Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

15 January 2020

 

Post No. 126

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Appeal to End Insecurity in the African Sahel

• CENFACS 2020 Poverty Relief Tools

• Review of Blog Readers’ and Web Visitors’ 2019 Comments

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Appeal to End Insecurity in the African Sahel

 

This appeal is about asking Africans to help themselves in helping to end the insecurity situation in the African Sahel, particularly in the three-frontier area made of parts of these countries: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.  Innocent lives have been unnecessarily taken since armed attacks and violence on civilians began last year.

The appeal is part of CENFACS’ Light Projects.  We hope through this appeal one will be able to Light up a Blaze of Hope for the innocent victims of these attacks and violence. 

CENFACS is calling to those who can to do something, especially those who have influence on the grounds to do what they can so that the peoples of African Sahel can enjoy peace and security.

To support and or enquire about this appeal, please contact CENFACS. 

 

 

 

~ CENFACS 2020 Poverty Relief Tools

 

As said in our last week post, we will be having new and improved tools to help reduce poverty in 2020.  This week, we are highlighting these implements.  They are a combination of skills and means designed to help us to achieve poverty reduction goal in the challenging environment of 2020.  Although, in our development calendar/planner we placed them in March 2020, some of these tools have already started.  By the time we reach March 2020, we hope that most of them would be in action. 

You can find the highlights about these tools under the Main Developments section of this post.  

 

 

 

~ Review of Blog Readers’ and Web Visitors’ 2019 Comments

 

We would like to thank and value all the comments that readers and visitors do make.  Just to let you know that we do not expect those who make the comments to please us.  We prefer they freely say what they think and feel.  Their free thoughts and feelings will support us to improve in what we are doing since we are not a perfect organisation.

We would like as well to apologise to those who made some comments and expected us to reply straightway to them, but we did not.  We receive many comments; it is always difficult to reply to each of them however worthy and sensible they may be.  This is why we seize the opportunity of the end of the year or beginning of the New Year to do a review of the comments we received throughout the ended year. 

Under the Main Developments section of this post, you will find the 2019 Review of Readers’ and Visitors’ Comments.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ All in Development Winter e-Discussion (2019-2020): Volunteering in the 2020s – Feedback

 

This is a summary of responses and reactions to the last All in Development Winter Winter e-Discussion which was held between 05 December 2019 and 05 January 2020 with a focus on Volunteering in the 2020s. 

The key contents of this e-discussion are as follows.

We welcome the buoyant views and comments expressed about the changing roles of volunteers at all levels of CENFACS to match the evolution of the development landscape and the needs of users.

The evolving roles include all types of tasks that individuals involved in giving their time for free, whether they are from within CENFACS (like members) or coming from outside to volunteer, will perform at various functions of CENFACS. 

The e-discussed ideas also revolved around the following:

Involvement of volunteers in some aspects of the 2020s programme particularly in the voluntary section of this programme; the development of steps to make voluntary work rewarding through an award-giving scheme inside or outside CENFACS; volunteering for other organisations through sub-contracting agreements; increasing volunteering budget; creating a transitional volunteering scheme to match the exiting process of the UK economy; improving digital volunteering  and its monitoring and evaluation; involving volunteers through intrapreneurship skills by giving new ideas and ways of working to help CENFACS.

The discussions went back to street fundraising and home fundraising by volunteers using online and digital technologies or people using their own devices (such as mobile phones, tablets etc.) to carry out voluntary tasks. 

There were some suggestions on the way of overseeing and monitoring this kind of way of volunteering initiatives, as well as of improving checks on street and home volunteers (such as credit score and report, criminal record checks etc.). 

To sum up, in a changing role of volunteers and in evolving development landscape  volunteers have their place to make the change that is needed in the lives of those in pressing needs.

We would like to thank everybody for their inputs; inputs that will help to improve our volunteering policy and practice while adjusting and developing our All in Development Volunteer scheme.

 

 

 

 

~ Gifts of Peace continue…

 

Our Season of Giving through the Gifts of Peace has not yet finished.  We still have almost two weeks to go until the end of this month. We are making a plea to those who have not yet managed to support to keep these gifts in their mind.

Although the deadline for the Season of Donation for these gifts is 31 January 2020, we will still accept any donations made after this deadline as there are always pressing needs that desperately request support. 

For further details about these Gifts of Peace and or to support, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/  

We look forward to your support.  Thank you!

 

 

 

~ The Season of Giving continues with SHOPPING and DONATIONS at http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

 

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

You can donate or recycle your unwanted and unneeded goods gifts you received over the festive days to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the shop built to help relieve poverty and hardships. 

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

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

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

You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:

√ DONATE unwanted Festive GOODS GIFTS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Charity e-Store this January and Winter

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

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

This is what the Season of Giving is all about.

 

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• CENFACS 2020 Poverty Relief Tools

 

We have put together eight tools to help reduce poverty this 2020. They are as follows: CENFACS Analytics Dashboard, Mission Year/Project, Digital Accounts and Finance, Transition Leads, Advocacy for Digital Social e-Commerce or Digital Trade, Circular Economic Solutions, Reformed Services and the 2020s Programme.

 

Tool Highlights

 

Tool 1: CENFACS Analytics Dashboard

Last year, we presented CENFACS Analytics Dashboard as a management tool in what it can do to help both individuals and organisations in terms of poverty reduction as well as an implement for improving the way we are working together with them.

This year, we will be taking a further step in improving this tool so that it can be a real office assistant in our work with people and organisations. 

CENFACS Analytics Dashboard is an information management tool that tracks, analyses and displays key performance indicators, poverty relief metrics, CENFACS’ poverty relief league, etc. 

It monitors the health of CENFACS in terms of the relationships of support received to outputs and outcomes generated. 

It provides as well charts and summaries about some of the campaigns conducted. 

It finally helps to retrieve information from CENFACS repository about the resources to help users and supporters.

For more on CENFACS Analytics Dashboard, please contact CENFACS.

 

Tool 2: Mission Year/Project

A set of words that collectively define our mission, called it mission statement, can be considered as tools.  Mission can be a means by which we can realise our poverty reduction work.  Every time we refer to it, we find the value and strength that make us an organisation.  As a result, there will be a number of activities and events to carry out our Mission Year/Project. 

 

Tool 3: Digital Accounts and Finance

The all process of dealing or managing basic household accounts and finances is becoming more and more digital.  In order to make sure that our users and those living in poverty are not left behind in 2020 in their daily lives, tool 3 will help us to work with them to help them to better handle their household accounts, budgets and finances through digital means.  In this way, their decision making processes to reduce poverty will be in line with the realities of today’s world in which they live in, a digital world.

 

Tool 4: Transition Leads

2020 is a crunch year as it has likely become clear the UK’s intention of exiting the European economic integration model.  To be in line with this change and to move with the flow, CENFACS will be working with users on transitional (or Post-Regional Economic Integration) leads, skills and support.

A transitional needs assessment will be conducted to find out the changing and emerging needs of the community as well as new and improved tools to meet both changing and existing needs in a new setting of a transitional economy.

 

Tool 5: Advocacy for Social e-Commerce and Digital Trade

More and more Africa-based Organisations are looking ways of breaking the barriers of traditional methods of providing services as the digital world makes it possible to do it.  To enable them move in that direction, tool 5 will enable them to embrace or if they are already in to improve the social e-commerce or digital trade.  In doing so, they can use digital trade to better and more reduce poverty.

 

Tool 6: Extended Community Services Support with Circular Economic Solutions

Generally, CENFACS provides basic community support which is a package of services to help those in need.  From 2020, we are including circular economic solutions to work with those who want to reduce hardships and improve their lives through a circular economic model.  They can choose to reuse, recycle and save natural and household resources.  This will enable them to use their little money to cope or meet with other life-sustaining needs.

 

Tool 7: Reformed Services

Besides the Basic Community Support, we normally have Consume to Reduce Poverty and Bridging Financial Information Gaps as running services and activities.  These services and activities are being reformed in order to take into account the realities of today’s life, climate economy and the development of the 2020s. 

For example, in future we shall include in the Consume to Reduce Poverty and Climate Change initiative energy transition.

 

Tool 8: The 2020s Programme

Like any programme, the 2020s will contain projects, activities and a schedule of events designed to embrace the challenges of the 2020s such as a changing climate world, the realisation of the UN Agenda 2030, Africa’s Agenda 2063, the implementation of the Paris Climate Treaty, the place of the digital economy in poor people’s lives, the new UK-Africa relations or Investment framework, etc. 

Although the 2020s has not been yet launched, it will be an important tool, if not central, through which many of our work will be channelled or realised in this new decade.  It will be an exciting and poverty-relieving development that will deal with many of the questions that we may face in this new decade.  Without anticipating what it can offer, let’s wait and see until it comes to live.

The above tools are not exhaustive.  They are simply the ones we have worked out and we thought would be in demand from 2020.  As we go along this year, there could be more tools to help us help reduce poverty.

For any enquiries about these tools, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

• Review of Blog Readers’ and Web Visitors’ 2019 Comments

 

This is more than just a year in review.  We are going to tell you what blog readers and visitors of CENFACS’ Website said in 2019.  We are as well going to respond to their comments instead of just listing them.  In this respect, we could have a two-way communication, which is more engaging than a monologue. 

For the purpose of this review and responses to readers, we have selected three comments only.  Due to new data protection regulations, the identities of these readers will not be revealed.

 

What our readers and visitors said in 2019

 

First selected reader’s and visitor’s comment

The first reader and visitor made some comments about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other websites.

CENFACS’ response to this first reader and visitor

We would like to thank this reader for the comments made and their readership and visit.  We would like as well to say this.  We have already a number of readers and visitors who made the same kind of suggestions and we are open for discussions and look in depth the e-book and guest authoring proposals.  However, those who made them tend to be not contactable.  For security and data protection reasons, we need to know who we are dealing with. 

 

Second selected reader’s and visitor’s comment

This reader and visitor said that the Home page of CENFACS is kind of boring.  That we could look at Yahoo’s home page and watch how they create article headlines to grab viewers’ attention.  We could as well add a video or picture.

CENFACS’ response to this second reader and visitor

We welcome this reader’s and visitor’s comments and would like to say this.  There are many ways of improving CENFACS website.  We are aware of the impact of digital technologies can make to any organisation.  Our website does not speak about all we do.  It is just one of the other means we use to engage the public and supporters.  There are websites in the market which do not really tell their customers or public what they do or stand for, except bouncing some video clips, pictures and images.  At least, CENFACS’ website tells our readers and supporters what we do and will do, how we do it, as well as mostly what we stand for.   

 

Third selected reader’s and visitor’s comment

Our last selected reader argued that our posts are very short for starters. 

CENFACS’ response to this third reader and visitor

We value this reader and visitor comments and would to answer this.  The length of posts depends on what is going on rather than the amount of information we want the readers to have.  What is more important the substance (quality) rather than the quantity of information.  In a fast-moving world, people do not always time to read much information unless they are expert in the field or have a particular interest in the topic.  Some readers told us we provide too much information.  Others like you argue the opposite.  Briefly, it is all about the content and event that dictate the length of the post.  Thank you!

We hope the above responses will satisfy the above readers and visitors.  

However, if they need further clarification, they should not hesitate to contact us.  

Many thanks!

 

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 as a New Year’s resolution.

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 in the New Year and New Decade as well.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

08 January 2020

 

Post No. 125

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• What is new in these New Year and New Decade?

• The Season of Light continues in the Month of Responsible Consumption (with a Focus on Reduction of Wasteful Consumption)

• Light Projects: Post-War and Post-Disaster Appeals

  

… and much more! 

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

  

~ What is new in these New Year and New Decade

  

⇒ The Twenty-twenties (2020s) programme

 

Since we moved into a new decade (the 2020s), we will be having a new poverty relief programme for this 2020 decade.  Since last year, we already started some rounds of reflections and conversions about this new programme of our poverty relief work. These rounds of discussions, thoughts and consultations with CENFACS’ stakeholders will enable to shape up the future of our poverty relief work. 

From March 2020, we hope to start implementing this new programme once its blueprint is ready.  If these discussions, thoughts and consultations move quickly enough, we would be able to implement it even before March 2020. 

 

 

 

 

⇒ 2020 as the Year of Poverty Relief Mission (the Mission Year) for CENFACS

 

Each year, we try to find the best way to meet the needs of our project beneficiaries while remembering some of the key works we did with them and exploring innovative ways to re-engage with stake holders.  We do it by dedicating the year to a particular memorable theme.  As result, 2020 has been declared as the Mission Year for CENFACS.

After celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the concept of CENFACS last year, it is worth revisiting what we stand for in terms of CENFACS foundations.  If we stand for the relief of poverty and it was on the basis of these principles that CENFACS secured its charitable objects in 2002, it is then worth eighteen years later for us to reincarnate this value as we start a new year in a new decade. 

In other words, poverty reduction has never been an end business for as long as people are still poor.  It is therefore normal for us to go back to that mission we set up ourselves (of helping in poverty reduction) and how we can apply it to the current and new settings of the changing development landscape due to a changing climate in 2020 and the 2020s.  2020 is also a year to revisit the mission statement of CENFACS and see how relevant it is today in the world of 2020 and beyond.  

As we travel along 2020, we shall reflect this Mission Year in our works, projects and programmes.  However, if any of you wants to know more about this year’s dedication, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.  We hope you will continue to support CENFACS during this Mission Year.  

 

⇒ New Tools for Poverty Reduction in 2020

 

New Year and new decade could mean that we come up with new or improved instruments to deal with the same or new or even emerging types of poverty.  New tools will include the following with built-in reliefs:

√ Tools to help you transition from a regional economic integration to the exigencies of an exiting economy

√ Advocacy for e-commerce sites as poverty relief tool for Africa-based organisations

√ Reforms of some the services provided for the CENFACS community to take into account the realities of the 2020s

√ Help users to improve digital finance skills through the use of mobile money devices

√ Extending community support beyond the mantra of our generic services while staying specialised and focussed on what we are good at doing

√ New programme of poverty reduction with the 2020s programme

√ An improved CENFACS Analytics Dashboard

√ Last but not the least, a renewed poverty relief mission.

 

Although we have scheduled these tools for March 2020 in the above development calendar, we may start some of them this January, so hoping that in March 2020 most of them would be operational.  The details of these new tools will be unveiled as they become available.  

 

 

~ The Season of Light continues in the Month of Responsible Consumption (with a Focus on Reduction of Wasteful Consumption)

 

=> What’s on this January 2020

 

January is the month of Responsible Consumption for CENFACS.   The initiative featuring this month is our resource entitled Consume to Reduce Poverty and Climate Change.  The 8^th Issue of this resource will be about the “Reduction of Wasteful Consumption”.

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

Besides this resource, there are other initiatives as indicated in the above development calendar.  

 

=> What’s on this Season of Light

 

Our Season of Light continues with the Light Projects, as indicated on the above projects and programmes planner scheduled for January, February and March 2020. 

To put our Season of Light into practice, there will be two waves of advocacy work to support the victims of armed conflicts and destructive natural disasters in Africa. 

 

a) The first wave of action

The first wave of action will be on the past, the legacies of the very latest disaster and war events which hit poor people in some parts of Africa (this is our Africa Post-War and Post-Disaster Appeals). 

Examples of these events include: a growing insecurity, instability and ethnic violence in countries such as Burkina Faso; extreme weather and drought in Mali; extinction risk of the African tropical flora in south of the Democratic Republic of Congo; the impact of the Indian ocean dipole in Djibouti, etc.

As a result of these events, there have been problems of malnutrition, displacement of people, food crisis, pressure on biodiversity, etc.  They require a combination of support such as humanitarian assistance, the protection of the most vulnerable and defenceless and a systematisation of other types of support.

In the context of these legacies, we will appeal for the support of displaced persons, the victims of insecurity and natural disasters.   

 

b) The second wave of action

The second wave of action will be on advocating for support for the victims of the current and emerging armed conflicts and destructive natural disasters in Africa.  Because of the nature of the events that these appeals are dealing with, we may change the gear to take into account of the unpredictability of these events.

 

=> What’s new to this year’s Season of Light

 

What is new for the three first months of 2020 is also new for this year’s Season of Light.  As indicated in the above development calendar, there are three new initiatives which are: the 2020 Tools for poverty reduction, 2020 as Mission year and the 2020s Programme.

In addition to the above, we will be moved to the level 3 of our Digital and Social Media Campaign; level 3 (in 2020) which is about Digital Infrastructure, Security and Defence. The level 1 (in 2018) was about the Role of Mobile Phone as a Tool for Poverty Relief for Women and Children, while level 2 (in 2019) was about IT and Online Security. 

Other initiatives making the 2020 Season of Light

Generation Global Goals project is an online discussion regarding the impacts of the global goals on children.  It will be conducted under CENFACS be-Africa forum.

Another feature of the current Season of Light is the continuing implementation of the project ABCD (Adaptation for Building Capacity and Development), project that enables us to get our mindsets, skills and capacities ready while the on-going negotiations regarding the process of UK exiting (or not exiting) from the European Union are underway.

Briefly speaking, the above 2020 Projects and Programmes of the Season of Light are Top Quality Reliefs for those in need.  They are made with a selection of hard to find poverty relief products and services as 2020 kicks in.

 

 

 

 

~ Light Projects in 2020: Post-War and Post-Disaster Appeals

 

This Winter 2020, our Lights projects will focus on two parts or two waves of action as said above: 

1/ post-war and post-natural disaster developments

2/ current and emerging armed conflicts and environmental catastrophes

 

A Blaze of Hope for post-life following 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 materialise.  The post-war and post-disaster developments are sometimes left without support until the conflicts and disasters return and or strike again.  

As it is not a good idea to wait for the return or repeat of the same wars and disasters, our first Blaze of Hope (Post-life Blaze of Hope) will go this Winter to the unfinished business of previous destructive wars and natural disasters as we did last Winter.  We call it the Post-War and Post-Disaster Appeal.

 

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

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

So, our second wave of intervention or In-life Blaze of Hope will go this Winter to erupted effects of armed conflicts and natural disasters in the areas of our interest in Africa.  This is our Appeal related to Live Conflicts and Disasters.   

The Details of this second appeal will be released as events appear and unfold.  One of these events is what happened in Burkina Faso at the end of December 2019 where lives of innocent civilians were taken in armed attacks.  CENFACS would like to you to support its appeal for peace and dialogue between the conflicting sides.  

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

CENFACS look forward to your support to deliver these Wintry Appeals.

 

 

 Extra Messages

 

~ All-in-Development (AiD) Winter e-Discussion on Volunteering in the 2020s

 

Our AiD Winter e-Discussion on Volunteering in the 2020s is now closed.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who supported or contributed to these discussions, especially for taking pain to stay over the Festive Season for the discussions.

We are studying all the contributions made and will stage a process for putting them together in order to see how they can add value to our volunteering scheme.

Once again, thank you for your support.

 

 

 

~ The Season of Giving continues with SHOPPING and DONATIONS at http://cenfacs.org.uk/shop/

 

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

You can donate or recycle your unwanted and unneeded goods gifts you received over the festive days to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the shop built to help relieve poverty and hardships. 

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

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

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

You can DONATE or SHOP or do both:

√ DONATE unwanted Festive GOODS GIFTS and PRODUCTS to CENFACS Charity e-Store this January and Winter

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

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

This is what the Season of Giving is all about.

 

 

 

 

~ Digital and Social Media Campaign – IT (Information Technology) and Online Security to Reduce Poverty

 

Level 3: Digital Infrastructure, Security and Defence

This campaign is part of our Digital and Media Programmes.  It is the continuation of our 2018 work on the Role of Mobile Phone in Reducing Poverty and Hardships amongst Women and Children (Level 1) and 2019 work on IT and Online Security (Level 2).   

IT and Online Security is not anymore a matter of security experts only.  Anyone handling IT equipment and using online services needs to have basic (not necessarily expert one) knowledge and skills to protect themselves and other vulnerable people (such as children) and do their work without fears and threats. 

The IT and Online Security is a part of our digital social media campaign to help protect vulnerable and poor people and families using IT and online technologies against various types of online threats and digital risks (such as scams and illegal and malicious practices). The campaign includes the use the e-safety tools and advice.  This level 2 of our digital and social media campaign takes us the level 3, which is Digital Infrastructure, Security and Defence. 

The work on Digital Infrastructure, Security and Defence (Level 3) is our awareness raising campaign about the digital infrastructure, security and defence for the poor.  The campaign looks at these matters at the individual level rather than at community or national level.  In other words, we shall work with users to help them build basic life-sustaining infrastructures, security and defence to protect themselves against online threats and risks. 

This digital campaign is a fight against poverty and vulnerability in these three areas.  Through this campaign, we can together fix some of the security flaws and provide setups and updates at individual level.  It helps as well to understand what security in the field of poverty relief as far as the digital world is concerned.

The campaign will be done without undermining the value of our community or collective infrastructure, security and defence.  We all benefit from collective or national protection.  We are stronger together.  To add a value to our togetherness, we need as well to reinforce individual protection.  The sum of our individual protection makes up or gives a total or a community of protections. 

For further details and to support the three levels of our Digital and Social Media Campaign, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Consume To Reduce Poverty and Climate Change

 

Issue No. 8: Reduction of Wasteful Consumption

 

Key highlights, Tips & Hints

 

What is Wasteful Consumption?

The 8^th Issue of CRP is dealing with the satisfaction from and spending by consumers on final goods and services that do not generate waste.  This is a kind of consumption that does not involve any material unused or rejected as worthless or unwanted or that involves only a tiny piece of this material.

This Issue is dealing with the process of consuming resources to satisfy human wants and needs in making sure that products and services bought have less waste or by-products that are free from harming health, wildlife, the nature and environment.

It means that before consuming, care must be taken to check and avoid products and services that have harmful waste.  It is said and proven that carbon is a negative example of waste from a by-product of hydrocarbon combustion.

 

Non Wasteful Consumption Shopping Basket

Using the internet, e-mail, social networks and other communication technologies; it is possible to get enough information about products and services that reduce wasteful consumption and poverty at the same time.  It is as well possible to find resources and websites that compare these kinds of products, services and prices.  People can then choose products and services that do not create negative waste and add them to their online shopping basket.  

 

Reduction of Wasteful Consumption and Poverty

Individual and family strategies of reducing the state of having little or no money or even no material possessions are not incompatible with the reduction of wasteful consumption.  Individuals and families (including the poor ones) can consume products and services that do not have negative waste.  People and families can leapfrog poverty reduction to the reduction of wasteful consumption.

 

Non Wasteful Consumption and Circular Economic Model

Embracing the recipes of the economic model that decouples (bad) exploitation of natural resources and the desire to meet human needs and wants (circular economy), can help improve consumer behaviour against harmful waste.  It is said that all processes create waste.  However, the circular economic model helps to deal with improper disposal of waste; in doing so it benefits humans to fix, reuse, reduce and save resources.

 

Non Wasteful Consumption and the Growing Climate Economy

The process of using resources in a frugal way to satisfy human wants and needs can goes hand in hand with an organised system for the production, distribution and use of goods and services that takes into account the changing weather conditions.  In other words, consuming anti-wasteful products and resources can help reduce adverse climate change.  As climate economy continues to grow, it can bring new climate educational opportunities, economic savings and improved well-being for the poor.  These attributes of the Growing Climate Economy can help them consume goods and services that have less or no harmful wasteful materials.

 

Reduction of Wasteful Consumption in the Context of Changing Climate and Life-threatening Impacts of Climate Change

Maybe enough has been said about the impacts of changing climate.  If not, then one area of work could be for humans to rethink about the negative waste that their consumption can create.  If there is such harmful waste for some types of consumption, then there could a need to reduce it for the sake of the environment and the nature on which we all depend. 

 

Budgeting for Wasteful Consumption

It is a good idea for users to budget for waste as part of the overall of household budget.  This kind of preparation in terms of financial statement for any planned incomes and expenses for a particular period can help to maximise the use of resources and reduce wasteful spending.  It can as well provide alternative to wasteful way of consumption to reduce poverty and hardships due to waste.

 

Waste indication on products for verification, identity and authenticity

It is a good idea for any consumer rich or poor to check non wasteful features on their buys and other specifications and read other people’s testimonies, reviews or comments about it.  Also, one needs to be sure that the messages for a proper disposal of negative waste are advertised and marketing match products results and tests, and customer’s satisfaction. 

 

Security and Guarantee 

When buying anti-wasteful products and services (whether using online or physical store), one needs to check, compare and contrast products, terms and conditions of business, buying terms, prices etc.  There is a need to check as well guarantees and safety policies against harmful waste.

If you are buying online, before you sign up, add to your anti-waste shopping basket and purchase an item; you need to read, discuss and check what you are agreeing on.  You may even take more precautions when selecting items, filling up buying forms to enter your personal, financial information and sensitive details. 

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

To support Responsible Consumption and get the full issue 2020 of Consume to Reduce Poverty and Climate Change, please 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 as a New Year’s resolution.

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 in the New Year and New Decade as well.

With many thanks.

 

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

01 January 2020

 

Post No. 124

 

 

The New Year’s Week Contents

 

• Year 2019 in Review  

• Consumption that Reduces Poverty and Enhances Sustainable Development in 2020 

• The New Year’s and Next Issue of FACS (The 66^th Issue): Energy for the Poor

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

The New Year’s Key Messages

 

New Year, New Hope & New Relief

Happy New Year and Welcome back to Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development in 2020 and in the 2020s!

 

~ Year 2019 in Review  

 

At the start of every year, the recurring question one can ask is: what is the best way to start the year?  There is no a classic answer to this question. 

Perhaps, the best way to start the year with CENFACS is look back on what happened the previous year; that is 2019.  Possibly, we may or may not learn something about it.  But, it is still worth reviewing 2019.  This is our 2019 in Review.

2019 in Review is a poverty-relieving story of what work CENFACS did from January to December 2019.  This story is given under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

~ Consumption that Reduces Poverty and Enhances Sustainable Development in 2020

In focus for 2020: Reduction of Wasteful Consumption

 

As we are already in January, this month is our month of Responsible Consumption following CENFACS development calendar.  It means that the theme for January is Sustainable Consumption and the monthly project carrying this theme is Consume to Reduce Poverty.   

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

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

The Festive Income Boost is an income-generating resource while CRP brings in a consumption-led look in our fight against poverty.  The next issue (issue no. 8) of CRP will be on the Reduction of Wasteful Consumption.

Indeed, in 2019 our focus was on Anti-pollution consumption.  We were and continue to be against any buy and consumption that create harmful effects on the environment and the nature.  This January 2020, we are prolonging our work on harmful effects by including harmful waste. Emitting carbon is in itself a negative example of waste from a by-product of hydrocarbon combustion.  This is why there is a need to reduce this kind of negative wasteful consumption.

We will be working on various alternatives to negative wasteful way of consumption. We will be dealing with ways of fixing, reusing, reducing and saving resources.  January 2020 Reduction of Wasteful Consumption is a Zero Waste campaign of the month within CENFACS.

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

 

 

 

~ The New Year’s and Next Issue of FACS: The 66^th Issue

 

Coming this Winter is the 66^th Issue of FACS which will be entitled as:

Energy for the Poor –

How to meet poor people’s sustainable energy needs in a changing climate.

 

The problem of renewable and sustainable energy is one of the burning subjects to watch in the New Year and New Decade.  Energy is not only about production, consumption and price (or market).  It is also about transition and changes of habits and behaviour that humans may be forced or need to agree to embrace in order to reduce negative energy waste.  We have already seen in some parts of the affluent world the overreaction against energy transition in order to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change.  What about the poorest world?

The problem that energy poses is even serious when it comes to meeting life-sustaining needs of energy by the poor in this particular era of changing climate, which continues to affect the way consumption decisions are made and their reactions.   The 66^th Issue deals with this problem of energy for the poor if we put it like this in simple terms.  Particularly, it raises the issue of the systematic impacts of low carbon energy transition on poor people.  In this respect, the Issue will treat the question of sustainable energy not only as a market product or service; but also as a livelihood or way of life and living. 

Under the Main Development section of this post, we have provided the abstract about the 66^th Issue of FACS.

 

 

 

 

The New Year’s Extra Messages

 

~ The UK Economy in the 2020s Era and Africa in the 2020s 

 

=> The UK Economy in the Era of Post-European Economic Integration and CENFACS

 

Much of what we do depends on the health of the UK economy and its direction.  This year, if we are allowed to say it, the UK economy is now virtually in the process of exiting the European Union.  This means that the UK economy will be entering a transitional phase of Post-European Economic Integration; what we called Post-Regional Economic Integration Era.  

To take into account the circumstances in which the UK is in and the probable effects of its positioning on work, our ABCD project will be the sustainable development initiative that will help us to deal with some of the unpredictable situations of this era, at least for the start of the year 2020.

A great deal of our work is as well linked to what is happening and may happen in Africa.  As such we need to look at beyond our lenses and sometimes to speculate about the future or simply the months or even years ahead.  This is why we have identified some challenging trends for a better change in Africa in 2020, the Various Challenges That Africa Faces In 2020 To Change.  Some of them are the usual ones (like poverty); others are new ones (like energy transition).  We have brought these challenges under the same pot in what we call Africa in 2020.

 

=> Africa and CENFACS in the 2020s

 

Africa 2020 is the one which will manage to deal with many of the challenges that poor people are suffering or will suffer from in their daily lives.  This is not about saying that one is undermining some of the big projects like Africa’s Agenda 2063.

For small and poor people, it is their daily problems that can help to make those giant leaps that many are thinking of like an African single market.  What are those daily challenges poor people are facing in 2020.  We could for example include:

=> Insecurity and lack of protection like in the recent event we saw in Burkina Faso where poor and defenceless civilians have been killed without mercy

=> Data poverty: the lack of data (both qualitative and quantitative) about people, people living in poor conditions poses an enormous barrier to the reduction of poverty, to the extent there is a bridge gap in data

=> Demographics: the population of the poor people continues to grow, however the distribution of income towards this population is not growing accordingly, as well as there is a problem of long-term economic growth to support this population trend

=> Life-threatening impacts of climate change and changing climate: Like anybody else, poor people are trying to be resilient to the distributional negative effects of climate change and changing climate; but they have very limited choices in what they can do to adapt and mitigate these impacts or effects in their daily lives

=> The relationships between political democratisation and poverty reduction or between political democratisation and sustainable development: even in countries that have already embraced political democratisation processes, it is difficult to spot some clear signs of an improvement of these relationships 

=> Environmental challenges notably land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity, loss and extreme vulnerability to climate change.

We can continue to list and discuss a number of challenges that Africa faces in 2020 and in the 2020s.  That is not the point here.  What is important is to expect Africa to improve on the reduction of poverty and in tackling these challenges. 

If anyone wants to discuss the challenges that Africa faces in 2020 and the 2020s, they can contact CENFACS’ be.Africa, which is a forum for discussions, ideas and actions on matters pertaining to Africa.  

 

 

 

 

The New Year’s Main Developments

 

• CENFACS’ 2019 Year in Review

 

CENFACS’ Year in Review tells a story of poverty relief and sustainable development in 2019 in our own words and numbers on a monthly-based development calendar.  It shines a light into CENFACS’ work over the last twelve months from the 1st of January to the 31^st of December 2019.  It is presented to you as an informal summary of voted initiatives that made 2019.  We have deliberately chosen to omit pictures and images in the presentation of this factual review.  The selected initiatives are the ones that had the most votes in terms of their influence on work in general.

   

2019: A Year in Review

 

We started together 2019 with anti-pollution consumption as a focus of our Consume to Reduce Poverty project.   As some of you (our users) were experienced IT and online security issues; we stepped up our digital and social media campaign to help overcome these issues.  Getting accurate data (both quantitative and qualitative) about people living in poverty in Africa is still a challenge.  Thanks to the help of supporters, we asked and searched for new forms of data in the context of our children project known as African Children, Climate and Sustainable Development Goals (or Generation Global Goals).

2019 was not an easier one for some parts of Africa making our area of work.  As natural disasters struck in places like Central African Republic, we were able together to appeal for the reduction of the impacts of torrential rains in that country. 

 

2019 as a “Quadranscentennial” or “Q” Year

Some of you know that every year we dedicate the year in course to a particular theme or remembrance.  2019 did not miss this CENFACS tradition.  2019 was indeed dedicated as a “Q” year, as an historical year of the legacy of CENFACS for the 25 years of the existence of the idea of CENFACS.  To mark this legacy, we set up a “Q” project to deliver all the aspects, activities and plans for it.

 

2019 as an electoral and electioneering year in Africa

A quite significant number of countries held elections in Africa, with some hopes that these elections would further up poverty reduction work.   Having watched what was happening in countries like Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in terms of fragile democratic processes with a risk of social backlash, we launched together an appeal so that peace and wisdom could prevail in these political liberalisation processes or democratic transitions in these countries so that poor people were not left behind.

 

2019 as of the need for a multi-dimensional protection

The issue of protection resurfaced in 2019 in various forms and shapes at many places for those living in poverty and having hardships.  To respond to this remerging phenomenon, together we featured it and raised awareness about it, particularly but not exclusively for women and children living in places of wars and natural disasters such as in Congo-Brazzaville (where women were raped during wars) and in Togo (where children faced the challenge of getting safe drinking water). 

2019 was as well a year of insecurity and displacement for poor and defenceless people in Africa in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.  And this insecure situation continues as we write this review.  As a result, we expanded our advocacy to include the protection of the hungry and insecure people in these parts of Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger).  To express our solidarity with them, together we launched the 3-frontier area appeal; so lighting a blaze of hope that sent a message to them that they are not alone.

We continued our fight for protection by following the global climate talks which were held in Madrid this December 2019.   We did it through Climate Protection and Stake for African Children, the 3^rd phase of our Climate Talks Follow up project. 

 

2019 as a year of uncertainty and of wait-until-they-decide

Uncertain and transitional times like of exiting economies until they decide, require bold action against poverty and hardships.  That is why we undertook to create and innovate ways of dealing with poverty and hardships differently.  During this kind of times, one needed to be a bit innovative to help reduce poverty.  Our project design and art for poverty relief and sustainable development was also instrumental in finding those ingenious imaginations of expressing our skills and pushing poverty away from our users in these difficult times.

 

2019 as a year of changing climate and of life-threatening impacts of climate change

In a year through which the climate continued to change, our perception of happiness could be affected as well.  This led us to make humanitarian appeal to Africa in a changing climate.  Appealing for happiness for the victims of Ebola virus in the DRC was one of the health-enhancing ways to respond to changing climate.

In the context of life-threatening impacts of climate change, it is difficult to do poverty relief work as usual.  We had to adapt our Autumn Fresh Start Help so that we could meet the needs of the community in this particular context.

Besides these particularities or features of the year 2019, we did as well carry out other works.  Amongst these works, there was our finances resource.  Indeed, not all our users felt confident in dealing with their finances in difficult times of economic uncertainty.  So, providing them with the financial information and skills helped to empower them with financial skills and knowledge. 

Furthermore, there are always lots of expectations on what transitional democracy can achieve for people, especially for the poor ones.  Our summer festival of thoughts gave us an opportunity to test the ideals or capacity of transitional democracy to transform poor people’s lives in Africa. 

Poverty is not reduced at the same level, rate, speed and pace everywhere.  There is a problem of reduction in quantity and quality between different places and different people.  In this respect, together we argued to make these inequalities of poverty reduction disappear. 

However, to be able to effectively and efficiently reduce poverty and hardships, it requires not only descriptive or generic skills and knowledge, but also analytical tools, techniques and methods.  This is why we put together CENFACS’ Analytics Dashboard to assist us and our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs).  Thanks to our volunteers, we were able to imporve CENFACS’ Analytics Dashboard; so creating an additional impactful way of working together with our users and ASOs.

We convened our Development Day as usual.  Thanks to the support that we received including space to hold it, we were able to give back to the community in the forms of re-communicating our anti-poverty message, interaction with the members of the public about our work and by giving away clothes to support other deserving causes and those in need of clothes in the community.

At the heart of all our campaigns, projects and programmes; there is an unforgettable piece, which is an underlying poverty-relieving value.  So, examining how this value is created and distributed is important for us.  This importance of poverty-relieving value has led us to look at together the extent to which micro-industrial activities by ASOs could help to integrate the voluntary economy into regional value chains. 

Our poverty relief action did not stop there.  Indeed, everybody seems to agree to enable poor people and organisations to meet the climate goals, there could be a need to invest in climate projects.  However, many of our African associates do not simply have the capacity to absorb a certain level of climate investment.  To support these organisations lacking this kind of capacity or having a weak capacity in the matter, we advocated together for the development of capacity for absorbing climate investment.  In doing so, the goals and targets set through this investment could be well reached.      

We can conclude that at the start of 2019, we dedicated 2019 as a “Q” year.  While keeping it “quadranscentennial”; throughout and in the end 2019 seemed to reveal many features: a year of uncertainty, of life-threatening impacts of climate change, of changing climate, of multi-dimensional protection, of wait-and-see economic exit factors, etc.

Despite this range of exogenous factors, we tried to keep 2019 as a “Q” year as possible as we could while responding to the needs of users in the proportion of these exogenous factors.  Briefly, we stayed focused and resilient to our chief goal for the year 2019 and managed to deliver on what we planned together despite these external conditions.    

We could only do it, thanks to the many supports we received.   Therefore, we would like to say thank you to all our Year 2019 Makers and Enablers!

 

• The New Year’s and Next Issue of FACS (The 66^th Issue)

 

Energy for the Poor –

How to meet poor people’s sustainable energy needs in a changing climate

Until recently, it was easy for the poor people, especially for those living in rural areas where there is forest to get woods or buy coal and create fire for cooking or heating their homes or for just catering for other energy needs. 

Today, because of the global obligations or demands of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions; even a small community of the world that emits only a tiny fraction of carbon emissions has been appealed to make an effort to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change through for example the use of energy from renewable sources as well as promote energy efficiency and conservation.  

Everybody has been asked to use renewables (such as solar, winds, geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric, etc.) instead of using fossil fuels (like oil, coal and gas).  This demand is to such an extent that people have been sometimes forced or expected to transit to non-polluting or inexhaustible energy.  Yet, some of these people are already using renewable energy or even renewable energy is their way of life.

This could mean their energy needs have to be met in a different way in a new setting of changing climate and life-threatening impacts of climate change.  This new setting puts further pressure on finding the means, especially financial and infrastructural, if this type of energy and transition are beyond their earning power. 

So, the 66^th Issue of FACS will deal with the way in which those needs of energy, especially the pressing and acute ones, can be satisfied in the context of non-polluting environment.  In other words, the Issue will take us to the thorny debate over energy transition that poor people also are part of.  The Issue goes far in considering that energy is more than just a market product or service that has a price and cost.  It is as well a way of living or culture. Therefore, transiting to a new method of energy consumption could mean as well changing someone his/her way of living.

This is a short presentation of the 66^th Issue of FACS.  To enquire or place an order about or even to get further details about this 66^th Issue of FACS, please 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 as a New Year’s resolution.

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 in the New Year and New Decade as well.

With many thanks.

 

 

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

23 December 2019

 

Post No. 123

 

 

Festive Week’s Contents

 

• Festive Season’s Arrangement

• Peace, Hope and Charity e-Store

• Thanking Year 2019 Makers and Enablers

 

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Festive Messages

 

~ Festive Season’s Arrangement

 

The following is the arrangement we have made for the remaining days of 2019.

 

=> Queries and enquiries

 

During the Festive holidays, we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 7th of January 2020.  However, our Winter e-discussion on Volunteering for the 2020s is still on until the 5th of January 2020 as planned.

 

=> Festive Donations

 

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

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.

As well as donating, there are other ways one can support from giving their say to CENFACS’ incoming 2020s programme to visiting our online store for shopping and or donating goods.

All the above initiatives can create magical reliefs during this Festive Season.

 

=> Season of Light

 

Our Season of Light continues as planned.  However, some of our services and activities (such as advice-giving, advocacy etc.) as well as development campaigns are scaled down around this period until the above mentioned return date.

 

=> What’s on for the rest of December 2019

 

For those who want to get a further picture about what has been happening at CENFACS during the remaining days of December 2019, we recommend them to read our three last posts on the Blog page of this site.

People should expect delay from us in returning to their calls/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 holidays. 

 

=> Emergency and exceptions

 

In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text/phone; we will respond to your text/phone 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 2019 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year and New Decade.

We wish you a Very Happy 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 have planned to achieve over this season.   

 

=> Charity e-Store

 

CENFACS’ Charity e-Store is opened like any online shop during the festive period for either to shop or donate goods.

Every time you shop or donate goods at CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, you make a helpful difference to people in need over this festive time and beyond it.  

The above are the Season’s Triple Reliefs.  We can only help reduce and possibly end 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 end-of-year opportunity!

 

 

Extra Festive Messages

 

~ 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 extras incomes they need to cover the extra expenses of the Season’s financial pressures.  More importantly than anything else, they will manage to exercise their right to decent and deserving festive celebrations.

 

=> All year round projects

 

As our all year-round projects (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 2019.

 

=> 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.

 

 

 

Main Festive Development

 

• Thanking Year 2019 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 2019, either as year 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 2019 has been an amazing one for CENFACS, thanks to the contribution of various individuals and organisations. 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 2019 will remain the one we remembered and acknowledged the 25 years of existence of this idea of CENFACS since its creation in 1994.  We called it a “Quadranscentennial” or “Q” Year.  During this year, we tried as much as we can to remember the work we did in order to help reduce poverty, as well the support we received during this year.

Year 2019 has been for us of digital, social media and online technology support as well.  This is an additional type of support that we already mentioned in our last year thank-you message.  We would like to repeat it this year without undermining the other valuable and traditional sources of support we normally receive.  We would like to thank, in particular but not exclusively WordPress.com, Easily.uk and Twitter.com. 

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.

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 2019 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 year 2019 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.

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 in the New Year and New Decade as well.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

18 December 2019

 

Post No. 122

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Festive Trends

• Season of Light: Starts 21 December 2019

• Festive Gifting

 

… and much, much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Festive Trends –

December and End of Autumn 2019 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

 

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 poverty relief and sustainable development landscapes in 2020 and 2020s, low carbon energy markets in the coming years and progress in the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063.

To e-discuss volunteers’ matters related to the 2020s, 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.  If you are looking for fundraising appeals or projects to fund as festive gifts over this festive time, Gifts of Peace are something valuable you could consider.

To enquiry about and or fund Gifts of Peace, just contact CENFACS.

 

= > Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community –

Festive celebration: CENFACS as a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Community

 

Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community’s festive celebration as a “Q” Community, is being prepared and trended.  As part of this preparation, 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.    

 

~ Season of Light: Starts 21 December 2019

 

Autumn Fresh Start to the Season of Light

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

This week 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. 

The Lights Appeal 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.

Under the Main Developments section of this post, there is more information about the Season of Light.

 

 

~ Festive Gifting

 

As part of the season of gifts, we are asking supporters to go extra mile in responding in these two fundraising appeals which are: Festive Gift Set and End-of-year Support.

 

=> Festive Gift Set

 

The remaining 13 days of this year starting from today are those of the last legacy of the Year 2019 as a “Q” Year at CENFACS.  To mark the end of and the Closing Act of our “Q” Year and Campaign, we are appealing to you to support of CENFACS’ year 2019 through a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Gift.  Such a gift will help to knowledge the work of CENFACS since 1994 and keep its momentum over the festive period while carrying us in the New Year and new decade.

With the “Q” Gift plus the Gift of Light plus the Gift of Peace; the three of them give you a Gift Set of £5 or more.  The “Q” Gift represents the 25-year of poverty relief work and bond with poor people.  The Gift of Light symbolises hope for the victims of wars and natural disasters.  The Gifts of Peace creates long lasting relationships of a world without conflicts with other humans and the nature. 

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 throughout this festive period.

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

 

 

=> End-of-year Support

 

As 2019 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 message 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 2020 and the new decade.

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 2019 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

 

~ Climate Talks Follow-up project: Feedback

Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3 with Madrid Makes It Work as a Working Theme

 

Our advocacy to make climate talks (like the COP25 Madrid) work for children continues despite the Madrid talks did not deliver to our key demand and many of the elements of CENFACS’ Compendium of Climate Advocacy.

The aim of the Madrid negotiations was to finalise the rule book for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.  However, Madrid has been a missing opportunity for the protection and stake for children and future generations. 

Although the agreement reached amongst countries at COP25 failed to create the rules for trading carbon emissions credits and help developing countries to pay for climate damages; we will continue to follow up these negotiations in the New Year.

We will particularly monitor the following talking and stumbling points:

√ Article 6 of the Paris climate accord; article that governs international carbon markets

√ The need for international financing mechanisms for developing countries to deal with climate change

√ The mechanisms for financing climate change reduction in developing countries

√ The creation of a market-based system to preserve nature

√ The system for paying for climate-linked disasters

√ Inequalities in the mechanisms for financing climate change reduction

√ Financial mobilization to respond to climate impacts in vulnerable countries and for vulnerable children

 

We will also observe how the disagreements between climate vulnerable and emerging nations, and between rich polluters and developing countries will be resolved on pending issues such as the slashing of greenhouse emissions, the payment for loss and damage, climate emergency compensation, the double counting of climate emergency etc.

We will particularly check how the above mentioned points and issues will help in protecting children.

We will follow the next rounds of the United Nations climate negotiations scheduled in Bonn (Germany) in June and at the COP26 in Glasgow in 2020. 

One could hope that new climate pledges (made about curbing greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate agreement) will be respected by then.

One could also hope that you will continue to support CENFACS’ Climate Talks Follow-up project and the current phase (Phase 3) of this project, which is about Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation Level.

The details of our next follow-up will be unveiled in the New Year.  

Thank you for your support.

 

 

~ CENFACS Absorption Capacity Checker

 

As part of Capacity Development for Absorbing Climate Investment (CDACI), it is possible to have an organisation’s absorption capacity checked through CENFACS’ Analytics Dashboard.

 

What is CENFACS Analytics Dashboard? 

CENFACS Analytics Dashboard is an information management tool that tracks, analyses and displays key performance indicators, poverty relief metrics, CENFACS’ poverty relief league, etc. 

It monitors the health of CENFACS in terms of the relationships of support received to outputs and outcomes generated. 

It provides as well charts and summaries about some of the campaigns conducted. 

It finally helps to retrieve information from CENFACS repository about the resources to help users and supporters.

For more on CENFACS Analytics Dashboard, please contact CENFACS.

 

What is CENFACS’ Absorption Capacity Checker?

It is an instrument of measure that CENFACS can use to verify the level and quality of skills, knowledge, capacity, resources, infrastructures and structures within an organisation that can make it to take up climate investment and utilise it effectively and efficiently, without waste and adversely impacting the natural environment while helping to reduce the negative impacts of climate change.

For further information about CENFACS’ Absorption Capacity Checker, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

~ All year round project: 2019 Verdict

 

The week is finally an occasion to remind the need to report on all year round projects which are:  Play, Run and Vote projects for poverty relief and development.   

Under the Main Developments section of the post, we have provided what those who supported all year round projects need to report or feedback on. 

 

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• The Lights Season: Starts 21 December 2019

 

The Lights Season at CENFACS kicks off with the theme of Hope as said above.  We are going to deliver this Hope with sustainable lights and energy.  The 2019-2020 Season of Light is a transitional period to a new decade; a decade that will be of the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, of the realisation of the Paris Climate Treaty, and of the continuation of the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063.

In the light of the above expected achievements of the next decade, CENFACS will approach 2020 and the 2020s with a set of sustainable energy projects.  We started this approach in January 2019.  Next year, we will deepen our action on this approach. 

So, we will be developing sustainable lights and energy projects to help reduce deforestation and forest degradation while supporting the reduction of poverty induced by deforestation.

 

• • Lights Season and Projects, Sustainable Lights and Green Energy Projects

 

We would like to explain that there should not be confusion between the Lights season and projects on one hand, and sustainable lights and green energy projects on the other. 

Lights projects are appeals made during or after the Season of Light to support the victims of destructive wars and environmental disasters.  They are part of our humanitarian relief programme.

Whereas sustainable lights and energy projects are sustainable development initiatives developed or to be developed in the context of reducing deforestation and forest degradation while addressing the problem of poverty induced by this deforestation and other causes/factors.

Although the two types of projects are separate, they could have a link between them.  For example: when the victims of destructive wars and natural disaster face as well the problem of the use of forest resources to meet their life-sustainable needs of energy for cooking, shelter and clothing. 

 

• • Two themes to bear in mind this Festive 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 sustainable lights and energy.   In this sense that we can bring a glimmer of hope through sustainable lights and energy 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 face with relief notes.

 

• • 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 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.

 

=> 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 2019-2020, our Lights projects will focus on two parts or two waves of action: 

1/ post-war and post-natural disaster developments

2/ current and emerging armed conflicts and environmental catastrophes

 

=> 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 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 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 materialise.  The post-war and post-disaster developments are sometimes left without support even until the conflicts and disasters return and or strike again. 

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

 

=> A Blaze of Hope for the eruption of any 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 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 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 need.

 

=> Examples of areas where a Blaze of Hope may be needed

For this December 2019, we have selected 3 areas that need lighting a Blaze of Hope, which are as follows:

Areas of vulnerable countries affected by torrential rains and cyclones that could cause enormous food insecurity such as Djibouti 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 insecurity such as Burkina Faso and Niger

The selection will help to start our Light advocacy.   And we can count on you for supporting this advocacy.  Thank you!

 

• Run, Play & Vote projects 

 

As we are reaching the end of year 2019, it is now time to report on our three All-year Round Projects –which are Play, Run and Vote. 

We would like our users and supporters to share with us and others their experiences, stories and reports regarding these projects.

 

• • The Action-Results of 2019: Tell it!

 

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

… Run if you ran for poverty relief over the year 2019 (or organised a Run activity)

… Play if you played the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

… Vote if you have already voted your 2019 African Poverty Relief Manager.

 

Remember!

If you are Playing the CENFACS Poverty Relief League and its sub-project Le Dernier Carrẻ, there are 16 team countries in this Poverty Relief and Development League playing each 32 matches/games each against the other. 

If you are Running for Poverty Relief and Development, you can do it alone or as a group. 

If you are casting your Vote for an International Development and Poverty Relief Manager of 2019, there are few days remaining until the end of the year 2019. 

Whether you are Gaming or Running or even Voting for Poverty Relief and Development, please keep a track record (including the facts, data, videos, audio tapes, reviews and images) of your activities to make and share your story with us and others. 

To do that, you do not need sophisticated technologies or a third party.  With your mobile phone only– if you have one – you can text, record voices, make a video, take pictures, phone and so on to capture and communicate the impacts of any event or activity you did, are doing or taking part by the end of this year. 

We would be more than happier to hear your Action and Results to feature and conclude CENFACS 2019 Year as “Q” Year.  Tell it!

 

• • What or who we want to hear

 

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

• The Best African Countries of 2019 which best reduced poverty
• The Best African Global Games Runners of 2019
• The Best African Development Managers of 2019

If you have not yet told us, have your say by 23 December 2019!  The Verdict is yours!

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

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 2019.

With many thanks.

 

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

11 December 2019

 

Post No. 121

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Capacity Development for Absorbing Climate Investment

• All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion: Volunteering in the 2020s

• Community Value Chains: CENFACS’ as a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Community or the Closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Capacity Development for Absorbing Climate Investment (CDACI) project

 

Last week, we published our festive guide with exciting built-in poverty-relieving contents.  This week, we are going further mile in dealing with one these contents, which is CDACI project

CDACI is one of CENFACS‘ Starting XI projects for this Autumn 2019.  This project will help us to revisit our Capacity Development programme for Africa-based Organisations, individuals working in these organisations and their beneficiaries. 

CDACI is as well a response to enable at the same time individuals, organisations and their environment to put in place an organised system in order to welcome climate investment and use it responsibly without waste.

Under the Main Developments section of this post, we have provided more information about CDACI background, aim, objectives and expected outcomes or results.  However, for the full project proposals including budget, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS. 

 

 

~ All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion: Volunteering in the 2020s

 

Volunteering in the 2020s is CENFACS’ 9th Winter volunteering e-discussion since we launched in 2010 our discussion on Volunteering for Poverty Reduction in the 2010s.  These 2019 wintry discussions will focus on how we can reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development through Volunteering in the 2020s. 

As the 2010 decade will come to an end at the end of this year, we need to start to think about our voluntary work.  This is important as 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 decade or at least for the next year in terms of the way we would like to volunteer so as to continue to achieve CENFACS’ mission, aim, objectives and charitable objects.

Under the Main Developments section of this post, there is more information about this key content of Volunteering in the 2020s.

 

 

~ Community Value Chains: CENFACS’ as a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Community or the Closing Act of the ”Q” Year and Project

 

The third key message of this week’s post is the start of our preparation for the end of the year 2019 through our December celebratory project the Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community.  This end of year, this celebration will be carried out under the theme of CENFACS as a “Q” Community. 

CENFACS as a “Q” Community will be the 10^th theme of celebration of the CENFACS’ Community and the Closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project. 

Under the Main Developments section of this post, we have provided more information about this theme and year’s celebration.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ The 2010s Programme is nearing end of its life

 

As CENFACS’ 10 year programme (the 2010s programme) is nearing end of its life, some of the projects and activities making this programme will be closed by the 31st of December 2019. 

After 31 December 2019, there will not be any more activity and service updates, fixes, reviews and enhancements for the would-be closed initiatives.  Other activities that may deem to be worth keeping and still in demand within the community will transition to 2020.

Our preparedness for the new decade’s poverty relief programme continues as planned.  This month is the last one for anybody to add their input to the incoming 2020s programme.  To add you say, just fill the comments box on this website and submit your input, or contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

~ Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3: Madrid Makes It Work as a Working Theme

 

As said in our previous communications, we are following the climate talks in Madrid.  Our advocacy about making the climate talks work for African children is still in progress while the international climate community is deliberating about the climate issues at these talks. 

Last week, we released the Compendium of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy.  This resource (Compendium) highlights the talking points that we would like to see implemented in the new decade. 

One can hope this time; the climate community’s talks will not be a missed opportunity for the climate protection and stake of children in terms of decisions to be made and actions to be taken at the end of these talks.

From what will emerge from the Madrid climate talks as final outcomes, we shall decide the next step of our climate advocacy.  In meantime, those who want to discuss with us about our Climate Follow-up Talks project or any aspect of the Compendium of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, they are welcome to contact CENFACS and we are more than happier to discuss with them.

 

 

 

~ Autumn Humanitarian Appeal 2019: Only 1 week and half remaining!

 

Our Autumn Humanitarian Appeal (AHA) 2019 will end soon.  You can support poor people, flora, fauna, communities and organisations in Africa before the official end of Autumn 2019.  Your support can make data change their lives.

With only £2, you can create 2 benefits: 1 benefit for humans and 1 benefit for other living beings.

For example, in times of serious risk of the extension of the African tropical bio-diversity, your £1 will be more than welcome to start reversing this risk.

To support and or enquire about AHA 2019, please go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• Capacity Development for Absorbing Climate Investment (CDACI project) or Absorptive Capacity Project

 

Project Justification

To successfully apply and have a responsible spending capacity for any investment to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, any organisation be it small or medium or even big needs to have the absorption capacity required for any amount of investment received or to be received.

They may need it to be able to smoothly absorb or channel the incoming climate funds (such as the Green Climate Fund, the Clean Air Fund, etc.) into their systems.  It is not enough for organisations to say for example “we need funding” or “when the funding will come, we will know what to do with it”.  So, having in place an absorption capacity or absorptive plan is better than thinking to decide later.

In concrete terms, let say an organisation may claim they need £1 million funding to tackle climate change.  The question is: do they have the infrastructures, structures, capacities, skills and knowledge to efficiently consume this seize of money on green or climate initiatives without wasting it?  Having an established absorption capacity or an absorption capacity in construction can help to respond to this question.

 

Project approach

There are many theories or approaches of absorption capacity (such as macroeconomic one through the balance of payments or business approach with absorption costing).  The approach taken in this project is basically about developing capacity (i.e. skills, knowledge and abilities) that would enable African organisations and individuals working in these organisations to be able to absorb any potential climate investment available in the market without waste. 

 

Project aim

CDACI aims at reducing poverty due to the lack of knowledge, infrastructures, structures and skills while enhancing the capacity of Africa-based organisations so that they can absorb any suitable incoming climate investment for climate change adaptation and mitigation.  In doing so, they will be in a better position to reduce poverty, particularly but not exclusively green poverty, within their community.

 

Project objectives

Amongst the objectives that can help to achieve the above aim are the following:

√ Develop skills, abilities and capabilities in the area of managing climate fund and investment

√ Integrate climate needs as an integral part of organisational budget

√ Develop realistic project proposals and activities to absorb this fund

√ Establish a clear link between climate fund and poverty relief outcomes

√ Able to measure investment received against poverty relief outcomes

√ Transform and equip organisational infrastructures and structures to become resilient and adaptable to the adverse impacts of climate change

√ Support the transition of these organisations from a linear economic model to a circular economic model

√ Spread the benefits of climate investment within their community and amongst their end users

Etc.

 

Project beneficiaries

The end beneficiaries of this project will be individuals working in Africa-based organisations as well as their end users.

The above potential beneficiaries can be part of the following identified recipients:

√ Workers and volunteers of skill-deprived Africa-based Organisations

√ Individuals working to reduce green poverty

√ Poor farmers and pastoralists who need climate investment

√ Training organisations, trainers, capacity builders and developers who will develop the capacity of others to absorb climate investment

√ The victims of the negative impacts of climate change (e.g. climate refugees and migrants)

√ Indirect beneficiaries such as women and children who will benefit from clean air, sustainable energy and so on

Etc.

 

Project outcomes

It is hoped that at the end of the project, the following generic outcomes will be achieved:

√ Reduction of green poverty by an acceptable percentage or rate

√ Reduction of skill deprivation in the area of absorption capacity

√ A good number of people or organisations will become capable of better absorbing climate investment

√ More poor farmers and pastoralists will have access to climate fund and will utilise it adequately

√ Project beneficiaries will become empowered with climate skills, knowledge and techniques

Besides the above generic benefits or outcomes, there will be specific outcomes (both in quantitative and qualitative terms) which will be generated at the level of each recipient of climate investment.  Each recipient of climate investment will be treated on their own merit as far as project outcomes are concerned.

Briefly, CDACI is the capacity development of Africa-based organisations, individuals working or making these organisations and their beneficiaries.  It is three cross-linked layers of capacity (i.e. individual capacity, organisational capacity and environmental capacity) that this project is dealing with.

To support or to request full project proposals, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS.

 

• All-in-Development Winter e-Discussion

 

• • Volunteering in the 2020s

 

A new decade could mean many things such as other ways of volunteering or just an improved way of volunteering.  As our work in CENFACS is mostly volunteering-based, we need to start to think about the roles, tasks and activities for our volunteers in the new year and new decade.

Their roles, tasks and activities will depend on the challenges we will face as an organisation; challenges both within and outside CENFACS.  If we can put it in marketing terms, we shall say the threats, risks, uncertainty and transition.  They will depend as well on opportunities and new spaces which the new year and new decade will bring along with them.

One of these factors or conditions could be the exit or non-exit of the UK from the EU.  This can make us to develop a policy to rise above these exiting or non-exiting challenges in order to keep our voluntary work running smoothly and delivers on poverty reduction outcomes for others.

There could be opportunities and open spaces for our work.  If so, how can we seize these new windows of opportunity and space to volunteer in a way that meet the needs of our users?

Besides this question, there are other factors such as the climate economy and energy transition.  These factors also demand that the make-up of our volunteers’ roles, tasks and activities have to be fitted for these types of economy and transition so that our service delivery and users’ expectations are not adversely affected.

The new decade is too crucial in terms of the pace and speed, including security and durability, that poor people will make to meet the United Nations Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030 by 2030, together with the package of the climate talks that have been held now in Madrid.  This additional factor requires us to further plan on the roles, tasks and activities to be undertaken by volunteers to help us successfully rise our work above the 2020s’ challenges and demands.

Therefore, our Winter e-volunteering discussion, which already started since the 5th of this month is briefly on the following:

√ The potential challenges of the 2020s as a new decade

√ The opportunities of the 2020s decade

√ Rethinking volunteers’ roles, tasks and activities in the light of the 2020s probable 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)

√ The needs of users in the 2020s: (How we can anticipate them, plan and develop services and activities to meet them? What the evidence and data especially the big data are telling us)

√ The 2020s 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 2020s, 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, on the go and move etc.). 

Supporting us does not need to be magical and majestic. 

You can still enjoy a great festive season while you 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 and new decade

• Savings and scrimping for AiDVs

• Festive deals, packages, coupons and vouchers for AiDVs

• Technologies for volunteering to make the world a better place for a low-carbon 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

• Festive gifts for sustaining for voluntary work in the new year and decade

• Wintry and festive giveaways for volunteering for a better world, etc.

To e-discuss Volunteering in the 2020s, please contact CENFACS or just forward your comments, views and experiences to us. Likewise, to find out the previous themes of CENFACS’ Winter Volunteering E-Discussion since its inception in 2010, please contact CENFACS.

 

• Community Value Chains –

CENFACS’ as a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Community or the Closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project

 

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

 

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 one of our community members 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 community members 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 and 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 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.

 

• • In focus for CVC 2019 Celebration:

CENFACS as a “Quadranscentennial” (“Q”) Community or the Closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project

 

This celebratory theme for CVC’s 10^th Celebration of CENFACS as a “Q” Community is the closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project. It is about uniting all our experience, knowledge and talents that made us a community of values and chains that lasted 25 years or so.

The poverty-relieving value and founding principle that guided us and underpinned our work since 1994 continues until today in making us to last 25 years.  This value helped us to build and develop a chain and a system of values and beliefs that made us a community we are today.

The “Q” aspect of our community is the lasting legacy of our work within the above period.  CENFACS as a “Q” Community will be remembered once more in 2019 in three ways as follows:

√ A community of poverty-relievers

√ A community of sustainable economic developers

√ A community of change makers

 

• • Share, Spread & Tweet the message

 

To enable us to build chains with you and others and to keep our support network alive, 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, please let us know. 

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

Whatever way/means you choose to enter this project, please reply by the 23rd of December 2019 to ease the end-of-year 2019 celebration and the start-of-year 2020 preparatory activities, projects and programmes.

For further details about this Closing Act of the “Q” Year and Project as well as the previous Acts of 2019 as a “Q” Year, please contact CENFACS.  For the timeline of the themes that made the Community Value Chains so far, please contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

 

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 2019.

With many thanks.

 

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

04 December 2019

 

Post No. 120

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• December 2019 Programme: What’s On

• Festive Guide

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3, with Madrid Makes It Work as a Working Theme

 

… and much, much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ December 2019 Programme: What’s on

 

The initiatives inserted in the above image of December 2019 planner including those listed below are the ones that would make Festive Months and the Season of Light at CENFACS.  

They are seasonally blended projects aiming at providing helpful and smart 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 facilitate the creation of a new life in the New Year.

The following is a list of selected December 2019 initiatives – Season’s Reliefs:

♦ Festive Income Builder, Booster & Calculator, In Focus for 2019: Little Extra Income Generation

♦ Community Value Chains: CENFACS as a Quadranscentennial ( “Q”) Community

♦ Volunteering in the 2020s

♦ Capacity Development for Absorbing Climate Change Investment

♦ Thanking 2019 Year Makers & Enablers

♦ Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 3: Madrid Makes It Work

♦ Gifts of Peace (Edition 2019/2020)

♦ Run, Vote & Play for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development (Action-Results 2019)

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.

 

 

~ CENFACS Festive Guide

 

CENFACS 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 Developments section of this post.

 

 

 

~ Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 3, with Madrid Makes It Work

 

Our environmental season continues this week with the continuation of our climate campaign, which is on Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (Phase 3) with Madrid Makes It Work (MMIW) as a working theme for this year. 

CPSAC – P. 3 continues with our follow up of the climate change talks which started on 2 December 2019 under the sponsorship of United Nations and scheduled to end on 13 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain. 

The central goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is “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”

Last year, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP24 in Katowice (Poland), governments were set to agree the implementation guidelines of the Paris Climate Agreement.  Since then there are still outstanding issues about the Paris Climate Treaty.

CENFACS’ key demand to these global climate talks remains the same, which is: Implementation of climate protection and stake for African children; the African Children being a sample of our working climate advocacy model.  This demand is undertaking through the follow up of global climate talks like the on-going climate talks (COP25) in progress in Madrid, Spain.

Under the Main Developments section of this post, you will find the Compendium of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy, which we invite you to read.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

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

 

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. 

You can give your unwanted and unneeded goods to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the shop built to help relieve 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.

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 2019

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

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

 

 

 

~ Autumn Humanitarian Appeal 2019: Only 2 weeks and half remaining!

 

Our Autumn Humanitarian Appeal (AHA) 2019 will end around mid-December 2019.  You can support poor people, flora, fauna, communities and organisations in Africa before the official end of Autumn 2019.  Your support can make data change their lives.

With only £2, you can create 2 benefits: 1 benefit for humans and 1 benefit for other living beings.

For example, in times of serious risk of the extension of the African tropical bio-diversity, your £1 will be more than welcome to start reversing this risk.

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

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• CENFACS Festive Guide

 

~ Festive Services

 

These services are made of two types of projects:

♦ Regular or on-going projects, which are continuous, even during the festive period.  The project CPSAC – P. 3 is one of them.

♦ 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 2019 programme and planned to be delivered over the month of December 2019.

 

~ 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 festive life-sustaining support that helps reduce poverty and bring sustainable peace.   It is 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, those who don’t have peace because of poverty, particularly in the developing regions of the world like Africa. 

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 31^st of January in the New Year.

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

Indeed, income poverty is one of the dominant features that characterize and number some of the world’s C, YP and Fs as poor or not.  One can imagine what life looks like when you are below the poverty line (that is an income below a minimal standard). 

It is even a painful and unbelievable situation that at the time of Festive Celebrations to mark the end of the year, tons of food and kilolitres of drink will be wasted and ended in bins in some of the most affluent places and households of the world while millions of C, YP & Fs in some of the deprived parts of the world will go hungry to bed in Festive nights, let alone without any celebrations once in a year life time. 

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

As part of festive support, our Edition 2019 Festive Extra Income Builder, Booster and Calculator is available for those who need it.  We launched this resource earlier in Autumn than we usually do.  We did it to enable those in need of the resource to get the tips and hints they need to early start exploring ways of boosting their income. 

This year, this resource focuses on Little Extra Income as other vehicle to raise some basic income to overcome income poverty over the festive period and beyond. 

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

04 to 10/12/2019: Income Generating Programmes (IGP) Period

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

11 to 18/12/2019: Income Generation Schemes (IGS) Period

During the IGS period, we will be working on how income deprived people and families can find available systematic plans of future action to 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 IGP and IGS plans or policies to generate little extra incomes not only for the festive period, but also beyond the festive time.

 

~ December as Record Tracking Month

 

December is also the time of record tracking on our all year round projects, particularly

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

♦ Run to Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2019

♦ Vote your African Poverty Relief Manager of the Year 2019

 

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 2019 (Best Country, Best Runner and Best Manager). 

 

~ 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.

Peace is the festive theme we choose at CENFACS to spread the joy of Season’s Reliefs to those in need.  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. 

To support the Edition 2019/2020 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 focus on ourselves as a Quadranscentennial or “Q” Community.

To carry the CENFACS Community into the New Year, our discussion on Sustainable Volunteering is scheduled to take place from 05 December 2019 to 05 January 2020.  The discussion theme for this year is Volunteering in the 2020s, in the new decade. 

To take the other two domains (International and Fund) of CENFACS into 2020 and engage with stakeholders, we shall develop projects with energy-based contents.

For any enquiries or to support CENFACS in the month of December 2019 and in the New Year, contact CENFACS.

 

 

• The Compendium of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy

 

This Compendium is a summary of what CENFACS and its beneficiaries would like the climate community (like the one gathering on annual basis to talk about climate change, the COP25) to achieve for children, particularly but not exclusively African children, in terms of outcomes.

The Compendium provides several main points shaping our key demand which is as follows.

The CENFACS demand to the global climate talks remains the same, which is: to give climate protection and stake for African children; the African Children being a sample of our working climate model.  This demand is undertaking through the follow up of global climate talks like the current climate talks (COP25) which started on 2 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain.

As said above, our demand is expressed through our Climate Talks Follow up project.  This project has been implemented under the sub-project entitled Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC).  There have three phases in this project. 

 

~ Phases of CENFACS’ Climate Talks Follow-up

 

The following are the phases making our Climate Talks Follow-up.

Phase 1: The First African Children Generation of the Millennium Development Goals and the Climate Stake

Phase 2: Climate Protection and Stake for African Children

Phase 3: Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation Level

Actually, we are in Phase 3, which is the implementation phase and which is about Taking Climate Protection and Stake for African Children at the Implementation Level (TCPSACI).

 

~ Key Points for the Compendium of CENFACS’ Climate Advocacy

 

The campaigning points that we would like to see implemented in the final make-up of climate proposals include the following:

⇒ Climate decisions need to be supportive of the protection and stake of children, especially those from poor nations

⇒ The children-friendliness of the package of the climate contents

⇒ The degree of integration of children’s needs and involvement of child protectors and advocates in the facilitative dialogue to support the implementation process

⇒ Climate friendly modern solutions to child protection against climate change

⇒ Support of children especially those from poor nations to transit to a circular economy

⇒ Support to climate neutral projects that are children-friendly

⇒ The fit of finance and insurance packages available on the market for the needs of children from developing countries like those of Africa

⇒ Effective ways of distributing these packages amongst children in need  

⇒ Financial need assessment of the costs of climate protection for children to meet children’s climate protection needs (from the basic to the more complex ones); needs including those to reduce poverty and hardships,  financial and insurance requests to meet and address the adverse impacts and effects of climate change

⇒ Climate Change Action plans in the context of local climate action (i.e. activity that looked at the gaps between plans and achievements, between what has worked and what was not working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions)

⇒ Mapping of Climate Change Actions (i.e. activity that helped in identifying good actions taken locally and rating them)

⇒ The need for an increase of climate protection for children

⇒ The way in which an international credit system for carbon emission certificates will work for child protection

⇒ The position of the international climate community on finance climate protection for children abroad (e.g. African children)

⇒ The issue of financial and technical assistance to children affected by climate change

⇒ The percentage of fund that finances climate educational needs of children

⇒ The setting up of climate plans that are children friendly

⇒ The way in which clean air fund is helping children’s health

⇒ Climate protection matters related to children of least developed countries (amongst them some African countries)

⇒ Better climate governance that works for and benefits children’s welfare and well-being

⇒ The political economy of negotiations for child protection against climate-induced poverty

⇒ Green and climate capacity building and education for child protection

⇒ Climate-friendly and children-friendly technologies for poverty relief

⇒ Climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes for children and future generations

⇒ Making clean technology fund (CTF) work for poor children from poor nations

⇒ The equity resulting from converted CTF debt to benefit children from poor nations as well

⇒ The new pledges, if any, for adaptation fund and Least Developed Countries Fund to be mobilised to give a stake to poor children’s needs

⇒ Mobilisation of the climate finance system and architecture to be designed so as to support poor children of poor countries  

Many of these points are still pending.  That is why there is a need to keep advocating and following the climate talks.

 

For further details CENFACS’ CPSAC – P. 3 and or any query about this compendium, please contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

 

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 2019.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

27 November 2019

 

Post No. 119

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 3, with working theme as Madrid Makes It Work

• Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 25/11/2019: Income Generation Skills

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign – In Focus between 27/11/2019 and 30/11/2019: Monitoring and Evaluation

… and much more!

 

Key Messages

 

~ Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 3, with a working theme as Madrid Makes It Work

 

Our environmental season has not yet finished.  This coming week, we are reviving or resuming our campaign on Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (Phase 3) with Madrid Make It Work (MMIW) as a working theme for this year. 

CPSAC – P. 3 continues with our follow up of the climate change talks which will be held under the auspices of United Nations Conference and which will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain.  The talks are held as the 25^th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25).

MMIW is both a specific follow-up as part of CPSAC – P. 3 and another example of the application of XX236.3 programme, CENFACS‘ monitoring and evaluation programme.

For more on next week’s climate follow-up talks, please read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

~ Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 25/11/2019: Income Generation Skills Development

 

Riding on the heels of this week’s agenda is also the last skills focus of our Skills Development Month; skills focus which is on Income Generation or Skills to Generate Little Extra Income.  This Skills focus is also part of this Season’s theme from this year’s edition of Festive Income Booster, which is one of CENFACS’ Individual Capacity Development Programme resource.  For more details about this edition, please contact CENFACS.

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

These skills can include production (e.g. skills to produce cosmetics, soaps, making clothes or sewing, etc.), marketing, sale, communication, job search, persuasion, trade, literacy skills, etc.  To that, one can add online income generation skills such as digital literacy, mobile money, online analytical skills, etc.  Skills can be basic to the very complex ones to generate income.

This week, the focus is on basic income generation skills; particularly those one needs to develop in order to generate some little extra income, as highlighted in the 2019 edition of CENFACS’ Festive Income Booster resource.  Next month, we shall expand more on income generation matters as December is the Income Generation month according to CENFACS development calendar. 

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

 

~ “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) Campaign – In Focus between 27/11/2019 and 30/11/2019: Monitoring and Evaluation

 

Like in any activity or project or even programme that has been run, to find out what went well and what went wrong; it is essential to carry out some monitoring and evaluation.

We have been systematically collecting and analysing information throughout the seven weeks of our nature notes.  We are now getting into the process of assessing what these notes are telling us in terms of the achieved results against expected ones and for future references of the “A la une” campaign.

As monitoring is a continuous process and evaluation an end of project assessment, we would like to hear as well from those who have been following our nature notes, which are seven in total.   We would like you to tell us in your own words and own numbers your feelings about the seven notes making the theme of upkeep of the nature.

You can post your Say to CENFACS via email or complete the comments box on this site and submit to us.

Please tell us what you think.  Thank you for your support.

 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Women and Children FIRST Development Day: Feedback

 

Last week, we held our Development Day (DD) as planned.  What can we retain from the DD?  The following is the feedback.

The good news from the DD was we were able…

√ to re-communicate our poverty relief message 

√ to showcase what a DD looks like

√ to interact with the members of the public, who popped in the event place, about economic sustainability

√ to give away some clothes to support people, another local deserving cause like ours and the circular economy

√ to re-engage with stakeholders and raise awareness of CENFACS’ work in the community 

The setback was that we did not have a good number of people or attendees we were expecting to turn up.  Perhaps, one of the lessons we learnt from the DD is to try to increase the number of participants and volunteers for future references and events. 

In all, the overall outcome is that we were able to physically bring CENFACS back to the community again and the community to access CENFACS’ service for free.  This added some value to our online presence.  

We would like to thank those who supported us on the day, particularly to the Big Local Broad Green for allowing us to hold our DD at their space/place.  We would like as well to say thank you to an old lady who told us this: “You are doing a great job of helping to relieve poverty”.

 

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

 

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 special period to spread a little extra happiness to those who do not have. 

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

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 2019

√ SHOP at CENFACS Charity e-Store to support good and deserving causes of poverty relief during the festive period 2019

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

 

~ The Upkeep of Africa’s Tropical Flora

 

As planned and mentioned earlier on, “A la une” campaign has entered the evaluation stage while we are continuing with the monitoring process.  This monitoring and evaluation will continue until the end of November 2019.  After that, our environmental season will carry on until mid-December 2019.

As part the environmental season, we have integrated “A la une” campaign with other similar environmental projects or campaigns.  We are as well extending the theme of the upkeep of the nature to consider the extinction risks and threats that Africa’s tropical flora is facing.  We are therefore advocating about and working on the reduction of the extinction of Africa’s Tropical Flora, as some current researches from well-placed sources suggested.

To enquire and or share your work on Africa’s tropical biodiversity, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main development

 

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 3, with Madrid Makes It Work as a Working Theme

 

• • Continuing to make our case for African Children through CPSAC – P. 3, with MMIW (Madrid Makes It Work) this year

 

Before starting the December 2019 CPSAC – P. 3 with MMIW, let’s see what last year’s follow up was about.

Last year’s follow up was about Katowice Implements Paris (KIP) as climate advocacy theme for 2018 that took stock of the previous climate talks follow up we did.

 

⇒ CPSAC – P.2 with KIP as stocktaking advocacy

 

Katowice Implements Paris (KIP) was the continuation of What Bonn Say (WBS), the Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation (PSCM) and our previous works.  For more on WBS and PSCM, please read below the Review on our 2017 climate follow up works. 

 

⇒• What KIP meant

“Katowice Implements Paris” meant that we were following the Climate Change talks which took place from 2 to 14 December 2018, in Katowice, Poland. 

These talks were held as the 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

 

⇒• What following up COP 24 was about

One of the most important tasks of the 24th Session of the of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) was to work out and adopt a package of decisions ensuring the full implementation of the Paris Agreement, in accordance with the decisions adopted in Paris (COP21) and in Marrakesh (CMA1.1).

Moreover, COP24 would include the so-called Facilitative Dialogue intended to support the implementation of national commitments.  Our follow up of COP24 was about making sure that the full implementation of the Paris Agreement benefit all the future generations including the African children. 

 

⇒• Key Points to Remember about KIP advocacy

The key word for KIP was Implementation.

Our working areas of interest concerning KIP were on

√ What climate decisions for the protection and stake of children, especially those from poor nations, would be taken

√ The contents of the package to be implemented and children-friendliness of this package

√ The degree of integration of children’s needs and involvement of child protectors and advocates in the facilitative dialogue to support the implementation process

There were other campaigning points that we wanted to see implemented in the final make-up of climate proposals, points such as:

√ Climate friendly modern solutions to child protection against climate change

√ Support of children especially those from poor nations to transit to a circular economy

√ Support to climate neutral projects that are children-friendly  

 

Because of the outstanding or gap issues in the Paris climate package in terms of its agreement and application, we will continue to advocate on the above mentioned points.

 

⇒ Continuity of CPSAC – P.3 with MMIW

 

The continuation of our case for Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) in Phase 3 with MMIW as theme for this year started in February 2019 with the following activities and action events:

<> The fit of finance and insurance packages available on the market for the needs of children from developing countries like those of Africa

<> Effective ways of distributing them amongst children in need  

<> Financial Need Assessment of the Costs of Climate Protection for Children to meet children’s climate protection needs (from the basic to the more complex ones); needs including those to reduce poverty and hardships,  financial and insurance requests to meet and address the adverse impacts and effects of climate change

 <> Climate Change Action plans in the context of local climate action (i.e. activity that looked at the gaps between plans and achievements, between what has worked and what was not working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions)

<> Mapping of Climate Change Actions (i.e. activity that helped in identifying good actions taken locally and rating them)

The above are the selected points of CPSAC – Phase 3 that speak for our climate action this year.  Some of the points (unmet ones) will carry on in our December 2019 climate advocacy.

 

• • December 2019 Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 3 with MMIW (Madrid Makes It Work)

 

The new follow up is entitled Madrid Makes It Work (MMIW).  Our preparedness for Madrid Makes the Paris Agreement Work for Children and Future Generations (or MMIW) started since last Spring and is still part of CPSAC Phase 3.

The CENFACS demand to the global climate talks remains the same, which is: to give climate protection and stake for African children; the African Children being a sample of our working climate model.  This demand is undertaking through the follow up of global climate talks like the next climate talks (COP25) due to start on 2 December 2019 in Spain.

 

⇒ CPSAC – P. 3 with MMIW as stocktaking advocacy

 

December 2019 Climate Talks Follow up CPSAC (Climate Protection and Stake for African Children) – Phase 3 with Madrid Makes It Work (MMIW) as climate advocacy theme for 2019 takes stock of the previous climate talks follow up we did.

Madrid Makes It Work (MMIW) is the continuation of Katowice Implements Paris (KIP), What Bonn Say (WBS), The Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation (PSCM) and our previous works.  For more on KIP, WBS and PSCM, please read below the Review on our 2017 and 2018 climate follow up works. 

 

⇒ What MMIW means

 

“Madrid Makes It Work” means make the climate talks work for African children.  It also a working slogan telling us that we are following the Climate Change talks which will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 in Madrid, Spain.  Although, the slogan says that Madrid makes it work, we do not mean one city (Madrid) or country (Spain) alone can make the Paris Agreement works.  It is down to all the global community to make it work.  Madrid is our advocacy reference as where the climate summit will be held.

 

⇒ CENFACS’ Follow Up of CO25: MMIW entry points for December 2019

 

The working theme for the 2019 CPSAC – P. 3 is MMIW, and the slogan or key word will be Make-it-Work. 

To follow up COP25, we need to start somewhere to follow COP25.   Our provisional areas of interest and entry points concerning MMIW will be on the following:

√ How the climate community will close the Paris Agreement’s remaining gaps

√ Would be an increase of climate protection for children?

√ How the Summit will deal with international credit system for emission certificate (for example how an international credit system for carbon emission certificates will work for child protection)

√ Where the international climate community does stand about finance climate protection for children abroad (e.g. African children)

√ The issue of financial and technical assistance to children affected by climate change will it be resolved?

√ What is the percentage of fund that finances climate educational needs of children?

√ The setting up of climate plans that are children friendly

√ How the clean air fund is helping children’s health

√ How climate protection matters related to children of least developed countries (amongst them some African countries) will be dealt with

The above points are just for us to enter the follow up and engage with the Climate Summit.  When these talks start next week and throughout their running, there could emerge other climate matters.  In which case, we shall update our follow up accordingly.

Additionally, as we progress with the preparedness of next week’s and this year’s follow up of climate talks, those areas of interest will be shaped to take into account the final make-up of these talks, and the current and emerging needs of children victims, vulnerable and at risk of the adverse effects and impacts of climate change.

To support CSPAC – P. 3 and MMIW, please contact CENFACS

  

• Review of our 2017and 2018 climate follow up works

 

While we are looking forward to the next round of climate talks, our climate protection continues by looking back the climate talks (COP24) in 2018 in Poland and December 2017 Paris Meeting.

 

~ Looking back Katowice Implements Paris (KIP)

We have already reviewed KIP at the start of these main development notes.  We would like to simply add the following questions that made KIP:

√ What climate decisions for the protection and stake of children, especially those from poor nations, were at COP24

√ The contents of the climate package to be implemented and children-friendliness of this package

√ The degree of integration of children’s needs and involvement of child protectors and advocates in the facilitative dialogue to support the implementation process

√ Climate friendly modern solutions to child protection against climate change

√ Support of children especially those from poor nations to transit to a circular economy

√ Support to climate neutral projects that are children-friendly  

Many of these points are still pending.  That is why there is a need to keep advocating and following the climate talks.

There was also Bonn Climate Conference, which we followed up under the banner of What Bonn Say (WBS).

Our follow up work on these talks was about what to expect from the climate change negotiations and representations at these talks to make the Bonn gathering a progress from the Marrakech talks and the Paris Agreement as pivotal regarding the protection of children against the adverse effects and impacts of climate change.

 

~ What WBS was about

WBS was our 2017 follow up regarding what climate change experts and participants said and decided at the Bonn Climate Change Conference regarding the 2016 issues in terms of progress made and outstanding climate issues. 

Just like KIP, WBS was both a specific follow-up as part of CPSAC Phase 2 and an example of the application of CENFACS‘ 2020-2030-2063 Follow-up (or XX236.3F) programme, which is our general follow up.  It is a Programme of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Climate Change Reduction, Halving Poverty, Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Development Agenda.

XX236.3FP is made of four follow-ups for monitoring and evaluation of the following: the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the Istanbul Declaration to halve poverty by 2020, the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals, and Africa’s Agenda 2063.   

So, this 4-Follow-up programme includes the four of them.  For more on XX236.3FP, contact CENFACS.  

WBS considered previous unsolved and pending issues as well as new ones from climate talks.  We kicked off WBS in March 2017 with following engaging points which were taken into the main Bonn Climate Change Conference:

√ Better climate governance that works for and benefits children’s welfare and well-being

√ The political economy of negotiations for child protection against climate-induced poverty

√ Green and climate capacity building and education for child protection

√ Climate-friendly and children-friendly technologies for poverty relief

√ Climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes for children and future generations.

The above sharing advocacy or campaigning points/contents are the ones that we have been monitoring besides the other issues which emerged from the Bonn Climate Change Conference. 

After WBS, we had another follow up with the Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation.

 

~ CPSAC – P.2: The Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation (PSCM)

The overarching goal of the PSCM was to mobilise public and private finance for projects to implement the Paris International Agreement on Climate Change.

The CENFACS demand to the global climate talks remains the same: to get climate protection and stake for African children.  This ask was undertaking through the follow up of the PSCM as global climate talks.

Our climate follow up of the Paris round discussions was on

√ Making clean technology fund (CTF) work for poor children from poor nations

√ The equity resulting from converted CTF debt to benefit children from poor nations as well

√ The new pledges, if any, for adaptation fund and Least Developed Countries Fund to be mobilised to give a stake to poor children’s needs

√ Mobilisation of the climate finance system and architecture to be designed so as to support poor children of poor countries  

For more information on this review, please contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

 

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 2019.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

20 November 2019

 

Post No. 118

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• The 3-Frontier Area Appeal to Support the Victims of Insecurity and Displaced Persons in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign – In Focus between 20/11/2019 and 26/11/2019: Natural Land Use, Sustainable Food System and Changing Climate Needs (Note 7)

• Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 18/11/2019: Skills to Survive Economic Transition

 

….  and much more!

 

Key Messages

 

~ The 3-Frontier Area Appeal to Support the Victims of Insecurity and Displaced Persons in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

 

After carrying out reviews of our humanitarian appeals this November, it has been resolved to launch an appeal under the umbrella of 3-Frontier Area to deal with the worrying developments regarding the insecurity situation in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.  In some parts of these three countries, civilians have been killed and displaced and there is no sign of peace. 

This November 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.  However, for further information about the 3-Frontier Area Appeal, please read under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

 

 

~ “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign – In Focus between 20/11/2019 and 26/11/2019: Natural Land Use, Sustainable Food System and Changing Climate Needs (Note 7)

 

The 7^th Note of “A la une” Campaign will deal with three pitches as follows: Natural Land Use, Sustainable Food System and Changing Climate Needs.  The three of them are linked although we have treated them separately. 

Under the Main Developments section of this post, you will find more information about these pitches. 

 

 

 

~ Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 18/11/2019: Skills to Survive Economic Transition

 

A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from an integrated economy within a regional economic bloc to an economy that is exiting (exited) from the bloc.  Any economic transitions bring along with them new types of needs or same needs but to be met by same or new skills and capacities as economies in transition face new realities.  The economies in transition we are talking about are those exiting from a regional economic bloc and those remaining in that bloc (like the EU).

This situation of matching skills with new realties happened in the history when eastern European economies delinked from the Soviet bloc in the 1990s.  They were faced with new and changing demands or the same demands but that could not be met with the same skills. 

There are many skills one can think of in this kind of situation.  To make the matter easier for our Skills development this week, we are focussing on two types of skills: adaptation and defensive skills to survive economic transition.  Adaptation skills are those developed to better suit to the changing and new environment, while defensive skills are those built to protect from the negative impacts of changing and new environment of economic transition.

For further details about this week’s skills focus, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Inequalities Reducer

 

The aim of this project is to reduce the differences in the level of poverty reduction within and between poor people, through a variety of means such as income generation activities, digital literacy training and education, advocacy (on institutional change, behavioural change or change of attitudes, tackling discrimination, etc.), mobile money transfer, creation opportunities for all, inclusiveness, fairness, etc.  This is done to further reduce intergenerational poverty while enhancing equality for all.

For the further details or the full proposals of this project, please contact CENFACS. 

 

~ Skills Development Month: Update of CENFACS’ Skills Data Bank

 

The month of Economics of Education and Skill Formation continues with CENFACS Data Bank of Skills, a repository of information containing skills of the CENFACS Community.

We are continuing to update our Database or Data Bank of Skills for the CENFACS’ Community.  Those who would like to register their skills to CENFACS’ Skills Data Bank; they are free to do so. 

Registering your skills to the CENFACS Community’s Skills Data Bank provides mutual benefits for CENFACS’ registrar and the registered person. 

The registration enables us to know who possesses what as skills, abilities and competences.  For the registered person, it gives them the possibility to tap into opportunities when they arise.

You can upload or email your skills to CENFACS to make the Skills Database or Data Bank at facs@cenfacs.org.uk

 

~ Integrating “A la une” campaign to other environmental campaigns

 

Although the seven notes or themed areas of work for this year’s “A la une” campaign have been covered as planned, our environmental season will continue until the official end of Autumn around mid-December 2019. 

We still have next week the Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (Phase 3) to campaign for prior to our intense follow-up of the climate change talks, which will take place from 2 to 13 December 2019 in Madrid in Spain.   

To continue “A la une” campaign, we are looking at similar campaigns on nature and the environment held by different organisations in the UK, Africa and elsewhere.  This is because to achieve a good upkeep of the nature, it needs a collective endeavour  

Amongst these organisations, we have our Africa-based Sister Organisations.  Besides them, we are this week trying to look at different environmental actions taken by local people to make the upkeep of the nature a local affair rather than only a global matter.

So, this week is an inclusive and integrative one.  It is the week of the integration of the notes or themed areas of work of the Autumn environmental action (i.e. A la une), of the local environmental campaign and of some Africa-based organisations’ environmental works.  This integration will lead to a monitoring and evaluation of “A la une” campaign at the end of this month.

To find out more about the integration between “A la une” Campaign and similar environmental campaigns, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Main Developments

 

• The 3-Frontier Area Appeal to Support the Victims of Insecurity and Displaced Persons in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

 

~ What is the 3-Frontier Area

 

It is geographical area made of parts of three West African countries (which are Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) where there is some high levels of insecurity and threats to human life.

 

~ What this appeal is about

 

It is about supporting the victims of continuing insecurity and displaced persons in some parts of the above named three countries.  In these three countries, there has been a continuing armed conflicts between local armies and security forces on the one hand, and armed groups.

As a result, there has been a decline of the security situation, an increase in instability and ethnic violence.  According to local sources, more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in Mali and Burkina Faso, and more than 1 million internally displaced people.

 

~ 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 or countries.   Our role is purely humanitarian 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 health, sanitation, violation of human rights, humanitarian crisis, etc.) if this situation continues.

 

~ What CENFACS wants you to do

 

CENFACS wants you to create a magic by providing life-saving 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 3-frontier area so that the poor civilians can enjoy 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 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 3-frontier area at a peace talks or gatherings

√ Spreading the news in your social networks and contacts about the issue

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 Wangari Maathai said that “It is the little things citizens do that is what will make the difference” (Wangari Maathai, Environmental Activist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner). 

CENFACS hopes you will act upon this humanitarian November appeal and create the magic of life-saving gift without giving money so that the sufferers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger can rediscover their way to sustainable and inclusive peace. 

Thank you for your readership and for considering delivering on this appeal.

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign – In Focus between 20/11/2019 and 26/11/2019: Natural Land Use, Sustainable Food System and Changing Climate Needs (Note No. 7)

 

The Note no. 7 of our “A la une” campaign is made of three pitches as follows: Natural Land Use, Sustainable Food System and Changing Climate Needs.   Let us deal with actions on them one by one.

 

~ Natural Land Use

 

This first pitch of the Note 7 is an action against the way in which land is occupied or managed for human purposes rather than in harmony with natural balance and habitat for living things.

“A la une” campaign on the use of natural or wild land, is against those commercial processes and human settlements that disturb or upset natural processes and interfere with living things’ habitats without care and observance of laws to protect wild lands and their habitants (like endangered species).

To discuss and or enquire about this pitch, please contact CENFACS.

 

~ Sustainable Food System

 

Before looking at this pitch of the 7^th note of “A la une” campaign, let’s try to make sense about food systems.

In its conceptual and framework about food systems, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation known as FAO (1) defines food systems as

“the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities involves in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded.  The food system is composed of sub-systems (e.g. farming system, waste management system, input supply system, etc.) and interacts with other key systems (e.g. energy system, trade system, heath system, etc.).”

The same FAO defines a sustainable food system as

“a food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised”.

 

(1) http: //www.fao.org/3/ca2079en/CA2079EN,pdf (accessed on 14/11/2019)

 

As this pitch is about sustainable food system, we are working on food security and nutrition.  So, the pitch is to advocate to secure food security and nutrition for the under nourished and hungry people.  The kinds of food security and nutrition we are campaigning about are the ones that respect the natural balance or care for the upkeep of the nature.

The approach used for sustainable food system in this pitch is of a broad perspective challenge; that is a holistic food systems approach which considers the food system in totality or entirety, instead of narrow approaches such as production-focussed approach, the value chain development approach or the market systems approach.

To discuss and or enquire about this pitch, please contact CENFACS.

 

~ Changing Climate Needs

 

With rising temperatures, sea levels and greenhouse gas emissions; there are new and emerging needs to meet this changing climate.  For example, with a long summer season there has been a need to adapt human food, nutrition, health, housing, travel, transport, etc. 

In the context of “A la une” campaign, the way in which we meet new needs to respond to changing climate should not at the expense of natural balance and nature in general.  Therefore, this pitch invites the sustainable development community to respect the upkeep of the nature while we are trying to adapt and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.

To discuss and or enquire about this pitch, please contact CENFACS.

For further details and to support this Note 7 and or the entire “A la une” campaign, please contact CENFACS.

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

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 2019.

With many thanks.

 

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

13 November 2019

 

Post No. 117

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign – In Focus between 13/11/2019 and 19/11/2019: Extra protection from Wildlife Extinction (Note No. 6)

• Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 11/11/2019: Skills to Cope with Financial Pressure

• Coming Next Week: The 10th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2019: Economic Sustainability

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ “A la une” (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) Campaign –

In Focus between 13/11/2019 and 19/11/2019: Extra protection from Wildlife Extinction (Note No. 6)

 

The sixth note of “A la une” campaign, which is our stand against the sixth mass extinction or loss of biodiversity, is about the defence against harm or danger of wild animal.  The latter includes: mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, etc.    The campaign aims at maintaining the in-built capacity of the natural system.

This added protection is for endangered species (like elephants, okapis, rhinoceros, etc.); species that are still traded, in spite of international agreements against such as trade; agreements such as those passed through the triennial Summit of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) 

It is also an extra protection for animals against pollution (such as water pollution) which is a threat to animals, just like for humans.

The 6^th note of the “A la une” campaign is further about an added protection of wild animal against illicit and exotic pet trade, illegal trade, pollution and mistreatment of animals.

The sixth note, which is a campaign to save wild life populations, is a stand against the decline of the planet’s natural life-support systems; against the destruction of nature, destruction that reduces wildlife populations;  and against illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade.

To enquire and or support the sixth note of the “A la une” campaign, please contact CENFACS. 

 

~ Skills Development Month with Skills Focus for Week Starting 11/11/2019: Skills to Cope with Financial Pressure

 

Our Skills Development month or the month of the Economics of Education and Skill Formation continues this week.   After looking at the Skills to Manage Economic Uncertainty in the first week of the Skills Development month, we are focussing on Skills to Cope with Financial Pressure this week.

To develop the skills to cope with financial pressure, it is better to know what financial pressure does or creates to people, especially to those living in poverty.  Financial pressure can cause a number of problems such as anxiety, psychological drain or pain, anger, conflict, illness, etc. 

Skills can be developed to deal with these issues.  There could a particular skill or a group of skills.  For example, we can have 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, job search skills for unemployed people, 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 skills that could also be considered.  They include skills to deal with accounts, skills to write and understand a budget, skills to conduct cost-benefit analysis; financial literacy skills; debt management skills, household financial management skills etc. 

So, this week we are looking at ways of enhancing users with skills where they feel they lack relevant skills to deal with the impacts of financial pressure.

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

 

 

~ Coming Next Week: The 10th Women and Children FIRST Development Day (WCFDD) – In Focus on 19/11/2019: Economic Sustainability

 

High on the next week’s agenda will be our 10th Development Day.  CENFACS’ 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. 

For this year’s Development Day, we will be looking at ways of being or becoming more economically sustainable through the theme of economic sustainability.  In other words, how can we use the tenets of economic sustainability to further reduce poverty for ourselves and others in our community as well as enhance sustainable development?  This is a critical issue in times of climate emergency, economic uncertainty and transitional economy.  

Under the Main Development section of this post, there are further details about the Development Day.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ “Quadranscentennial” (Q) Skills

 

Our “Q” Year or Project continues this month with “Q” Skills.  These are the skills that enable CENFACS to function for the 25 years or so.  To keep an idea going on for 25 years, it requires some skills to keep modernising this idea and applying it to the modern or evolving setting.

“Q” Skills are like the hypothetical skills to learn to fish compared to the skills to give fish to someone.   They are the creative, maintenance and sustainable skills for the life of an idea, a project.  In other words, they are the skills to create an idea, to maintain that idea unique amongst other competing ideas, and to make it last for many years (in the case of the CENFACS idea for 25 years and beyond).

So, this month is the continuation of the CENFACS celebration as a product developed using creative, maintenance and long lasting skills.  It is the celebration of skills that keep CENFACS going in the last 25 years. 

 

~ Central African Republic: Autumn Appeal Review

 

After conducting appeal reviews for Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we are conducting now a third appeal review for this Autumn.  This third appeal review is about the environmental situation with floods following torrential rains that struck the Central African Republic (CAR).

Indeed, CAR’s capital experienced a rising level of water (reaching 1, 7 m) in the river which flew out of its normal course to the vicinity of the river at the end of last October.  As a result, thousands people and households were left their homes, 28,000 people were displaced and more than 10,000 stricken households were identified.  There is a serious concern about the following risks: health risks due to contaminated water, sanitation risks as water washed out toilet facilities, spread of illnesses (such as malaria, diarrheal, cholera, poludism, etc.).

There has already been an appeal for an international aid from the local authorities.  There has been some responses in terms of basic supplies and foods.  However, this is not enough to cover the emergency needs caused by rising water and floods.

As far as CENFACS is concerned, our review follows the Light appeals we launched about the people affected by environmental-disaster and or destructive wars in CAR.  The review is also part of our Autumn appeal reviews for the previous appeals of this kind we made this year.

The purpose of this review is therefore to check the progress made by our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) on the ground in alleviating the sufferings from environmentally disaster and destructive wars which CAR experienced in the last few years.  We are checking this progress against the goals and targets of appeals made in the light of previous and the current situation.     

This review will determine the kinds of gap that needs to be filled in terms of meeting the needs for the victims of these events and other poor people living in poverty there.  It will help to determine the effectiveness of our appeal work and of the work of ASOs.

To enquire and or find out more about this review, please contact CENFACS.

 

~ Charity e-Store: Festive SHOPPING and DONATIONS!

 

Every occasion and or every season is an opportunity to do something against poverty and hardships.  This coming festive season is one of them and is a great time to share precious moments with your love ones.  It is also a time to spread a little extra happiness to those who do not have. 

You can give your unwanted and unneeded goods to CENFACS’ Charity e-Store, the shop builds to help relieve poverty.  You can buy second hand goods and bargain priced new items and much more. 

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

You can do something different this Festive Season by SHOPPING or DONATIONS 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 2018

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

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

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Coming Next Week: The 10^th Women and Children FIRST Development Day – In Focus on 19/11/2019: Economic Sustainability

 

This year, the DD will be centred on the idea and theme of Economic Sustainability.  This concept may appear too technical for some people.  To facilitate its understanding, we are going to define it in two stages: firstly, we will define sustainability and secondly, we shall explain what economic sustainability is.

 

• • Understanding economic sustainability

 

There are many definitions of sustainability.  In the context of our DD, we have chosen the following dictionary definition as provided by Chris Park (1).

“Sustainability is “a concept used to describe community and economic development in terms of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (p. 439)

Knowing what sustainability means, economic sustainability is one of the dimensions of sustainability; the other dimensions being social and environmental.  Economic sustainability has also many definitions.  In the context of our DD, we have selected the following definition given by the University of Gavle (2)

“Economic sustainability is an integrated part of sustainability and means that we must use, safeguard and sustain resources (human and material) to create long-term sustainable values by optimal use, recovery and recycling.  In other words, we must conserve finite natural resources today so that future generations too can cater for their needs”

The above two definitions tell us three basic but important things which are:

The long term conservation of resources

Living on the returns of the Earth’s natural resources

The concern about the present and future value of natural resources

 

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

(2) https: //www.hig.se/Ext/En/University-of-Gavle/About-the-University/Environmental-Work/What-is-sustainable-development-at-Hig/Economic-sustainability.html

 

• •  Putting the concept of economic sustainability into practice

 

As it appears, economic sustainability may seem to be a technical concept or idea. In our DD, we will work out ways of making it practical and understandable to everyone who will take part to the day.  To do that, we will run three specific activities which are: advice, art and design, and clothes recycling as an example to end clothing poverty.

a) Basic free ADVICE on economic sustainability will be about some suggestions and opinions on the use of economic sustainability to help reduce poverty and hardships

b) ART and DESIGN will be some creation of works and skills to portray economic sustainability and convey the economic sustainability message to a wider audience.  There will be as well some drawing, plan and model activities to show how one can achieve economic sustainability in real life

c) Good quality second hand CLOTHES SALE (at £1 only per item) will contribute to clothes recycling while raising money to help reduce clothing poverty.

There will extra activities such as questionnaire and forms filling, economic sustainability stories sharing, etc.

All these activities will be framed in such a way of learning or re-learning to be economically sustainable.  To do that we will do the conversion of these ideas into the practice of economic sustainability:

√ Environmentally friendly forms of development

√ Human use of environmental resources and interference with environmental systems

√ Resource use and depletion

√ Over-use of environmental resource

√ Ways of becoming economically sustainable

√ Things to do to help achieve economic sustainability in the community and local life

√ Our understanding of genuine progress indicator

Briefly, our DD will try to put into practice the elements of the above definitions, even if one may disagree with them.  In doing so, economic sustainability will become a real life situation in our daily life, but not a rocket science.

 

• • Joining the Development Day

 

You can pop in on 19/11/2019 at:

Big Local Broad Green, The Hub Broad Green, 38 Keely Road, Croydon  CR0  1TF

Between 11 am and 2pm

For any of the following:

√ Free advice

√ Art and design

√ Buy good quality second hand clothes at £1 only per item

√ Share your story or experience of economic sustainability

√ Or just support us to keep CENFACS’ poverty relief work going

 

This DD will be conducted under CENFACS’ Women and Children Sustainable Development projects.

 

• • WCFDD Timeline: 2010 to 2018

 

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. 

In 2010, the WCFDD was devoted to AWARENESS on SUSTAINABLE ACCESS TO & PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGIES

In 2011, CENFACS’ WCFDD tackled the challenging issue of BARRIERS TO POVERTY REDUCTION, with a special emphasis on one particular way of overcoming them, which is participation.  Women & Children’s Participation was looked at within the context of Race in the Road to Poverty Reduction.

In 2012, our Development Day in Putting Women and Children FIRST went further with the sub-theme of participation as it was organised around the theme of IMPROVING WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE RACE TO REDUCE POVERTY. 

In 2013, WCFDD at CENFACS extended and deepened the idea of more and better participation by focussing on Infrastructures for Women’s and Children’s contribution to poverty relief.  The theme for 2013 was “INFRASTRUCTURES FOR A POSITIVE ECONOMY TO REDUCE POVERTY”.

In 2014, we guesstimated and compared the cost for acting to the cost for inaction to reduce poverty.  The theme of COSTING DOING NOTHING FOR POVERTY RELIEF improves our understanding on an early prevention that helps reduce costs and avoid escalating or detrimental effects for poor Women and Children.

In 2015, WCFDD was dedicated to MAKING THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WORK FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN (W&C).  This was the local community response from the W&C of CENFACS to the 2030 Global Agenda and Goals for Sustainable Development.

In 2016, The theme for our Development Day was ENSURING HEALTHY LIVES AND PROMOTING WELL-BEING FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN.  This was the continuation of 2015 development day.  Ensure-Healthy-Lives-and-Promote-Well-being is itself Goal no.3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  One day of development thoughts does not make the 2030 Agenda works as we need more times and days. But it helped to look at Goal 3 (G3) as both global and local concept, G3 as a practical response and G3 as Protection for W&C in the CENFACS’ Year of Protections. 

In 2017, ENDING POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN was our working theme for the WCFDD

In 2018, We thought ways of working together to come out of the linear model that consists of make, use and dispose goods and resources; to embrace the circular economy

 

Note: For your information,

 

3W (What Women Want) is a CENFACS support network scheme to enhance the lives of multi-dimensionally deprived women/mothers and families.

PPS (Peace, Protection & Sustainability) is a CENFACS child and environmental protection programme to support multi-dimensionally vulnerable children, young people and families

W&CSDP (Women & Children Sustainable Development projects) – a CENFACS amalgamation of 3W and PPS projects

 

Help CENFACS keep the Poverty Relief work going 

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.

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 2019.

With many thanks.