial confidence or relevant skills to deal with the impacts of financial and economic pressure.  One can hope that they can regain the control of their financial and economic situation. 

There are many online and print resources and organisations dealing with ways of coping with financial and economic pressure, especially during this time of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns.  We have listed some of these resources in the 2020 paper Edition of our Festive Income Boost.

To support the Skills Development month or this week’s skills focus, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

“A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No.5 –

In Focus from Week beginning 09/11/2020: Ecosystem Investments

 

The Note 5 of the Restoration of Ecosystem Infrastructures deals with Ecosystem Investments.  An ecosystem investment is part of committed money or capital to ecology with the expectation of achieving additional income or ecological value. 

 

• • Ecosystem investments as value added to ecology

 

Since CENFACS’ action is on not-for-profit, we are perceiving ecosystem investments from the perspective of adding ecological value rather than making a profit.  From this perspective, ecosystem investments are socially responsible investments made in organisations that support or provide environmentally friendly products and practices or sustainability. 

In the context of Note 5, they are the kinds of investments that have positive effect on the ecology (that is, on the structure and function of nature) and that are oriented towards the common good.  For example, green or renewable energy can be an ecosystem investment.  This is because there are approaches on socially responsible investing that tend to include ecological or ecosystem investments within green investments. Furthermore, ecological or ecosystem investments can be part of different asset classes (such as equities, bonds, hedge funds, real estates, commodities, etc.)   

 

• • Actions on the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures through ecological investments

 

As far as our campaign is concerned, we would like to step up actions on the following investments:

√ Those that add value to the restoration of ecosystem infrastructures

√ Those that bring environmentally friendly products and services

√ Those that restore the damaged the structure and function of the nature

√ Those that keep nature healthy, especially as the world enters the new Age of COVID-19

√ Ecosystem restoration investment projects and actions that move to that direction will be the most wanted within the context of this campaign note.

However, one must acknowledge that at the moment the world is experiencing a difficult time with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and severe economic downturn as a result of the pandemic.  This means that the current situation will affect ecological investments since attention is devoted in COVID-19 investments. 

For example, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1) argues in its World Investment Report 2020 that

“the COVID-19 pandemic will severely curtail foreign investment in Africa in 2020” (p. 30). 

This could suggest that there could be also the curtailing of ecological investments in Africa as well.  One could hope that after this gloomy time foreign investment including ecological one will bounce back in the post-pandemic economic reconstruction.

In meantime, our campaigning action will continue so that when the economic reconstruction starts ecological investments are not left behind.   

For further information about this Note 5 and actions relating to it, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

(1) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2020: World Investment Report 2020, United Nations, Geneva

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Coming Next Week: The 11th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2020: Coronavirus Talk Bubbles

 

High on the next week’s agenda will be our 11th Development DayCENFACS’ Development Day is an additional opportunity to re-communicate its poverty relief message and other messages to support those living in poverty as well as re-engage with our stakeholders.  At this exceptional time of the coronavirus pandemic, there is even a greater need to amplify our voice for the reduction of sanitation poverty bought by COVID-19.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the second lockdown, our Development Day will not be held in the way as it should have been.  Instead, we are advising those who can to hold a Coronavirus Talks Bubble where people can discuss the effects of the coronavirus on child care and women or mothers.  They can as well exchange ideas on coping and survival strategies against the coronavirus and lockdowns.  To the main topic of the day, they can add any relevant issues of concern relating to women and children during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown times.

These talks can be held within their usual coronavirus bubble or they can form new coronavirus bubbles for the occasion of the Development Day.  They can as well be hosted virtually. 

For those who are going to undertake such activities, they need to remember to observe the coronavirus restrictions and rules. 

For example, in England under the new national restrictions from 5 November 2020, there are circumstances in which one is allowed to meet others from outside their household or support bubble in larger groups, but this should not be for socialising and only for permitted purposes.  Parent and child groups can continue to meet where they provide support to parent and or child, and children under 5 will not be counted within the 15 person limit – meaning parents and carers can attend such groups in larger numbers.

For the effectiveness of the Development Day, it could be a good idea to share with us your experience of Coronavirus Talk Bubbles.  This will be useful for learning and development as well as for future project and programme developments. 

If anybody has any concern about the organisation of the year’s Development Day, please let CENFACS know. 

 

 

• Covid-19 Campaign: 4-Week Lockdown 2 Programme

 

Lockdown can have both positive and negative effects on people’s lives.  Regarding people in most need, it is proven that the distributional effects of the lockdown can be uneven.  Lockdown can have more negative effects than positive ones on them.  In the context of the Covid-19 Campaign, we are working through a 4-week programme to address negative effects linked to both health and economic consequences from the coronavirus and lockdowns.

 

• • What is 4-Week Lockdown 2 Programme?

 

It is a set of projects and activities helping to reduce the negative effects of the coronavirus and the second lockdown experienced by potential beneficiaries in the UK, particularly but not exclusively health and economic pressure.  The fact that people stay home during the second lockdown with restrictions on free movement of themselves and mobility can cause a number of issues such as loneliness, mental pressure, financial problem, isolation, inactivity, etc.  The same people are continuing to deal with the side effects of the first shock waves of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

This programme of work is designed to support the community to stay active and resilient against the coronavirus pandemic during the four weeks of lockdown in England and beyond.   The programme does not replace our Covid-19 Campaign.  Instead, it reinforces it and is part of it.  Although this programme is for four weeks, it can be extended depending on the lockdown and its effects.

 

• • What is inside this programme?

 

There are all the tools (e.g. the Cube of Protection against the Coronavirus Pandemic) we designed during the first shock waves of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.  Triple Value recreational activities which we ran during the same period are also part of this programme of work with the community.  Also are included in this programme: any new project, activity and campaign theme that may be launched in order to deal with the negative effects of the second lockdown. 

For those who may be interested in this programme or who think that this programme may be of help to them or others, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Mission Year, Skills Development and the Second Lockdown

How to carry out a mission of poverty reduction through the development of skills during the second lockdown

 

CENFACS’ 2020 Mission Year is a coordinated plan by CENFACS to provide what is needed and necessary to support any efforts of poverty reduction.  This month, we will be trying to find a room for manoeuvre for our Mission Year to take place in this challenging context of the COVID-19 lockdown 2 so that skills can be developed and maintained by those in need to continue their fight against poverty as well as against life-threatening and –destroying impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.  This is our mission year task for this month.  

To enquire about CENFACS’ Mission Year in the Month of Skills Development during the second lockdown, please contact CENFACS

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

Festive Income Booster – In Focus for 2020 Edition: Income Deficit –

How Not to Carry Forward Income Deficit into 2021

 

• • What this year’s Festive Income Booster is 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 2020 Edition of this ICDP resource will be on Income Deficit rather than ways of generating income.

 

• • The context of this year’s Festive Income Booster

 

The coronavirus pandemic has threatened and destroyed many ways and skills for earning little extra income for poor people and families on modest incomes.  Many small jobs and income-earning activities have been destroyed or paused by the health emergency posed by the coronavirus pandemic.  There have been disruptions of earnings, inability to save, incapacity to pay household bills, a sharp fall in spending on non-essential items, etc.  The second lockdown in England and in other countries tells the all story about the damaging effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Both the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have pushed poor people and families further into poverty and vulnerability.  This situation combined with the restrictions on health and on free movements of persons has made the matter even more difficult for those people, although these measures have been taken in the interest of the public health and the economy.

In these difficult circumstances, it is difficult for many poor people and families to find opportunities (which simply are not currently available on the market, and if there are, only a few of them) to make little extra income.  Because of that, this year’s Edition of Festive Income Boost will focus on the ways and/or skills to reduce the gap between poverty threshold (line) on the hand end, and poor families’ income on the other so that these families can start in 2021 in less troubling situation or with less income deficit.  In doing so, one can help them not carry forward income deficit in the next year.  Reducing income deficit will give them some breathing space and start the New Year on a sound note or improved basis.

So, this is the general context of the 2020 Edition of Festive Income Boost, in which ways or skills to close the gap between income and poverty, between net income and poverty threshold/line will be dealt with for poor people and families, until such a time they can turn their income deficit into income surplus.   

 

• • Who it 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 Highlights

 

As the focus for this year’s edition is on Income Deficit, the resource includes the following items:

How to reduce income deficit (Income deficit can be reduced either by increasing income or decreasing spending.  This is a basic principle to avoid and reduce income deficit).

How to keep income deficit manageable or smaller

End-of-the-year earning opportunities to cover the deficit

Coronavirus occupational opportunities

How to earn and save money when you are in lockdown

Online opportunities since non-essential economic activities are closed

How to manage spending during the lockdown and COVID-19 time

Tips and hints to make your lockdown savings

For example, the first coronavirus lockdown showed that it is possible to spend less and save more.  It has changed people’s spending habits and plans as many studies revealed.  

 

• • What other highlights it covers

 

The resource covers some ways of dealing with the following:

√ Casual job interview questions (online, video call and distance job interviews)

√ Seasonal job search techniques (for both online and print searches)

√ Job search engines and leads

√ Guidance on job applications and CV

√ Reference building techniques

√ Job adverts

√ Credit history or score

√ Diary of online job fairs and events

√ Job matching to person specification and profile

√ Online job fraud and scams, etc. 

It goes further in exploring e-skills and steps that poor families can take to skill up themselves.

In addition, the resource covers security and protection matters when trying to reduce income deficit 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 there as it includes online job scams and job advert scams which sometimes could increase in a period like of crisis as there are always unscrupulous players on the market who try to take advantage of any crisis. 

 

• • What’s more?

 

The resource finally reminds us the areas of law or legal requirements in terms of whatever we do to try to reduce income deficit or raise additional household income to reduce poverty. 

 

• • 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.  At this turbulent time of the second lockdown, 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.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

Leave a comment

Economics of Education and Skill Formation

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

04 November 2020

 

Post No. 168

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• The Month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (Skills Development Month) and the Second Lockdown

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 4 – In Focus for Week Beginning 02/11/2020: Species of Nature

• The Campaign for Resilience against the Coronavirus Pandemic and the Second Lockdown

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

• The Month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (Skills Development Month) and the Second Lockdown

 

November is the Month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (or in short Skills Development Month) within CENFACS.  It is the month of the economic value of education as well as of the non-economic benefits from education even if there could a dispute about these values or benefits.  It is also the month of the technology of skill formation; month in which we try to find out how skills are formed and how they can help us to further reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

So, our November work on economic issues relating to education in terms of poverty reduction and sustainable development has started this week.  This work includes the identification of causal relationships between African organisations’ work and outcomes in educational projects.

In this identification, we shall refer to the human capital theory which will be the important paradigm to be used this month.  In other words, all along this month we shall work on the importance of education and training (skills development) in order to help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. 

Skills formation and development will be about forming new skills (that is any abilities to perform an activity in a competent way) to continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the second lockdown and beyond.  Skills formation and development will indeed include skills building to support the CENFACS Community and the Africa-based Sister Organisations in the fight against the economic and health threats and consequences brought by the coronavirus pandemic.  This variety of abilities or skills will make human capital.

Under the Main Development section of this post, you will find further information about this first key message.

 

 

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 4 – In Focus for Week Beginning 02/11/2020: Species of Nature

 

The fourth note, which is the restoration of ecological infrastructures relating to species of nature; deals with ecological species.  The latter is generally defined within the nature literature as a set of organisms adapted to a particular set of resources (an ecological niche) in the environment. 

Under this note, our campaign for the Upkeep of Nature is about restoring ecological infrastructures for those species at risk or at threat of extinction and exploitation.  Endangered, vulnerable and rare species of nature are amongst them.  Through this campaign, we would like actions to be maintained or taken to re-establish the function and structure of damaged ecological infrastructures linked to species of nature.  Areas of campaign action include: habitat loss, poaching and invasive species.

This campaign is also about actions to improve the living space for ecological species of nature while demanding reduction of bad humans’ interference in the life of species of nature.  In this respect, the campaign is against the following: hunting to extinction, dying out of wild plants, pollution that threatens species of nature (e.g. animals), forbidden wild life trade, etc. 

However, the campaign is for the knowledge and discovery of ignored and unknown plants for food and/or medicine, especially at this exceptionally difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic.  The knowledge and discovery of new plants or crops to solve the coronavirus mystery in curing people are highly needed to stop the coronavirus to keep running. 

In brief, this is a campaign for the restoration of ecological infrastructures relating to ecological species of nature.  For any queries or enquiries about this note and the entire “A la une” Campaign, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.  

 

 

 

• The Campaign for Resilience against the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19 Campaign) and the Second Lockdown

What would a second lockdown mean for CENFACS’ COVID-19 Campaign?

 

CENFACS’ COVID-19 Campaign is another campaign we are running and a key note for this week.  It is a health and economic campaign.  Let us briefly explain what this second campaign is about.

 

• • What is COVID-19 Campaign?

 

COVID-19 Campaign is an organised series of actions intended to reduce sanitation poverty and economic hardships brought by the coronavirus pandemic while protecting the community from it through the following actions:

awareness raising, information, guidance, support and help about the health and safety measures against it, as well as the economic action needed to deal with it.

The campaign, which promotes sanitation, uses a shadowing model in which the intensity/effort spent on this campaign is inextricably linked to the evolution of the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus where it happens.  It has different phases.

 

• • Phases of COVID-19 Campaign

 

The Campaign has three phases which are as follows:

Phase 1: Initial Response to COVID-19

Phase 2: Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of COVID-19 on CENFACS

Phase 3: Post-coronavirus Rehabilitation Strategies

 

The Phase 1 of Initial Response to COVID-19 was our initial reaction when we heard about the coronavirus.  Our action was to get as much information as we could about the virus and share them with the community and our services while protecting our users, the members of the public as well as our services and activities against this deadly virus.

The phase 2 of the COVID-19 Campaign (Impact Monitoring and Evaluation of COVID-19) seeks to answer a specific cause-and-effect question about changes directly attributable to COVID-19 during the first lockdown in the UK.  In this phase 2, we looked at the causality and attribution approach regarding the overall impact of COVID-19 on CENFACS’ work and system of poverty reduction. 

Phase 3 is the Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Strategies, which are processes of planning and conducting restoration in order to bring back our programmes, projects, activities, services and products to their original or normal condition.  It is a restoration or build-back campaign.  

 

• • Post-Covid-19 Rehabilitation Strategies and the Second Lockdown

 

Since we are heading towards the second lockdown in England, let us explain a bite more about Post-Covid-19 Rehabilitation Strategies.

By speaking about Post-Covid-19 Rehabilitation Strategies, we do not mean that the coronavirus pandemic is over.  We just mean that in our mind set COVID-19 is a reality but not a fiction.  We have to understand it and live in the COVID-19 environment until a medicine and vaccine are found against it. 

So, the idea of the existence of COVID-19 has been already passed in our mind set.  What we need to do is to develop strategies to restore our work while taking into account the new coronavirus-led environment or reality.  In this respect, we are trying to Build Back Better our lives through a Build-Back-Better Campaign.

There are two strands of thought (or strategies). There are COVID-19 initiatives that we took (and continue to take) that are related to our work in the UK.  One can call it Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Strategy One.  There is a set of COVID-19 campaigning initiatives that have been linked to our work in Africa. This can be considered as our Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation Strategy Two.  Since the coronavirus is a global pandemic, there are links between the two strategies.

 

• • Covid-19 Campaign under the Second Lockdown

 

Idealistically speaking, the phase of rehabilitation strategies would have happened once the COVID-19 is nearly over.  It means that when the epidemiological curve of the COVID-19 symptoms and infections is flattening and gearing towards recovery point and stayed parallel with the line of axis or below the recovery point.

Yet, in the current situation of the virus this is not happening.  We are instead witnessing spikes of the coronavirus pandemic to the extent that we are gearing towards new waves of lockdown or local lockdowns in some parts of the world including in the UK and Africa. At the beginning of Autumn, we spoke about sinusoidal Autumn, meaning rises and decreases in the epidemiological curves of the coronavirus pandemic.

This situation poses a dilemma which is: how to rehabilitate economies and lives while keeping tight fight against the coronavirus pandemic?

The answer to this question or dilemma could vary.  There are many options available. 

1) One could learn from the mistakes and experiences from the methods and tools applied so far.  Then, one can try to redevelop or develop a clear rehabilitation strategy with new goals and improved tools to continue the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. 

2) One can also have a clever or prudent combination of both smart health restrictions/rules and the implementation of rehabilitation works. 

3) There could be a need to continue applying the shadowing model of following the epidemiological curves (“epi-curves”) of the coronavirus pandemic while undertaking the rehabilitation work as planned in a given rehabilitation strategy.   

The third option or way of proceeding could be about building back better while matching the efforts of building back better to that of rehabilitating the economy and lives in need by using the shadowing framework or model.

In all these options, the human behaviour could be the most determining factor.  One can have the technology to map out or trace the virus; however if humans are still behaving in the way that does not help to reduce the spread of the virus, the technology could be very limited to solve the problem unless a medicine or vaccine is found.

The above suggestions or options are neither a definite process nor an end in itself; as they are only some of the possible ways of approaching or looking at rehabilitation phase of our Campaign of Resilience against the Coronavirus Pandemic, especially as some places of the world enters the second or third or fourth lockdown.

For more on COVID-19 Campaign by CENFACS and in-depth discussion about our rehabilitation strategy to use during the second lockdown, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Be.Africa Debate: The Hypothesis of Recoverability of the Economy and Health from the Coronavirus Pandemic

 

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten and destroy lives, there is a disagreement between those who believe that health should come first and those who think that the economy matters the most.  This disagreement has become hot since many places have gone into further shock waves or spikes of coronavirus, which have led to further lockdowns.  This disagreement or discontent has spilled over to reach not-for-profit making organisations as well. 

As a matter of fact, it is known that there should not be a choice between the economy and health.  There should be instead a fair balance between the need to fight the coronavirus pandemic and the necessity to keep the economy functioning and stable.

Yet, there are those who think the economy is recoverable whereas a lost human life is not recoverable.  There are those who argue the opposite. There are those who are in the middle as they support the hypothesis of recoverability for both the economy and health.

In this debate, we do not know what many of our Africa-based Sister Organisations really think.  For those who are interested in this discussion, they can share their views on the hypothesis of recoverability of the economy and health in face of the coronavirus pandemic.

To share your views, just contact CENFACS

 

 

 

 

• Triple Value Recreational Activities to Manage the Second Lockdown

How to improve the use of Triple Value Recreational Activities during the second lockdown

 

Since many places (including England) are back in the COVID-19 lockdown, it makes sense to e-work with the community to keep it active and engaged at this extremely difficult and worrying time of the coronavirus shock waves. 

 

• • Learning and development from the first lockdown

What did we learn from the first lockdown? 

It may be too early to draw the lessons from the first lockdown in terms of keeping ourselves active and engaged from the health and economic points of view.  It is still possible to remember the activities we suggested; learn from them and develop similar activities to respond to the second lockdown.  In fact everybody has their own experience from the first lockdown.  For those who applied the Triple Value Recreational Activities, they can repeat the previous exercises we provided during the first lockdown and use them for the second lockdown.

 

• • Use (or reuse) of Triple Value Recreational Activities in the second lockdown

The recreational activities we provided for the first lockdown are still helpful and or relevant for this second lockdown.  Where there could be a need to adapt or change them to the new situation, people should not hesitate to do so to stay active, fit and engaged during the re-confinement period. 

When using these activities, it is recommended to stick to the statutory restrictions regarding meeting one other outside (e.g. your support bubble) for Triple Value recreational activities; or doing Triple Value exercises either with household members or one person from another household.

Those who do not remember these activities, they can get in touch with CENFACS so that we can update them on these activities.  Likewise, we shall post any new activities if we develop a new package of support during the second lockdown. 

In the meantime, please STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE!   

 

 

 

• Skills Data Bank

 

As part of our Skills Development Month, we would like to let you know that you can register your skills to our data bank; which is repository containing information about CENFACS and the data of the CENFACS’ Community.  The register is free.  Skills and information are stored on it following the new data protection regulations.

Knowing the skills that one possesses, it makes easy when opportunity arises to match them with registered skills.  It also helps to point those in need of support to the right and relevant a skilful person and direction. 

To register your skills to make up the CENFACS’ Community of skilled people, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Main Development

 

The Month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (Skills Development Month) and the Second Lockdown

 

• • Month of November within CENFACS

 

• • • Month of November in CENFACS development calendar/planner 

November at CENFACS is the month of education and training; which revolves around the development of skills for life, for work, for poverty relief and sustainable development.  It is the month during which we look into ourselves and try to assess, explore and learn the skills we need in order to help further reduce poverty in a sustainable way amongst ourselves and re-engage with the business of sustainable development. 

 

• • • How exceptional is this November 2020?

This year, November is exceptionally a month for skills formation and development in the area of the fight against the health and economic threats and effects posed by the coronavirus pandemic.  It is also the month of the skills to manage the second lockdown.  In other words, besides any skill one needs to use and or acquire, they also have to form and develop abilities to fight the coronavirus pandemic and to manage the second lockdown caused by the continuing adverse effects of the same coronavirus pandemic.

 

• • • November as a training implementation month

November is further the training implementation month during which educationally related projects or projects that involve training, skills development and acquisition of new knowledge to help users and our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) to empower themselves with the educational tools and training resources they need to further help reduce poverty.  One of the skills development project to support ASOs is skills to work from home or distance learning and working skills during the pandemic and lockdown times.

 

• • • Poverty as a lack of skills and knowledge

We all know that poverty is not only material or the lack of monetary income; it is even more the lack of knowledge, skills, knowhow and technologies than anything else.   Therefore, knowing and learning a skill can help to further reduce poverty, particularly but not exclusively sanitation poverty caused by the COVID-19, and set one on the right course of the development process. 

We strive to support those who want to learn a skill while we at CENFACS as an organisation plan our own training, learning and development programme from time to time when we can access both funding and training.  

The November 2020 focus will be on enhancing skills to manage health uncertainty and economic hardships linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the second lockdown.

 

Skills to Manage Health Uncertainty and Economic Hardships

 

This year, for the Skills Development Month, we are going to focus on two areas where difficulties can come from for those in need.  These areas are:

1/ The prolong health uncertainty linked to the coronavirus pandemic and its continuing health and economic threats and impacts

2/ The financial pressure posed by the first and second lockdowns for families on very modest incomes

Although these two are the selected issues for this Skills Development Month, there are other issues that continue to impact the lives of these families; issues such as the exit from a regional economic bloc like in the case of the UK from the EU economic bloc, ways for these families to cover the expenses of the end of the year’s festivities under the constraint of the coronavirus pandemic, extra expenses to follow COVID-19 restrictions, etc.

Nonetheless, the two selected issues require from those in most pressing life-sustaining needs to develop skills to meet them.  Our Skills Development Month will therefore concentrate on the skills and capacities that those living in poverty need in order to less painfully manage health uncertainty and economic hardships linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the second lockdown.  This is our general focus for this 2020 Month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation (November Skills Development).

Within this general November interest, we have planned weekly skills focus.  In other words, from Wednesday of each week of November 2020, we shall have skills set to focus on.  The following plan is our Wednesdays’ skills focus:

 

Wednesdays’ Skills Focus

All these management, survival, coping and creative skills will make our November Skills Development activities; skills revolving around the need to make ends meet during the health and economic uncertainty and threats as we approach the end of the year.  This is despite the fact we know that there could be a gap between the time people learn a particular skill on one hand, and  the time they apply this skill to solve their poverty and hardship problem on the other.

The November 2020 skills are as well the ones that can be used beyond these two specific circumstances, particularly in other conditions of life and work when they are required to meet the challenge of poverty and of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

In Focus from Wednesday 04/11/2020: Skills to Manage COVID-19 Health and Economic Uncertainty and Threats

 

• • Skills to Manage Health and Economic Uncertainty and Threats during the First Lockdown

 

Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out and during the first lockdown, the majority of people managed to develop or applied some forms of ability to deal with the coronavirus-related health issues to stop the spread of the virus.  The majority of people also tried to use some economic skills to respond to the economic challenges it has posed.  Additionally, other people tried to use both health and economic skills to handle both the health and economic threats posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

• • Skills to Manage Health and Economic Uncertainty and Threats during the Second Lockdown

 

Although we are in the second shock wave of COVID-19 and lockdown, people can still apply the same skills that worked for them so far.  They can as well add new health-related skills or improve their skills to continue the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.  Likewise, they can reuse economic skills of the first lockdown, just as they can redevelop new ones to respond to the economic pressure brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

As far as CENFACS is concerned, we shall support the CENFACS’ Community, particularly those who want to develop their skills to manage the health and economic uncertainty and threats of the moment.  However, one should bear in mind that due to the lockdown and limitations on our capacity, our skills support will be mostly done by distance or online.  Like everybody, we are only handling essential support and service at this turbulent time of the coronavirus shock wave and second lockdown.   

In addition to this essential service for the second lockdown, we developed a lot of resources during the first shock wave of the coronavirus and lockdown.  People can still use these resources for the second lockdown. 

As said above, those who would like to register their skills on CENFACS Skills Data Bank, they are welcome to do so.  This regsitration can help in matching the skills suport and the needs in the community.

To get further insight into Skills Development Month at CENFACS, please continue to read our weekly posts.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going in 2020.

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 http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

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 2020 and beyond.

With many thanks.

 

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Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

28 October 2020

 

Post No. 167

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• FACS, Issue No. 69, Autumn 2020: Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring

• “A la une” Campaign, Note No. 3 – In Focus for Week Beginning 26/10/2020: Restoration of Marine Ecosystems

• Happening this Week: Making Memorable Difference Project, In Focus: African Sculpture and Representation of Historical Figures of the pre-1960s Era

 

… and much more!

 

Key Messages

 

• FACS, Issue No. 69, Autumn 2020: Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring

 

The 69th Issue of FACS, CENFACS’ bilingual newsletter, is about the Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction RestructuringIt deals with the changes that may need to be carried out in the components of poverty reduction systems or structures in the post-coronavirus time.

The key message in this Issue is that it is possible to reorganise the elements contributing in alleviating the state of people having little or no money or no material possessions in the light of the current health and economic threats brought by the coronavirus.  This re-organisation can be done during and even after the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.   

An abstract regarding this Issue was already released at the beginning of this Autumn.  Under the Main Development section of this post, we have provided key summaries making this Issue.

 

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign, Note No. 3 –

In Focus for Week Beginning 26/10/2020: Restoration of Marine Ecosystems

 

Our third note of the “A la une” campaign for this year is on Marine EcosystemsMarine ecosystems are constitutive elements of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, which is Life below water.

Marine ecosystem is defined in the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation (1) as

“A saltwater aquatic ecosystem that includes estuaries and coastal areas, along with the open sea and oceans”

Due to extreme weather events and human behaviour, marine ecosystem infrastructures can be damaged or altered.  Where damages and alterations become a serious issue for the upkeep of the nature, then action needs to be taken in the interest of nature’s heath and balance as well as for the benefits of all living beings including humans.

Our campaign on the restoration of marine ecosystems is revolving around three areas which are:  restorations of open oceans, of deep-sea oceans and of coastal marine ecosystems. 

The campaign is about restoring degraded marine ecosystems and of marine habitats, the stopping of illegal fishing, etc.  In this respect, some marine ecosystem restoration projects (e.g. projects in Southern Africa) are being looked at in our action.

This is the pitch for the third note.  For those who want to take action with us and or share actions on the restoration of marine ecosystems, they can contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

• Happening this Week: Making Memorable Difference Project

In Focus: African Sculpture and Representation of Historical Figures of the pre-1960s Era

 

The 12th Event of Making Memorable Difference Project is in progress as scheduled.  It is a celebration of African Abilities, Talents, Skills and Gifts to Africa and the world.

For those who want to make contribution to our Virtual Two Days of African History, they are welcome to do so.  They can contribute to the understanding of African Sculptures and or to the Legacies and Gifts in terms of the Representation of Historical Figures of the Pre-independence Era (that is, before the 1960s).

To engage with this year’s Making Memorable Difference theme and or support this project, please contact CENFACS on this site. 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

• Crossing the Monetary Threshold of US $1.90 a Day

How to end extreme poverty in the post-coronavirus era

 

At the beginning of October 2020 (see post of 07 October 2020), we tried to have some look and feeling from those who crossed the line of extreme poverty for the first time in going into more poverty.  We did it as an element of the Goal 2 of CENFACS 2020s Development Agenda and Poverty Reduction Programme.

This week, we are building on this activity about the line of extreme poverty (still in the context of the same Goal 2) since the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have continued to push many people and families to the edge or to cross the line of extreme poverty.  They have added health and personal hygiene costs to their normal expenses budget.  In doing so, these events have perhaps created new poor and or are holding the existing poor still poor.

Despite that there are people and families (even if they are few) who have managed to come out of deep poverty by crossing the monetary threshold of US $1.90 a day.  Although many economists would argue that crossing the monetary threshold of US $1.90 a day is not enough to end poverty; we would like to hear from those who have crossed the international poverty line of US $1.90 a day if extreme poverty has ended for them or not.

If you did cross the monetary threshold of US $1.90 a day in the direction of going out of extreme poverty, we would like to hear your experience of crossing this threshold.

To share your experience of crossing the international poverty line, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

• Art and Design for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development

 

As part of Art and Design Project for poverty relief and sustainable development, we are asking supporters to illustrate their ideas of Africa’s Sculpture into artwork.  You can post your artwork related to African Sculpture and Representation of Historical Figures of the Pre-1960s to CENFACS to share and make memorable difference in your own way.

 

 

• Micro-Volunteer doing Smart Tasks with Smart Tools for Smart Relief

 

We have started to use micro-volunteering by doing smart tasks with smart tools and techs (such as smart phones, tablets, development of gadgets, tech fixes, etc.) to re-engage with our supporters. 

Smart tasks are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound tasks and activities to generate and increase support towards our good and deserving causes.

These tasks briefly include the following: prospecting potential supporters, running questionnaires, recruiting new supporters, engaging with supporters, sending and receiving messages from supporter, following the leads, etc.

By doing smart tasks with smart tools, one can achieve smart relief, that is a sustainable life support and saver that one can electronically (online technology-based) provide to help people to come out poverty and hardships, especially at this exceptionally difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic.

To enable us to continue our work, we are asking to those who can, both individuals and organisations, to support us with smart tools to enhance our micro-voluntary work.

To support CENFACS with Smart Tools and techs to Micro Volunteer doing Smart tasks to achieve Smart relief, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

FACS, Issue No. 69, Autumn 2020: Post-Coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring

 

The contents and key summaries of the 69th Issue of FACS, which is the sole development of this post, are given below.

 

• • Contents

 

  • Understanding the idea of “Post-coronavirus” (Page 2)
  • Post-coronavirus Restructuring Models: Example the Neo-Schumpeterian Theories (Page 2)
  • Needs Assessment for Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring (Page 3)
  • The Post-coronavirus Sustainable Development (Page 3)
  • The Place and Role of Africa-based Sister Organisations in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring World (Page 4)
  • Africa-based Sister Organisations’ Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Work (Page 4)
  • Les organisations africaines face aux mutations structurelles et relationnelles des systèmes de réduction de la pauvreté dans la période du post-COVID-19 (Page 5)
  • Le financement des dépenses de restructuration pour les organisations africaines (Page 5)
  • Le numérique au service de réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique dans le cadre de restructuration des organisations africaines (Page 6)
  • Comment peut-on prolonger l’économie essentielle et l’économie de la santé dans le monde du post-COVID-19 restructuré? (Page 6)
  • Restructuring Poverty Reduction in the Post-coronavirus World (Page 7)
  • How Africa-based Organisations can continue to meet climate needs of project beneficiaries in a post-coronavirus poverty restructuring environment (Page 7)
  • Post-coronavirus Restructuring Survey (Page 8)
  • Restructuring of Poverty Reduction and History Month (Page 8)
  • FACS Question of the Month (Page 8)
  • Selected Poverty Data about Sub-Saharan Africa (Page 8)
  • FACS Testimonies and Reviews (Page 8)
  • The Future of the Essential Economy in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring World (Page 9)
  • Meeting the Needs of Poor People in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring and Post-exited Economy (Page 9)
  • Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Projects (Page 10)

 

• • Key Summaries

 

Understanding the idea of “Post-coronavirus” (Page 2)

The coronavirus pandemic is there and continues to claim its economic and health victims across the world.  When we talk about post-coronavirus, we just mean that the idea of coronavirus is in general mind set and is no longer a new phenomenon. 

Because this idea of coronavirus is already settled in humans’ minds, humans can intellectually and mentally move on from it and start to think about life after it or sequence of events.  One has already travelled in their minds.  In that travel or trajectory, one is now beginning to think about the next sequence and the work/life to be carried out/on knowing the coronavirus is there.

So, the idea of post-coronavirus should be understood as a state of mind in which the coronavirus is no longer a strange idea.  This is despite the fact that there is a lot of epidemiological work that needs to be done to understand the coronavirus as a virus and to discover a medicine and vaccine.  Nonetheless, the idea of a virus is in people’s minds, including its life-threatening and –destroying impacts.  They can now move on to the post-coronavirus area while continue to fight the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating effects. 

 

Post-coronavirus Restructuring Models: Example the Neo-Schumpeterian Theories (Page 2)

Given what happened so far in terms of health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, there are questions about the model or framework of analysis on the changes in the constituent parts of any economy (national, local, international, household, organisation, community levels, etc.).  If one needs to make strides in terms of poverty reduction, they cannot ignore the coronavirus pandemic or the current health crisis.  If they want to bring any useful contribution to their work of poverty reduction or change lives in need to better ones, they need to have a theory or theoretical representation of what they are going to do to serve as a guide in the construction of the changes.  With their theory or framework of analysis, they can explain how they are going to harness the new changes that are badly needed to continue to improve on poverty reduction.

There are many theories of restructuring which include: flexible specialisation, neo-Schumpeterian perspective, regulation theory, etc.  In the context of the current Issue of FACS, the neo-Schumpeterian conceptual approach could be one of them to use in order to tackle the post-coronavirus restructuring poverty reduction and development.  By referencing to this approach, it can help to recognize new knowledge and innovations as key driving forces of poverty reduction as well as of economic and sustainable developments.  Neo-Schumpeterian theories could help to justify the importance of holding innovative restructuring of the economy and poverty reduction.

By using this approach, one can develop guiding principles with hypotheses or premises and relations, etc.  In this exercise, there could be many restructuring models as long as they can provide the basis for explaining the kinds of changes they are up to.  Their representation of the changes they can bring will be clarified by their restructuring process; meaning that one can upgrade in the improvement of poverty reduction processes towards a more sustainably viable model of poverty reduction.

On can hope that the above will be enough to introduce economic theories that may be used in this Issue and understand the issues discussed in this Issue.  However, for further details about post-coronavirus restructuring models or theories or frameworks of analysis, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

Needs Assessment for Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring (Page 3)

In order to undertake post-coronavirus restructuring, one may need to carry out a needs assessment.  In carrying out it, a distinction can be done between short term disturbance and long term one.  Depending on whether the disturbance is short term or long term, transitory changes or permanent changes may be initiated. 

Since studies on the coronavirus pandemic continue, it is difficult at this point to determine if it is transitory disturbance.  However, to be on safe side it could be a good idea to undertake structural changes or adjustments in order to be prepared and avoid future similar health crisis.  In this respect, there could be a need for technological innovations to drive post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring or structural changes. 

In terms of poverty reduction and poor people, in order to have restructuring that really benefits the poor it has to contain a long term vision.  Because there could be differences in the geographical aspects of restructuring; it could be wise to argue that the effects and benefits of post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring could different or uneven. 

Regardless of this unevenness or difference, a needs assessment for post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring needs to be conducted.

If anyone wants to carry out or is conducting this sort of needs assessment or analysis, it will be a good idea to share their findings with CENFACS.

 

The Post-coronavirus Sustainable Development (Page 3)

In the Brundtland Report (2) written under the auspices of the World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development is defined as

“a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

From the above definition, it is possible to argue that if one wants to seriously consider sustainable development in the Age of the coronavirus and post-coronavirus restructuring, they may need to take into account that part of the sustainable development, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; that deals with health, particularly sanitation.  They may need to make some changes in the constituent parts of sustainable development so that the protection and the quality of human health together with those of other living beings and the environment are preserved. 

Briefly speaking, sustainable development and its components can be reorganised in the light of the COVID-19 on-going crisis so that the needs of the generations to come are not undermined. 

 

 

The Place and Role of Africa-based Sister Organisations in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring World (Page 4)

Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) have a place and role to play in the changes of the constituent parts of the post-coronavirus poverty reduction and sustainable development landscapes. 

As organisations working with people on the ground, they have the following features:

√ They are the closest entities to local people and local needs

√ They have experience and history of dealing with people searching for poverty reduction solutions via essential economy and health economics

√ They have expertise, legacy and local knowledge in matter of poverty reduction with local poor

√ They are the legitimate representative of their communities and or places in need in Africa

√ They are the reliable and appointed channels of transmission or linking organisations between CENFACS and end-users of our programmes and projects in Africa

√ They are countable piece in the value chains development of poverty reduction in Africa

√ They are the ones closely working with coronavirus-induced poor to help them survive the COVID-19 shock waves and come out poverty and economic hardships

For instance, they are helping coronavirus-induced poor and vulnerable people to access health facilities, safe drinking water, sanitation, income, food, security, distance learning resources and education, information about the coronavirus protection measures, especially in places where there has been little or no financial bailout at all for the poorest.

Because of the above work and attributes of ASOs, any changes in the makeup of poverty reduction systems need to be done by including ASOs.  They and those in need being part of this restructuring process will make the process owns by its beneficiaries.

For any queries or enquiries about the place and role of ASOs in the restructuring process, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.        

 

Africa-based Sister Organisations’ Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Work (Page 4)

The distinction between essential and non-essential activities, between healthy and unhealthy ones cannot leave ASOs silent.  These divisions should lead to some thoughts about the re-organisation of the components of their activities so that they can restructure, externalise, delocalise and re-localise them.  In re-organising their activities in this way, they can improve on the work of poverty reduction and sustainable development.

In the light of the experience we have so far with the coronavirus pandemic, this re-organisation or restructuring could be self-explanatory if these organisations would like to stay on top of the poverty-relieving game.   They have the potentials or capabilities for favourable re-organisation of their activities and systems of poverty reduction in different and improving way; a way that could make essential activities and health economics for the relief of poverty a driving force within the development sector.

The kind of restructuring we are talking here is slightly different from business restructuring since it is centred round the value of poverty relief and sustainable development rather than profit making or maximisation.

For any further thoughts or enquiries about ASOs’ Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Work, please contact CENFACS

 

Les organisations africaines face aux mutations structurelles et relationnelles des systèmes de réduction de la pauvreté dans la période de post-COVID-19 (Page 5)

D’aucuns disent que le coronavirus a exposé les faiblesses des économies et systèmes sanitaires un peu partout, y compris en Afrique.  Des faiblesses qui sont tant structurelles que relationnelles, mais aussi de positionnement sur des marchés internationaux et africains.  Ces faiblesses sont en plus celles de technologies et de ressources financières.  Des faiblesses qui se traduisent surtout par le financement des besoins locaux par le biais de l’aide internationale et d’envois d’argent par la diaspora africaine, pour n’en citer que ces deux méthodes de financement parmi tant d’autres.

Devant ces faiblesses, il y a lieu de faire des ajustements nécessaires sinon indispensables en terme de mutations.  Car, il faut aller au-delà des aspects conjoncturels pour amorcer des vraies transformations ou restructurations des systèmes de réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique tant sur le plan structurel que relationnel.  Les organisations africaines du secteur associatif ne sont pas épargnées de ces mutations si elles ne veulent pas rester derrière dans la course contre la précarité et la pauvreté extrême en Afrique.  Cela veut dire, elles doivent penser sur les modalités de reorganiser ou restructurer les pans entiers ou partiels de leurs systèmes de réduction de la pauvreté et de la précarité en Afrique.  Elles peuvent se décider si elles doivent définir une nouvelle structure, une nouvelle organisation leur permettant de continuer à remplir les besoins de leurs usagers tout en restant performantes face à la nouvelle donne économique and sanitaire qu’est la pandémie du coronavirus. 

Grosso modo, la crise de la pandémie du coronavirus a sonné une nouvelle alarme pour nos partenaires africains pour qu’ils commencent à envisager un autre modèle de réduction de la pauvreté qui s’adaptera aux exigences du moment, celles de la période de post-COVID-19.

 

Le financement des dépenses de restructuration pour les organisations africaines (Page 5)

Tout processus de restructuration ou réorganisation des activités et services demande des moyens tant physiques (ou matériels) que financiers ou autres (administratifs, technologiques, humains, évaluatifs, etc.) pour sa réussite. 

Dans le cadre de la restructuration post-coronavirus, il y a lieu d’élaborer un plan de financement avec nos partenaires africains; un plan qui contiendra aussi bien les sources de financement que les modalités du financement sans oublier le contrôle, le suivi et l’évaluation de ce plan de financement.  Des responsabilités financières seront établies en amont comme an aval.

Pour s’y atteler, notre service-conseils sur le plan international sera un outil adéquat qui travaillera la main dans la main en accord avec nos organisations soeurs africaines pour qu’ensemble nous déterminions le niveau de financement requis et les modalités de gestion de ce financement à travers une politique de financement transparente et responsable.  Cela permettra de mieux assurer l’exécution des plans financiers individuels de chaque organisation qui s’embarquera sur la restructuration post-coronavirus.  

Pour des organisations qui seront intéressées à notre service-conseils en matière financière dans le cadre de restructuration post-coronavirus, s’il vous plaît n’hésitez pas de contacter le CENFACS.

 

Le numérique au service de réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique dans le processus de restructuration des organisations africaines (Page 6)

Le processus de restructuration repose sur des nouvelles connaissances et technologies du moins si on se référe à la théorie néo-schumpeterienne.  Puisqu’on est à l’ère de percée fulgurante des technologies du numérique et en ligne, on peut y recourir pour continuer de réaliser des résultats sur la réduction de la pauvreté.  Ces technologies en ligne (par exemple, les appels sur vidéo) ont d’ailleurs fait leur preuve pendant des périodes de confinement contre le COVID-19.  Elles ont permis d’atteindre ceux qui souffrent et travailler ensemble avec eux pour qu’ils sortent du gouffre de la pauvreté.

Pendant la période d’après COVID-19, il y a une grande probabilité qu’on continuera de recourir à ces technologies, à celles du numérique.  Des organisations qui s’efforceront pour investir dans le numérique auront plus de chances d’augmenter, pas seulement le niveau et le taux de leurs activités, mais aussi la qualité de leurs services.  Ce qui leur permettra de survivre et vivre tout en suivant de plus près les transformations des besoins de leurs usagers.

Pour terminer, disons que le numérique continuera  d’assurer sa place dans la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique dans le processus de restructuration des organisations africaines.   C’est aux organisations africaines de continuer à avoir le contrôle sur le numérique si elles veulent continuer à avoir la main sur leurs services de réduction de la pauvreté après la pandémie du coronavirus.

 

Comment peut-on prolonger l’économie essentielle et l’économie de la santé dans le monde du  post-COVID-19 restructuré? (Page 6)

L’économie essentielle et celle de la santé ont fait leur preuve pendant la crise du coronavirus.  L’économie essentielle a permis de découvrir, du moins pour le commun des mortels, cette partie de l’économie qui n’est pas essentielle pour résoudre le problème de réduction de la pauvreté en terme de revenu, d’emploi, de consommation, d’éducation, de salubrité, du logement, d’information, ainsi de suite. 

De même, l’économie de la santé a révélé la démarche économique que ceux qui sont pauvres peuvent faire afin de réaliser une allocation des moyens et ressources limités et rares entre les besoins illimités pour maximiser leur utilité.  Dans cette recherche de l’utilité maximale, elle a démontré que les pauvres ne maximisent pas la leur en matière de santé durant la crise sanitaire du coronavirus et même avant cette crise.

Ces révélations qui vont de soi et qui ne demandent pas des chiffres pour le prouver nous poussent à penser sur la manière de prolonger ces deux économies dans un monde du post-COVID-19 restructuré et restructurant.  Il y a donc lieu de faire en sorte que ces économies deviennent des vraies économies de résolution et de réduction de la pauvreté et précarité.  Cela veut dire qu’elles ne doivent pas être aperçues comme des économies circonstancielles ou accidentelles, mais plutôt comme des véritables économies sur lesquelles on peut compter pour résoudre l’épineux problème de la pauvreté qui a sévi l’Afrique depuis plusieurs années.  Néanmoins, le prolongement de ces économies dépendra de la manière dont on sortira de ce maux qu’est le coronavirus; c’est-à-dire si on sort par le haut ou par le bas de cette crise sanitaire.

Pour ceux ou celles qui veulent en savoir plus sur cette question du prolongement de l’économie essentielle et de celle de la santé, s’il vous plaît n’hésitez pas de contacter le CENFACS.

 

Restructuring Poverty Reduction in the Post-coronavirus World (Page 7)

Poverty reduction has always changed depending on the circumstances, conditions and events of the time.  When there is a health and economic shock of the magnitude like of the coronavirus, poverty reduction cannot remain the same.  Poverty reduction work can be restructured to deal with the kind of the crisis of the time. 

However, there could be need of evidence on the causes of any restructuring.  In the context of the coronavirus, there have been far-reaching consequences like the following: jobs destruction, mass redundancies, high levels of financial bailouts with furlough schemes, disappearance of many informal jobs on which many poor people depend upon, high upsurge of the levels of poverty and hardships, soaring indebtedness, local and national lockdowns, closed economies, etc.  Additionally, market economy has been pushed away by state economic intervention to save the economy and health systems.  In this kind of context, the work of poverty reduction cannot be the same as in the pre-coronavirus time. 

So, poverty reduction may need to be reorganised in order to better deal with the impoverishing impacts and legacies of this kind of mega crisis like the coronavirus.  It needs to be re-contextualised and re-conceptualised to save lives and economies as we are in a completely new situation. 

At CENFACS, we are working on these re-contextualisation and re-conceptualisation of poverty reduction.  If anybody is doing similar work, this is the time to exchange ideas about it.

 

 

 

How Africa-based Organisations can continue to meet climate needs of project beneficiaries in a post-coronavirus poverty restructuring environment (Page 7)

The needs to adapt and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change will continue to exist within the framework of post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring.  For this framework to have any useful meaning, poor people’s climate needs must be considered.

Poverty-relieving organisations like Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) may have to tirelessly work with their users so that the requirements of limiting rising global temperature within the context of the Paris Climate Treaty are respected in any post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring proposals or projects.  It means that post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring needs to be carbon free or zero.  Likewise, ASOs would consider the climate needs of their users in adapting and mitigating adverse impacts of climate change in the post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring landscape. 

By taking into account the needs to adapt and mitigate the adversity of climate change and other linked elements to the Paris Climate Treaty; ASOs would be in a position to match the climate needs of their project beneficiaries in a post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring world.

Those who are interested in finding more about how ASOs can meet climate needs in the restructuring era, they are welcome to talk to CENFACS.

 

Post-coronavirus Restructuring Survey (Page 8)

We are conducting a survey about “HOW POST-CORONAVIRUS RECONSTRUCTING WILL AFFECT MY ORGANISATION” in the context of Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring.  As part of this survey, there is a questionnaire that we are running which can be accessed on request.

For those who willing to take part in our survey and complete the questionnaire, CENFACS will contact them.

 

Restructuring of Poverty Reduction and History Month (Page 8) 

As a portion of October history month, we can look back on some of the historical elements that can help us to understand what past restructurings in Africa can teach us in order to carry out today’s and tomorrow’s restructurings.  This exercise of looking back is within the framework of FACS newsletter and an add-up to the two days of Make Memorable Difference Project which is on African Sculpture and Representation of Historical Figures of the Era before the 1960s.

Those who are interested in looking back history of restructurings in Africa, they can contact CENFACS.

 

FACS Question of the Month (Page 8) 

Restructuring: Do you agree to the changes in the constituent parts of your economy while the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is on?

Selected Poverty Data about Sub-Saharan Africa (Page 8)

We have selected the following data about extreme poverty from the World Bank for the readers of FACS.

According to the World Bank (3),

“Today, COVID-19 and the economic crisis are already reversing hard-won gains against global poverty, ending more than two decades of continuous progress”

“Sub-Saharan Africa would be the next most affected region after South Asia, with between 26 million and 40 million additional people predicted to be pushed into extreme poverty” (p. 5)

Poverty here is defined as living on less than US $1.90 a day or measured as the international poverty line of US $1.90 a day.

Although the above is a single figure/information, it could however help to generate more thoughts about the needs of post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring.

For those who would like to argue more about extreme poverty data, they can let CENFACS know. 

 

FACS Testimonies and Reviews (Page 8)

It will be a good idea for those who will provide their views as testimony or review to stick to the topic of Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring.  In proceeding in this way, they will effectively contribute in getting better the impact of the current Issue amongst our audience and the public by enlarge.

To provide your testimony or review, just contact CENFACS with your views.

 

The Future of the Essential Economy in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring World (Page 9)

As we argued it in the 68th Issue of FACS, the essential economy is the absolutely necessary and careful management of available and scarce resources that can help to solve the basic economic problem of poverty and hardships.  It is indeed a revived economic paradigm which is deep-rooted in a sustainable vision of development and which deals with the problem of scarce resources to be allocated to unlimited wants via essentialist approach.

In order for the post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring finds its expression amongst its users, essential economy may need to be perceived and practised as the economy of everyday life and of the future life.  It should not be seen as a circumstantial or exceptional case used during the coronavirus crisis and be abandoned after the crisis.

Essential economy has to be given the place and weight it deserves in the fight against poverty and in the enhancement of sustainable development.  In this respect, the post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring should prolong and render essential economy as an economy for all lives, all times and all generations including the generations to come.

For further details about essential economy, please read CENFACS’ 68th Issue of FACS Newsletter.

 

Meeting the Needs of Poor People in the Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring and Post-exited Economy (Page 9)

No one knows the shape that post-exited economy will take as the UK has left the EU regional economic integration model.  Likewise, no one has the idea about the framework of the incoming post-coronavirus poverty restructuring landscape. 

However, what is sure is that the needs of poor people have to be met within the two contexts.  Meeting those needs would require post-restructuring and post-exiting environments and projects that really care and protect the interests of the poor and vulnerable people.  Any projects and programmes that will move away from this reality will have less scope for achieving poverty reduction goals.

The coronavirus and exiting economy have posed enormous challenges in the realisation of poverty reduction goals.  Those challenges are even unbearable for those who do not have any savings, assets and other collaterals in order to cover themselves from the crippling effects of these events. 

One can hope that projects, programmes and policies as well as their practices will be on the side of those who always get left behind and told to stay away.  One can also expect that the post-restructuring and post-exiting times to be the ones that will genuinely addressed poverty and vulnerability.

To further discuss ways of meeting poor people’s needs in the post-coronavirus and post-exited economy eras, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

 

Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Projects (Page 10)

Post-coronavirus Poverty Reduction Restructuring Projects (PCPRRPs) aim at reducing poverty and hardships via income generation and opportunities creation activities during the post-coronavirus poverty reduction restructuring time in Africa.  After developing a Coronavirus-related Organisational Relief Programme and a Coronavirus Rehabilitation Programme for African Organisations, we are now working on setting up PCPRRPs as a means to help African organisations and their locals to start building back better.

For further details (proposals) about these projects and to support, please contact CENFACS.

For a paper copy of the 69th of FACS, please contact CENFACS.

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(1) Chris Park (2011), Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation, Oxford & New York

(2) Brundtland et al. (1987), Our Common Future, World Commission on Environment and Development (The Brundtland Report), Oxford University Press, London

(3) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/the World Bank (2020), Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune, Washington, D.C.

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