Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

19 June 2019

Post No. 96

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Summer of Happiness – In Focus: Happiness in a Changing Climate 

• Arts & Design Project: Unknown and Unnamed Artists and Designers

• Creative Economic Development Month: Green Creations and Innovations

 

…   and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Summer of Happiness – In Focus: Happiness in a Changing Climate

 

Life Renewal season will end soon with the official end of Spring while Summer of Happiness (SH) will start, although there are still life renewing projects that are on-going.  For every of these projects delivered so far, we hope you have found a user-friendly and -centred relief. 

For this year, the focus for SH will be on Happiness in a Changing Climate.  As climate change continues to affect and impact all the beings’ life, humans too are not exempted.  Climate change has affected the way in which we eat, dress, house, travel, and pass our holidays, as well as the way we feel (happy or unhappy) and our state of mind. 

To take into account these good or bad feeling effects and impacts, we are going to insert into happiness the new factors determining our state of happiness today.  So, our Happiness Projects will be impregnated with changing climate that affects our happiness.  In other words, we shall establish the relationships, if any, between CENFACS Happiness Projects and climate change.

Under the Main Development section of this post, we have provided further details about this first key message.

 

~ Arts & Design Project: Unknown and Unnamed Artists and Designers of Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development

 

Artists and designers play an active role in helping to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.  So, this week we are working on some of the works carried out by artists and designers especially those from small scale and charitable backgrounds, the local arts and designs products and services undertaken by local people and communities sometimes to make ends meet. 

These kinds of work can include those carried out by poor families, children, young people and those who are left out of the economic growth or upturn.  Additionally, there are as works carried out by unknown and unnamed artists and designers who may be amateurs or not professionals or not just celebrities. 

All these small pieces of art and design works can help relieve poverty and enhance the process of sustainable development. 

So, this week we are continuing our Arts and Design project by looking at the contribution that unknown and unnamed artists and designers are making in reducing poverty and hardships as well as enhancing sustainable development.

 

  

 

~ Creative Economic Development month: Green Creations and Innovations

 

Our Creative Economic Development month is still taking place as scheduled.  In the first week, our focus was on creation; that is on making things and thinking up new ideals of helping to reduce poverty and hardships.  This was and has been carried out through arts and design activities.

The second of week of the creative month was concentrated on innovation; that is on converting these new ideas into project proposals, on deploying these fresh thoughts, products and services to effectively reduce poverty and hardships.  It was about making our dream of the relief of poverty and hardships to come true or become a reality.  Again, this was conducted under arts and design activities to innovate for poverty relief and sustainable development.

In this third week of the creative month, we would like to recall the third component or green or environmental character of the Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives).  We are doing it to reply to some comments made which tended to look at Jmesci only from the creation and innovation perspectives.

Jmesci is also and certainly about green or environmental initiatives.  These are the kinds of makings which do not pollute or degrade or even deplete the environment.  Green or environmental initiatives do not cause harm to the environment.  They achieve sustainable development and increase environmental restoration. 

To support the Creative Economic Development month and the week about green or environmental aspect of Jmesci, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ ReLive Issue No. 11 (2019 Edition): Spring Gifts of Renewing Lives in Burundi, Madagascar and Niger for the Flood Victims

 

Our Spring Appeal to donate £5 to any of the 14 Renewal Gifts to create 20 Reliefs in the above mentioned countries will come to an end in a week.   For those who would like to directly support but did not have the opportunity to do so, they can do it now. 

This appeal can also be supported indirectly by passing the message onto those who may be in position to support.

To support, contact CENFACS directly or go to: http: cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

 

 

 

 

~ CENFACS’ Be.Africa Think-together –

 

In Focus: Relationships between War (Insecurity), Climate Change and Health (via Ebola Virus) in the Democratic Republic of Congo

As the Ebola outbreak continues to claim its victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly on the border between DRC and Uganda, CENFACS is working on the relationships between war (or insecurity), climate change and health (threatened by the Ebola virus). 

We are looking at how far war or insecurity can deny a legitimate State its statutory power and governing tools to control its borders as well as diseases or virus (such as the outbreak of Ebola) within the context of climate change.  

You can tell CENFACS’ Be.Africa Think-together project what you think. 

Better Africa (or Be.Africa) Think-together is an initiative of ideas and actions from CENFACS on matters related to Africa, in particular but not exclusively to Francophone Africa.  It used to be CENFACS Be.Africa Forum (or a get-together for ideas and actions for a better Africa).

 

 

 

~ Quadranscentennial (“Q”) Happiness

 

Our “Q” Year and Project continue in the season of happiness.  In the context of this season, we will be looking at ways of making happiness to last or sustain. 

In Summer, we talk about happiness and happiness season at CENFACS; but happiness is not only about one season or one time of the year.  Happiness is about everything, in every time and every occasion of life.  It is about what we do in life, at home, at work, in school, in our family and during holyday.

Happiness seen in this way should be a lasting or sustainable gift that links the current generations to the future ones.  In the context of “Q” project, we want to talk about happiness that lasts 25 years or more.  That is “Q” happiness. 

From this perspective, we are talking through happiness projects and programmes, which we can look at the legacies in terms of “Q” happiness outcomes over the last 25 years or beyond.

So, “Q” Happiness is about how CENFACS tried to bring happiness in the last years in the life of those in need.  “Quadranscentennialising” happiness in this way is a powerful way of looking at the legacies of happiness.

For further details about Quadranscentennial (“Q”) Happiness, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Main Development

 

• Summer of Happiness: Happiness in a Changing Climate

 

~ Life Renewal Season to Happiness Season

 

Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives) and Arts and Design Project are the projects that have made the last part of Spring 2018 programme.  Both projects make our Creative Economic Development month.

In practice, Jmesci is the project that is ending our Spring Relief or Life Renewal season to start Summer of Happiness.  After creating and innovating for poverty relief and sustainable development, we shall enjoy the sunshine of Summer with Happiness and Peace. 

We would forward to Summer, although the warm weather has already started.

 

~ What is Summer for CENFACS’ Users and Beneficiaries?

 

Summer is a period of the warm sunny weather that we would like to associate with it at CENFACS.  It is the time of happiness that we all expect, after a long period of full time work and education.  We look forward to a break after such a long time of routine working life, especially as most of CENFACS’ projects and programmes are framed around the school timetable to suit and reflect the needs and living patterns of our users and beneficiaries.  This is despite that the fact that during Summer people are still working to keep their households and the economy running.

 

~ In focus for this Summer: Happiness in a Changing Climate

 

Generally, it is expected Summer to be warm and sunny.  In recent times or decades, Summer is not all the time warmer and sunnier.  The climate (that is the average atmosphere conditions prevailing in a particular region) is now much variable to the extent that summers are now not always hot dry.

Yet, most people want warm, sunny and happy summers.  Those who can afford can plan to go to destinations in places and locations where they can enjoy the summer weather.  Those who cannot afford, like many of our users,  may not be able to choose but to be subject of the changing climate.

To support those victims of changing climate or climate change over Summer, the focus of our Summer of Happiness will be on how to have happiness in a changing climate or climate change over Summer. 

So, the key note of our theme for Summer of Happiness will be how to create, enjoy and sustain happiness in a changing climate.  This is whether we take holidays or work or even study over the Summertime. 

To do that, we shall provide Happiness Tips and Hints in a Changing Climate.  We will provide them through the Summer initiatives below.

 

~ Summer-of-Happiness Programmes

 

Summer Programme at CENFACS is mainly made of two sets or broad areas of projects for and with Multi-dimensionally Poor Children, Young People and Families; which consists of:

Happiness Projects (Part I) and 

Appeal Projects or Humanitarian Relief to Africa (Part 2). 

Besides this main Summer seasonal regular feature, we have also planned other initiatives as side menus.  We shall gradually release the contents of these Summer projects as we progress during Summer 2019. 

Our development calendar/planner already indicates what is planned for July and August 2019.  However, should anybody want to find out more, they are welcome to contact CENFACS. 

 

~ Summer 2019 Programmes, Projects and Events (Summer calendar/planner)

 

8 Projects, 1 Programme: 9 Ways of Helping to Reduce and End Poverty as well as Making this Summer 2019 of Happiness in a Changing Climate

 

June

1) Thanksgiving days or Supporters’ project

July

2) All-in-one Impact Feedback, Project Supporters’ Experience: Projects and Programmes Monitoring, Evaluation & Review

3) Seven Days of Development in July 2019 (Summer Festival):  How Democratic Transition Can Transform Poor People’s Lives

4) Financial Update (Individual Capacity Development Programme resource): How to Manage Finances in Economic Uncertainty 

July & August

5) CYPFs (Children, Young People and Families) Summer Programme (Part I): Humanitarian Relief – Appeal Projects

6) CYPFs (Children, Young People and Families) Summer Programme (Part II): Resources, Tools, Boosters & Tasters – Happiness Projects in a Changing Climate

7) Summer 2019 Run, Play & Vote to Reduce Poverty: Action-Results

8) CENFACS’ Poverty Relief League and Le Dernier Carré (the last Square of Poverty Relief)  – Half Year Results and Outcomes

August

9) Summer Track, Trip and Trending

 

We hope you find a joyful, helpful and hopeful relief from the above programmes and projects on offer at CENFACS over this Summer!

For details or clarification about the above programmes and projects (including ways of accessing them), contact CENFACS.

Note: Although the above is scheduled for Summer 2019, we may slightly alter our initial plan and or introduce occasional initiatives to cope with the reality of the unpredictability and complexity of development situations (e.g. humanitarian and emergency situations), in which case we shall let you know as early as we can.

 

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!

12 June 2019

Post No. 95

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Jmesci Project, In Focus from Week Starting 10/06/2019: Innovations in Uncertain Times

• World Anti-Poverty System: Centre Staging Climate Issues

• Arts & Design Project: Making and Sending a p-Card or e-Card

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives) Project – Innovations in Uncertain Times

Last week our Creative Economic Development (CED) month was about Creation in Uncertain Times.  We worked out how creation could lead to happiness.  This week, we are continuing with Jmesci project by putting an emphasis on Innovations in Uncertain Times.  Amongst the innovations we are dealing with there are: those helping to reduce poverty, the ones enhancing sustainable development and the ones more carried out by our Africa-based Sister Organisations.   

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

 

 

 

 

~ World Anti-Poverty System: Centre Staging Climate Issues

 

A new International System for Poverty Reduction (ISPR), if it has to happen, cannot ignore the problems caused and will cause by the adverse effects of climate change.  Climate change has changed or de-normalised the ways we dress, eat and house ourselves.  It further perturbs the natural living patterns of humans, animals and plants.  It finally pushes the frontiers or boundaries of what we knew about living as beings.

Climate change and global warming have broken the conventional way we deal with diseases and epidemics as the recent work by the World Health Organisation has showed in the case of Ebola virus in Africa.   Climate change has increased the displacement of all living beings (humans, animals, fishes, plants etc.).  This puts enormous pressure on healthcare, housing, food, education, jobs, social relations, relationships between humans and other beings etc. 

In face of the challenges posed by evolutionary climate, poor people do not have enough means to deal with the life-changing patterns caused by climate change.  They may need a framework that can help them to deal with these issues.  So, integrating and centre staging the above climate issues would provide the ISPR the means to deal with them.

For more information on centre staging climate issues inside the ISPR, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 ~ Arts & Design Project: Making and Sending a p-Card or e-Card

 

For those who are trying to design and send a paper card (p-card) or an electronic card (e-card) as a way of participating in the Creative Economic Development month, please make sure that the poverty relief message you are conveying is without confusion.

When designing a card, it is better that your art or design work 

√ contributes to inclusive and sustainable development goals

√ is a driver and enabler of sustainable development processes

√ is evidence-based as an expression of realities

√ is capable of leading to new pathways for creative economy

√ reflects on creative economic development

√ connects with the different sectors of creative economy

√ is conducive to new opportunities for sustainable development

√ is supportive of learning and innovation for poverty relief and sustainable development

√ opens up a possibility of working together

√ touches climate change issues (such as air pollution)

√ deals with sustainability issues (like conservation of the nature)

√ develops culture of poverty relief and sustainable development

To create and send your card or support CENFACS’ Creative Economic Development month, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ ReLive Issue No. 11 (2019 Edition): Spring Gifts of Renewing Lives in Burundi, Madagascar and Niger for the Flood Victims

Our Spring Appeal to donate £5 to any of the 14 Renewal Gifts to create 20 Reliefs in the above mentioned countries will come to an end in a couple of weeks.   For those who would like to directly support but did not have the opportunity to do so, they can do it now. 

This appeal can also be supported indirectly by passing the message onto those who may be in position to support.

To support, contact CENFACS directly or go to: http: cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

 

 

~ End of Spring 2019 Appeal for Peace Re-creation and Security Re-innovation in Africa –

Re-create Peace and Re-innovate Security in the African Sahel and African Countries in Search for Transitional Democracy

Peace and security are always a challenge for some parts of Africa, particularly in the Africa Sahel (and specifically in Burkina Faso and Mali) and African countries in search for a transitional democracy (like Sudan). 

June month of environmental and sustainable creative initiatives at CENFACS is also for conflicting communities to create and innovate ways and means to re-create peace and re-innovate security, especially for poor and defenceless people making their communities.  The lack of peace and security cost any society especially its poor people.

Re-create peace and re-innovate security can help reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.  For example, one can hope that the common sense will prevail, that there would be an understanding between States and armed groups in the African Sahel region.  One can as well hope that the G5 Sahel (made of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania) will be able to stabilise the situation and get the support its deserves from the international development communities   One could finally hope that the disagreeing sides of the transitional democracy in Africa (like in Sudan) will come to an agreement to secure peace and build security for their suffering ordinary peoples.

For further details about peace re-creation and security re-innovation, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

~ Quadranscentennial (“Q”) Innovations

 

June continues to carry out and speak for our “Q” Year and Project.  Since the “Q” Year and Project started, those who have been following us have learnt the “Q” history of CENFACS so far.  They learnt how CENFACS broke new grounds in the field of poverty relief and sustainable development.   What was not known about CENFACS legacies has been progressively released and unveiled. 

This week is the continuation of the “Q” Year and Project.  So, our “Q” Year and Project is still in progress for this week as we are looking at the innovations (e.g. ideas, methods and ways of working) that kept CENFACS running in the last 25 years.  “Q” innovations are progressive ways of working that helped CENFACS to achieve its vision, mission, aims and objectives while adapting itself to development landscape as it happens.   “Q” innovations are catalysing forces that provided us the momentum needed to stay in tune with the charitable industry. 

Where we found that ideas and methods were not suitable or compatible with our charitable ethos, we did not apply them.  One of the new methods that helped in the recent times is the introduction of digital technologies in what we do.  Digitalisation has helped to reach out faster and conveniently our users and project associates.

For more on “Q” Innovations, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Jmesci (June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives) – Innovations in Uncertain Times

One thing is to create in uncertain times; another thing is to implement those creations.  In this second week of our creative and innovation activities, we are going to focus on three types of innovations as follows: innovations for poverty relief, innovations for sustainable development and innovative work conducted by our Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs).

~ Innovations for poverty relief (IPR)

 

IPR are the introduction of new ideas and methods to help alleviate poverty and hardships.  In certain times, it is straightforward to routinely handle new ideas and methods.  However, in uncertain moments, innovations can become a matter of life and survival, especially if these innovations touch the lives of those who feel more the pain of uncertainty than anybody else. 

So, innovating for poverty relief in uncertain and pressurized times could be a matter of saving lives.  in difficult times of an economy like the UK one trying either to exit or remain in the EU, IPR for those organisations involved in the work of poverty relief are crucial for those organisations (like CENFACS) and their users to live, survive, sustain and possibly thrive.    

 

~ Innovations for sustainable development (ISD)

 

Developing in a way of meeting the needs of both current and future generations does not happen itself.  For it to happen, humans need to work and innovate.  ISD is about supporting sustainable initiatives from people and communities in need in adding value to their efforts to come out poverty and hrahips.  It is as well investing in initiatives that facilitate the development of sustainable initiatives. 

However, in difficult times like of economic uncertainty, there could be attitudes or mindsets that could feel the price to pay for sustainability could be higher.  They may tend to psychologically abandon the virtues and practice of sustainable development or just be reluctant in doing sustainable development (for example in accepting energy transition).  Yet, with innovations adapted to deal with uncertainty, ISD could be a response to uncertainty and difficulty rather than a problem.  For example, introducing new forms of clean energy that does not pollute can help to save the cutting down of trees and burning of woods as well as reducing deforestation while protecting animal habitat.

 

~ Innovations by ASOs

 

The month of Creative Economic Development is also of highlighting innovations conducted by CENFACS’ ASOs.  Among these innovations, we can highlight the following three ones:

⇒ Irrigation activities that CENFACS’ ASOs in the dried lands of Africa (North Africa) have been trying to undertake in order to bring safe drinking water to the local population and reduce the level of drought for local agriculture and farming

⇒ Health awareness campaign regarding the channels of transmission of the Ebola virus; campaign designed to demystify the local or tribe beliefs on the mystique causes of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

⇒ Forest activity to re-grow and replant forests where it has disappeared, just as innovations related to the recovery and restoration of degraded lands in the dried countries and areas in North Africa

The above are just the innovative ways of working to develop sustainable initiatives by our ASOs.  They are trying to find and introduce new ideas and methods to tackle old, current and new problems that themselves and their users face. 

In difficult times like of prolong drought, of eruption of the deadly Ebola virus and of forest extinction, it is vital for local organisations to innovate should they wish to seriously tackle poverty and hardships and stay on track with sustainable development.

To support and or enquire about the week of innovations in uncertain times, contact CENFACS.

To become a CENFACS’ Creation and or Innovation Supporter, please contact CENFACS as well.

 

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!

05 June 2019

Post No. 94

 

 

 

 

What’s on at CENFACS in June 2019

 

The following selected initiatives (selected for public domain) are amongst those which will make the end of Spring of Life Renewal and the start of Summer of Happiness at CENFACS in June 2019.

• World Anti-poverty System (WAS): Centre staging Climate Issues in WAS (Global advocacy project)

• Quadranscentennial Year and Project, Act No. 3: CENFACS as Quadranscentennial Creation (Celebration project)

• Create and Innovate within the context of Economic Uncertainty with Jmesci project (Creation and innovation project)

• Thanksgiving Days (Supporters’ project)

Note:  The above initiatives are only a selection of what we have planned for June 2019.  We may introduce new initiatives and or upgrade the existing ones depending on the circumstances as we have from time to time to respond to emergencies and urgent humanitarian issues.  In which case, we shall let you know. 

                            

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

 

The above is our indicative plan for June 2019.  Within this plan, what is on at CENFACS for this week?

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Jmesci: Creating and Innovating within the Context of Economic Uncertainty

• Poverty Environment programme: Responsibility on Clean Air

• Quadranscentennial Year and Project: Act No. 3: CENFACS as a Quadranscentennial Creation

 

   … and much more!

 

Key Messages

 

~ June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives (jmesci): Create and Innovate in the context of Economic Uncertainty

Individual and collective creations, in the ways of improving lives through the conception of fresh ideas and the implementation of practical ideas to escape from poverty and hardships as well as foster a better environment and sustainability, are CENFACS’ area of interest.   We create all over the year and life; however June is the month for us to acknowledge our environmental and sustainable makings. 

June is the month of Creative Economic Development at CENFACS with creation and innovation on the main menu: creation for researching and developing fresh ideas to reduce poverty, particularly extreme poverty; innovation for making these ideas come true, transformable into practical environmental and sustainable initiatives and actions. 

Put it simply, Jmesci is just about finding out ways of engineering creations relating to the environment and sustainability in order to further reduce poverty and improve the quality of life.

This year’s Jmesci is about Create and Innovate within the context of Economic Uncertainty.  Further details about this are given in the Main Development of this Week’s Contents.

To support CENFACS’ creative economic development month, contact CENFACS.

 

Besides Jmesci, we have planned other activities and projects.

 

~ Poverty Environment Programme (PEP): Human Responsibility on Clean Air

 

This week, we are raising awareness and remind ourselves about human responsibility on the environment (HRE) to echo the message of the United Nations World Environment Day on 05 June 2019.  The HRE, which is part of CENFACS’ Poverty Environment programme, is an initiative to support the WED’s theme of Air Pollution this week. 

As one cannot reduce air pollution in one day only, we will continue to raise awareness of this pollution issue through HRE.  Our work on this matter aims at going beyond awareness by working with local people to find creative and innovative ways of reducing air pollution.  In doing so, HRE is an exploratory path to develop sustainable solutions that reduce both poverty and air pollution.  

 

For details about the PEP, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/development-programmes/

To raise awareness of human responsibility on the environment in order to help reduce both poverty and air pollution with CENFACS, please contact CENFACS.

~ Quadranscentennial Year and Project: Act No. 3: CENFACS as a Quadranscentennial Creation

The Act No. 3 of our Q Year and Project, entitled as CENFACS as Quadranscentennial Creation has been dealt with as planned.  This Act explains the challenges, ups and downs in our journey which lasted 25 years.  To survive those challenges, ups and downs creation was at the centre of action.

Throughout this month of creative economic development we will continue to learn and draw lessons from CENFACS as a Q Creation.  We shall explore in looking at the existential character of CENFACS by combining its existence and essence.

We shall even take further in looking at the quadranscentennial legacy of CENFACS in terms of innovations.  It is not enough to create (conceive a fresh idea).  One should also aims at putting ideas to work, to the market (that is innovation).  Innovation is Act No. 3.1   So, Q Innovations are like the introduction or implementation new ideas that can have a Q dimension.  

We would like to thank those who supported the Creation Act and hope they will do the same for the Q Innovation.

For further details on both Act 3.0 (CENFACS as a Q Creation) and 3.1 (CENFACS as a Q innovation), please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Art and Design for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development

 

As part of the creative economic development month, we also run Art and Design for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development as a project.  One of the activities related to this project for this year would be to construct and post cards or objects as expressions of stop air pollution to echo the World Environmental Day’s celebratory theme, as well as ways of sustainably managing land to resonate the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. 

So, those who wish and want can design a post card or object to feature the following:

⇒ Reduction or end of air pollution

⇒ Sustainable management of lands

⇒ Recovering and restoration of degraded lands

 

To support and or enquire about Art and Design for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development, contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

~ Protection of Poor People’s Creations or Creative Works

 

This first week of June is as well about rethinking ways of protecting poor people’s creative and innovative works.  This is knowingly that poor people do not always have or have enough money to pay for protection of their makings. 

It is not enough for them to create and or innovate; they need as well to protect their makings in the form of copyrights and other protection that other creators and innovators do enjoy.  One can think of the use of the internet and online technologies how they made it easier for some people sometimes to violate poor people’s creative and innovative works and rights.

So, as part of the creative economic development we would like to work together and find out the best possible and affordable ways of protecting poor people’s creative and innovative works.

To support and or enquire about CENFACS’ initiative on the Protection of Poor People’s Creations and Innovations, contact CENFACS.

~ Support Sustainable Initiatives in Congo-Brazzaville, Mali and Togo

 

Our request to support Raped Women in Congo-Brazzaville, Children with Safe Drinking Water in Togo and Young Deaf People in Mali; continues this month.

So far, we have received positive reactions which are promising.  And we would like to thank those who positively reacted to our support communication.  We hope that their reactions will be converted into concrete actions or simply support. 

Additionally, on the support page of CENFACS, there are many ways one can support or enhance the lives of those in most need.  Please, have a look at

As we previously argued, we expect this support message to be passed onto those who can help.  If you have already passed it, we thank you for your care.  If you have not done it, we would be grateful if you could support these deserving causes by passing the message.

CENFACS is prepared to discuss in depth these project proposals.

 

 

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• Create and Innovate in the context of Economic Uncertainty

 

• • This Year’s Jmesci

The context of economic uncertainty is a framework in which an economy is characterised by multiple indecisions in terms of the precise direction it will take.  The indecisive situation affects all the players in the economy, in particular but not exclusively the poor people and poor organisations. 

There could be many scenarios of economic uncertainty.  One of them is when an economy (like the UK) is trying to exit or remain in an economic bloc (such as the EU).  In these circumstances, there could be inability to accurately know or predict the future.

Uncertainty can happen as well when countries transit from dictatorial governance to liberal democracy system as the newly arrived to the power may not be prepared to deal with challenge, just as they may not know what is in accounting books.  This uncertainty, unpreparedness or lack of knowledge about the contents in the books can impact every sector and economic players including small community and voluntary organisations.  

In times of inability to accurately know or predict the future like of EU exit, creating and innovating are the keys to continue to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.  This is because in times of uncertainty, some needs change, other ones emerge and other more remain unchanged.

In uncertain times like economic one, people in most pressing needs could find themselves in a situation which in their ability to meet basic life-sustaining  needs, therefore to reduce poverty, could be shrunk.  Likewise, they could have their purchasing power reduced or increased.  So, creating and innovating in difficult times like of economic uncertainty are keys to continue to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development.

Finding out ways of engineering creations and implementing innovations to deal with uncertainty of the time in order to further reduce poverty and improve the quality of life, will be the focus for 2019 Jmesci.  How to deal with economic uncertainty?  We are going to deal with this in two ways.

 

⇒ Week beginning 03 June 2019: Creativity in uncertain economic times

⇒ Week beginning 10 June 2019: Innovation in uncertain economic times

• • Including other environmental activities into Jmesci

Our month of creation (of thinking up new things) and innovation (of converting our thoughts into tangible outcomes) revolves around global, national, local and sustainable issues and events of the month as well. 

Examples of June world and local environmental events and days of the month are: 

√ The United Nations World Environment Day held today on 05/06/2019 under the theme of “Air Pollution”

√ The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2019 to be held on 17/06/2019 with China as a host country for this year.  The Day will convene under the slogan, “Let’s grow the future together”.

√ Croydon Environmental Fair to be held on 08/06/2019 at Wandle Park in Croydon (UK).

√ Any other significant inclusive sustainable awareness raising and participation events scheduled for June 2019 and that help poor people.

      

To support and or engage to Jmesci, contact 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!

29 May 2019

Post No. 93

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• End-of-May Stories: Afforestation and Evaluation Stories

• Making Peace with Nature

• Coming Next Week on 04/06/2019: Act No. 3 of the Quadranscentennial Year and Project, Creation Act

 

… and much more!

 

 

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ End-of-May Stories: Afforestation and Evaluation Stories

 

We would like to thank those who supported our All in Development Story Telling Series which ended yesterday.  Thanks to you, your support has kept our Series going until the last day.

May month Stories will end in the couple of days.  The rest of these two days will be dedicated to Evaluation and Forest and Reforestation Stories.

Evaluation Stories are those ones of examining the value of work did on life renewal, while Afforestation Stories relate to tales of growing forests.

These two types of stories will close our May Stories telling and sharing.

For more on these End-of-May Stories telling, read under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

~ Making Peace with Nature

 

Another trending topic at CENFACS for this week is our renewed call to make peace with the nature.  It is a call for humans to maintain good relationships with plants, animals and landscapes forming the nature. 

It is as well an appeal to refrain from any changes that may adversely impact the nature like the attempt by Botswana to restart the hunting of elephants because of their growing population there.

As we are still in the season of life renewal at CENFACS, making peace with nature is indeed about rebuilding or renewing our relationships with the nature in a more responsible way; way that preserves it rather than that destroys it. 

To re-engage or make peace with the nature or to respond to this call, contact CENFACS.   

 

    

 

~ Coming Next Week on 04 June 2019: Act No. 3 of the Quadranscentennial (Q) Year and Project with a Focus on CENFACS as a Q Creation

 

After delivering the two Acts of the Q Project, we are now going to undertake the 3^rd Act of this project.  Act No. 3, which is the existential act, will be about Creation.  CENFACS as the “Q” Creation is the conceptualisation of CENFACS as an organisation which came into existence and which last 25 years.

This Act has been scheduled for June as it is the Creative Economic Development month at CENFACS.  The celebration of CENFACS as a “Q” Creation will be done by looking at the five dimensions of CENFACS as creation, dimensions which are as follows: uniqueness, hope, inspiration, development and sustainability.

The Creation Act will deal with the values that incarnated the creation of CENFACS which are of freedoms from poverty and hardships, of enhancing capacities and capabilities, and of economic development which become later sustainable development. 

The Creation Act also tells CENFACS’ story of creation since the beginning.  This creation story should not be confused with the volunteering story which we presented in Act 2.

The Creation Act will further highlight the creative work of CENFACS in the poverty relief and sustainable development fields since the genesis of CENFACS.

More on CENFACS as a “Q” Creation will be provided next week on the celebration day. However, we have provided further information about this Act 3 under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Rebuilding Africa continues…In focus this Week: Security, Mystique and Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

 

As the Ebola virus continues to claim its victims in the Eastern province of the DRC, we are working on the security, mystique and health issues surrounding this virus in DRC.  In particular, we are looking at how democratic transition can help solve security and mystique issues in order to enhance health in the Ebola-stricken areas of DRC. 

This issue of Ebola that becomes stubborn in DRC bring us back to the relationship between “Quadranscentenniality” and recovery which we discussed a week ago.  “Q” recovery is the recovery that lasts at 25 years or more or even forever.  To resolve DRC’s Ebola issue, recovery should be “quadranscentennial” or “quadranscentennialised”.

For this week, in making our story of evaluation, we can examine the challenge that security and mystique pose in the process of the eradication of Ebola in DRC.  Insecurity in the Ebola-affected areas together with the belief of local populations about the channels of transmission of this deadly virus, are making difficult for health professionals to work.   Health of local people in this region is caught by these two issues making health itself a third issue.  

For further details about Rebuilding Africa and our advocacy work on DRC, contact CENFACS.

 

 

~ “Quadranscentenniality” and Evaluation

The process of examining or judging our work on renewing lives can also have a quadranscentennial dimension.  In other words, we can examine or judge the worth or value of renewing lives through the life span of let say 25 years, as we did with monitoring.  It is in this way that we can build consistency in what we are doing and connects this work between different generations. 

For example, “Q” Evaluation can be applied to examine project impact between the generations of children who experienced the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and those who are currently living the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  The first goals had a deadline of 15 years (2000 to 2015) and the second ones have the same deadline (2015 to 2030).  All together there will be 30 years of the United Nations Global Development Goals.  One can do a 25 or 30-year (or quadranscentennial) evaluation of these global goals.

For further details about the relationships between “quadranscentenniality” and evaluation, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• • End-of-May Stories: Afforestation and Evaluation Stories

 

~ Forestation and reforestation stories

This week, we have two complementary stories to tell and share forestation and reforestation tales.  This is an adding to our All in Development Stories we developed and heard so far.  Our interest in the forestation and reforestation is on the tales of

√ Establishing and growing forests

√ Land cultivation in a sustainable way

√ Creating sustainable habitats for animal and plant species

These are the stories of how humans are making a positive impact on forest life renewal.

 

We are as well dealing with counter stories of life renewal such as

x Farming that destroys forest

x Commercial logging

x Unsustainable mining minerals

x Human settlements that clear trees

x Road building that leads to deforestation

These kinds of stories point man-made behaviour that destroys forest life and which we need to STOP.

 

~ Evaluation Stories

 

Evaluation stories are those of examination and or judgement about the worth or value of life renewal experience as above mentioned.  They include the accounts of degree, quality, significance, amount and condition of the life renewal.

They are as well the stories of reviewing life renewal, of reconsidering progress made against objectives and policies of life renewal.

They are further the tales of impact, sustainability and relevance of renewing lives, as well as of lessons learnt.  

They are finally the accounts of…

√ Feeling part of life renewal process or organisation

√ Recognising success in renewing lives

√ Identifying problems in renewing lives

√ Indicators used for performance against objectives or work

√ Recommendations for future renewal

√ Forward planning and looking

√ Exit strategy plan

√ Highlighting trends and developments in life renewal

√ Thinking in the field of life renewal

√ Evaluations volunteers and managers/staff of their work in sharing evaluation reports

To support or donate afforestation and evaluation stories, please contact CENFACS.

 

• • Act No. 3 of the Quadranscentennial (Q) Year and Project with a Focus on CENFACS as a Q Creation

 

The 3^rd Act of the “Quadransecntennial” Project or the Creation Act, will focus on the five pillars of CENFACS as a “Quadranscentennial” creation which are:

CENFACS as 1/ a unique creation 2/ a creative development 3/ an inspiring and transformative creation 4/ a sustainable creation and 5/ a creation for hope and future.

 

On the 4th of June 2019, CENFACS will be celebrating

√ the uniqueness of an idea or creation – the idea of CENFACS; what makes CENFACS a unique telling example of progressive way of fighting against poverty and hardships, and what makes it a creation for hope, peace and sustainability

√ a particular approach to making creative differences to the lives of those who are suffering, on how a good creation can make helpful differences to impoverished people’s lives

√ the telling and prevailing story of transformative change, what the progressive idea of CENFACS has brought in the last twenty five years as an inspiring force and a force for good and development

√ the roots, birth, trajectory, surviving life and continuity of an original idea on its own merit and right

√ CENFACS as a sustainable creation together with other similar sustainable creations (as this Act will be in June Month of Environmental and Sustainable Creative Initiatives); creations that continue over the long-term or cyclical period without adverse effects on the environment

√ the creative voice of CENFACS that resonates, speaks for and together with those in most pressing need for their cries to be heard/listened and solutions to be brought to their  pending and long lasting unsolved problems and unmet needs

√ creative development, that is a process that causes better change come into existence, a process of sustainably enhancing freedoms and capabilities through continuous creation.

The day will also provide us opportunities and scopes to learn and draw lessons for the future about why some ideas or creations prevail and others do not. 

For example, we can learn and try to understand why the idea of Sir Tim Burners-Lee, the Inventor of the World Wide Web in 1989, has succeeded and impacted the lives of millions in the world, including the poor.

We will reflect on the reasons why some simple creations prevail, others elegant ones die or go to the bin, others more are successful or unsuccessful, and how to make your creation becomes a worthy, wealthy and healthy experience for poverty relief and sustainable development.

And above all, we will explore processes and strategies for protecting the creations belonging to the poor, to be owned by them not being stolen from them or taking way from them by others without their permission and or agreement. 

To support and or enquire about the “Q” Project and the Act 3, contact 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!

22 May 2019

Post No. 92

The Week’s Contents

 

• FACS Issue No. 63: Economic Value Chains – What they can reveal for those in need

• All in Development Stories (AiDS) Telling Series, In Focus between 22 and 28 May 2019: Serial No. 4 – Monitoring Stories

• 2020-2063 Follow up (XX236.3F) Programme: Spring 2019 Monitoring

 

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

The lead content of this week’s post is Economic Value Chains in Africa, What they can reveal for the poor for those in need.  This top content makes the 63^rd of FACS.

~ FACS Issue No. 63: Economic Value Chains – What they can reveal for those in need

The issue deals with interlinked economic activities that contribute in bringing a product or a service from conception to final disposal after use.  This set of interlinked economic activities contributes to pro-poor initiatives and facilitates better linkages between market players, amongst them African voluntary organisations..  The 63^rd Issue aims at looking at what these interlinked economic activities or economic value chains can reveal for the life- sustaining needs of those in most pressing needs.

The Issue discusses the benefits that Africa-based Sister Organisations (ASOs) can gain in diversifying their activities between primary and support ones so that they can add value to their product in the chain as well as create poverty relief value.  Their own benefits could be incomplete unless there are gains for the poor and vulnerable people.  In this respect, the Issue provides good insight into how poor people and communities can gain from low cost as well as economies of scale and scope that result from organisations engaged in improving their value chains. 

Besides these introductory notes to the Issue, the general and key summaries of the 63^rd Issue of FACS, which can be found under the Main Development section of this post, shade some lights about this lead content.

 

 

~ All in Development Stories (AiDS) Telling Series, In Focus between 22 and 28 May 2019: Serial No. 4 – Monitoring Stories

 

Before looking monitoring stories, we would like to let you that we are using the definition of monitoring given by Anne Connor in one of the booklets from the Charities Evaluation Services.  According to Connor (1),

“monitoring is concerned with systematically collecting and analysing information.  It allows us to keep a regular check on what we are doing” (p. 2).

From this perspective, one can tell the stories what they are collected, analysing and checking about life renewal.  So, the stories we are dealing with in this serial no.4 are those of:

√ What people (like clients, beneficiaries, etc. ) say about life renewing work

√ Data and information collection

√Data and information analysis

√ Checking performance against objectives

√ Compliance with predetermined standards

√ Regular observation and recording of activities

√ Routinely gathering information on all activities

 

The issues one can cover in their monitoring story could be …

√ What people or themselves think about for example the recovery process they went through to renew their lives

√ The kinds of renewal needs that have been met and unmet

√ Problems encountered in the renewal process

√ Resources and costs issues related to renewal

√ People involved in the rebuilding story

√ Life renewal activities or projects involved 

To donate and or share a story, please contact CENFACS.

 

(1) Connor, A (1999), Monitoring Ourselves, Illustrated by Steve Simpson, Evaluating Ourselves Series, Charities Evaluation Services, London

 

 

 

~ 2020-2063 Follow up (XX236.3F) Programme; Spring 2019 Monitoring

Monitoring and Evaluation of the Climate Change Reduction, Having Poverty, Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda

Because we are talking about monitoring, this week we are also looking at our 2020-2063 Follow up Programme.  This is a programme of monitoring and evaluation of aims, goals and targets set up to achieve in the context of climate change reduction (by the Paris Treaty on Climate Change), Having Poverty (by 2011Istanbul Declaration of Least Developed Countries), Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030 (by the United Nations), and Africa’s Agenda 2063 (by the African Union).

We are taking the opportunity of this week’s monitoring activity to look at the progress made so far regarding the implementation of these global and African goals and agendas as some of them affect our work and are related to the issues we constantly advocate.

To enquire and or donate a story about these four components of our XX236.3 F Programme, please contact CENFACS.

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Support Sustainable initiatives in Cong-Brazzaville, Mali and Togo

 

Our request to support Raped Women in Congo-Brazzaville, Children with Safe Drinking Water in Togo and Young Deaf People in Mali; continues this week as well.

So far, we have received positive reactions which are promising.  And we would like to thank those who positively reacted to our support communication.  We hope that their reactions will be converted into concrete actions or simply support. 

Additionally, on the support page of CENFACS, there are many ways one can support or enhance the lives of those in most need.  Please, have a look at http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

As we said it last week, we expect this support message to be passed onto those who can help.  If you have already passed it, we thank you for your care.  If you have not done it, we would be grateful if you could support these deserving causes by passing the message.

CENFACS is prepared to discuss in depth these project proposals.

 

 

 

~ “Quadranscentennial” (Q) Monitoring

Q Monitoring is a king of monitoring activity conducted for a period let say 25 years or more.  If one looks at global agendas such as Agenda 2030 (set up for 15 years) and Agenda 2063 (set up for 50 years), having a quadranscentennial view of monitoring for the life span of these agendas could be a good learning and development process.

Monitoring these agendas and getting the monitoring reports and stories behind them on how they are doing in terms of expected outputs, outcomes and impacts; is a good monitoring story to tell and share.   

To tell and share your Q monitoring story, please contact CENFACS.

 

~ AiDS Project: Audio Storytelling, Listening and Short Film Experiences

 

You can use the capacity of audio to tell your life renewal story.  Audio has a proven power and unique quality to convey life renewal messages.   You can inform, empower and connect with others using your audio storytelling skills.

Audio storytelling does not demand expensive investment.  It is easily accessible to everybody who has at least a smart phone.  Audio storytelling (with short digital narratives, podcasting, social media and online streaming) can help create and share the impact of the change you made or have made.

Likewise, you can make short films to support your storytelling experiences and create a social impact.  For those who can afford, they can use smart phone filming to create engaging content on a tight budget.  Also, you can make film on your smart phone with a video content.  Shooting interviews with project participants can also help to create experiences that maximize social media and life renewal contents.

If you have audio storytelling and short films related to life renewal experiences, you can tell and share with us and others.  And if you do not mind, we will circulate your stories within the CENFACS Community.

 

 

Main Development

 

• FACS Issue No. 63 > Summaries  

 

• • General summary

 

The Issue speaks about Economic Value Chains although writers such as Corinna Hawkes and Marie T. Ruel (2) argue that “All value chains inherently involve economic value – a value chain is not a value chain without this.”   

The emphasis in the 63^rd Issue is on economics as a drive of using available factors of production (i.e. natural resources, labour, capital etc.) as efficiently as possible so as to attain the maximum fulfilment of unlimited demands for poverty relief goods and services. 

The goal here is to satisfy the needs of those in conditions of poverty and hardships.  However, this economic view does not exclude other values such as social, charitable, voluntary, poverty relief and sustainable development.  In fact the Issue talks equally about poverty relief and sustainable development values.

The Issue borrows Porter’s (3) definition of value chains as given in his book “Competitive Advantage”; borrowing it and applying it to the voluntary and charitable sector.  If one uses Porter’s definition, it is possible to say that a value is a set of activities that an organisation carries out to create value for its customers.  And if this organisation is from the charitable sector, it would create value for its beneficiaries.

In this respect the Issue no. 63 uses the value chain approach as poverty relief and sustainable development strategies to enhance the lives of Africa-based Sister Organisations and poor people.  This is how the Issue can help understand what economic value chains can reveal for the poor.

To get a good understanding on what economic value chains can achieve or reveal for the poor, please read the following page summaries.    

 

(2) Hawkes, C & Ruel, M. T. (2011), Value Chains for Nutrition (Chap. 9), International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.

(3) Porter, M. E. (1985), Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

 

 

• • Page Summaries

 

The 63^rd Issue deals with ten areas of interest by Africa-based Sister Organisations in creating and developing value chains which include: integration, skills development, contribution towards pro-poor life, infrastructures and logistics, finances, transaction costs, dynamism of links, value for consumers, participation, and poverty relief and sustainable values.

Let’s now see the page summaries making the body of this Issue.   

Page 2

The development of industrial poverty relief services to reduce poverty within the context of economic value chains

Dealing with raw materials, natural resources, finished components and equipment provided by local industries and local organisations’ small scale industries is good.  However, poverty relief and sustainable development values can be added to services linked to industries’ products.  This concerns many products ranging from foods, healthcare, clothes etc.   Examples of these services include coffee and cocoa value chains in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

How diversification can help to reduce poverty and hardships

Diversification is the process of expanding into a range of different product areas.  One-market organisation can be very vulnerable to any threats.  A concentric or pure or revenue-raising diversification helps to spread risks, reorient activities, entry to new non areas of service and broaden service-providing potentials, while enabling survival in the market dominated by big organisations.  If Africa-based Sister Organisations diversify their activities they can expand their ability to help reduce poverty.

How to accelerate pace and extend poverty relief work through value chains

Every organisation has its own pace and rhythm of growing and expanding.  This depends on their brand and the market they are in or would like to enter.  However, they can improve their speed and extend in terms of poverty relief work through value chains.  To do that the starting point would be to develop value chain plan and strategy that can lead to outlets or market openings.  An example of this kind of high value domestic chains is the value chains for bananas in Central Africa 

Page 3

Economic integration of rural farmers through domestic value chains

Scaling down the economic barriers between rural farmers and with the various players of the rural and not-for-profit economy can create good value and enormously benefit rural farmers.  Rural farmers especially those engaged in cash crops production can reap of the benefits of economies of scale and scope while creating value for their beneficiaries.  To facilitate this integration, food value chains for small holder farmers can used to improve their margins and cope with agricultural food price volatility.

Acquisition of new operational skills by small and poor traders

Developing your activities in order to create value for your customers could mean for small and poor traders that you possess the skills and competences needed to stay and grow in domestic value chains.  Like big organisations, small and poor traders can acquire the skills they need to operate and run their activities.  These are the operational and functional skills such as sale, production, management, accounts and administrative skills.  Sustained training of farmers for example can help them to gain these skills.

Page 4

Economic value chain niches for African organisations in need

African organisations in need of a good amount of money or price that buyers are prepared to pay for their goods and or services, they will look for parts of market they can target and achieve their goals or meet their needs.  If economic value chains can offer them that possibility, they may decide or force to enter this market niche or segment.  But to do that, they need to analyse their value chains into market segmentation, potential to add value and strategy on activities.

Experiences and lessons from value chains in the voluntary and community sectors in Africa

The voluntary and community sector organisations in Africa do create value like other organisations, although they may not use value chain analysis.  They may not systematically separate their activities into primary and support, nor break down their value chains like we have seen somewhere else like in the UK.  For example, in the UK there are organisations which focus on primary activities regarding the running of day-to-day organisation while leaving to their appointed organisation to source out or deal with enquiries and other aspects of their social media accounts. 

Value chain approach is part of voluntary sector strategy.  Ranging activities between a/ primary value chain which includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service; and b/ secondary value chain made of procurement, human resource management, technology development and infrastructure; is value-creating.  Perhaps, if voluntary organisations can identify those activities they would to undertake themselves and leave those ones they want to source out.

Value Chains Experience Questionnaire

As part this work on what value chains can reveal for the poor, we are running a questionnaire to complete this work on the experiences and lessons from value chains in the voluntary and community sectors in Africa.  Those African organisations that are interested in providing their views, we would be pleased to question them.

For any enquiry or interest about this questionnaire, please contact CENFACS.

Page 5

Chaînes de valeurs et consommateurs africains

Cet article essaie d’appréhender les chaînes des valeurs du point de vue de consommateurs et acheteurs plutôt que de celui de producteurs et vendeurs.  Les acheteurs et consommateurs pauvres et ceux de revenu faible en Afrique comme ailleurs sont à la recherche des produits (biens et services) de meilleure qualité et/ou à des prix relativement bas (ou compétitifs) et maximisant leur satisfaction.  Parfois, ils en trouvent, parfois ils n’en trouvent pas. 

Les offreurs et vendeurs de ces produits s’ils montent des chaînes de valeurs, cela peut leur permettre de réduire des coûts de transaction, de réaliser des économies d’échelle et d’envergure.  Cela pourra avoir, par ricochet, un effet sur des produits à offrir. 

En adoptant une hypothèse de travail selon laquelle que si les prix ou coûts baissent en raison de l’application ou l’appartenance à des chaînes de valeurs, les valeurs ainsi créées ne peuvent être durables que si elles arrivent à satisfaire les besoins des consommateurs.   En prolongeant cette assertion, on peut dire que les chaînes de valeurs peuvent permettre de remplir les demandes et besoins des consommateurs pauvres.  

Ce schéma semble simpliste et réducteur.  Néanmoins, il faut affirmer que pour que la valeur consommatrice se réalise, il ne faut pas qu’il y ait de concurrence déloyale et de menaces des groupes géants dans l’industrie où l’organisation ou les chaînes de valeurs vont se réaliser.  Par contre, cela nécessite le soutien des autorités locales en créant un cadre incitatif et la protection de consommateurs ayant des revenus plus faibles.       

Page 6

Les chaînes de valeurs économiques, de réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable en Afrique

La réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique est passée et continue de passer par plusieurs moyens.  Ces moyens incluent l’augmentation de revenus ou salaires, la création des emplois, l’octroi des subventions à la consommation ou les politiques régulatrices de relance de la consommation, la réduction des taxes, l’éducation, l’amélioration de projets ou des communautés d’intégration économique régionale etc.

Parmi ces moyens, il y a aussi des chaînes de valeurs économiques.  Celles-ci sont un ensemble d’activités qu’une organisation peut entreprendre opérant dans un secteur spécifique afin de délivrer un bien ou service ayant une certaine valeur économique.  Cette valeur économique est réalisée par le prix à payer pour une certaine quantité (v = p x q).  C’est une valeur que l’on dégage par l’allocation des ressources rares pour satisfaire des besoins et désires humains illimités.  Mais, la valeur n’est pas et ne peut pas être seulement économique.

Au-delà de cette valeur purement économique, il y a aussi la valeur de réduction de la pauvreté et celle du développement durable.  Pour que des chaînes de valeurs soient utiles en Afrique, elles doivent être aussi et surtout celles de la réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable.  La chaîne de valeur de réduction de pauvreté est celle  de réduction de l’état d’une personne qui manque de moyens matériels, d’argent et de ressources.  La chaîne de valeur du développement durable celle qui intègre une harmonie dans la réalisation des besoins de la génération d’aujourd’hui et celle du demain.  Cette dernière chaîne créerait des ressources énergétiques renouvelables, demanderait la transition énergétique et éviterait le gaspillage des ressources surtout non renouvelables.

En gros, il ne faut pas seulement avoir des chaînes de valeurs économiques au sens strict. Dans la création de valeurs, il y a aussi de valeurs de réduction de la pauvreté et du développement durable.  Ces dernières valeurs sont surtout celles dont les gens ont besoin et qu’elles demandent. 

Page 7

Dynamics of links for the supply chain to create and strengthen value chains

To create and strengthen value chains, the links need to be logical, orderly and coordinated so that a momentum is created between the various activities making the value chains. .  It means that the interplay of the forces causing or creating value is well done in the different processes before the product or service reaches the final consumer or end beneficiary.

How Africa-based Sister Organisations can develop their value chain capacities

They can do it through

<> In-house preparation in laying value chain foundations or structures

<> Training to acquire the value chain skills they need or skills to develop value chains

<> Funding to support the move to value chain policy

<> Commitment while being part of value chain organisations

<> Being part of decision making process of matters related to value chains development

<> Acquisition of stake in the value chain ventures

Page 8

How value chains can contribute towards pro-poor initiatives in Africa

Pro-poor initiatives are the types of enterprises that help to reduce the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions.  They are undertaken to deal with poverty and hardships. 

Economic value chains can contribute towards these initiatives by offering solutions or services be it marketing solutions or outreach or distribution of products or communications or branding or sale or financial remedies etc

What African value chain experiences can reveal for the poor

Value chain experiences in African countries and organisations which tried to create them can show that where costs of supply for products have been reduced for value crating organisations, this can benefit these organisations.  Likewise, the benefits of this reduction of costs can be passed to end users or project beneficiaries. 

Value chain experiences can reveal as well that some other needs could have been met if these countries and organisations are value chain achievers or achieving ones.  These needs could include: access to sustainable energy, digital education, healthcare, housing, food etc.  For example, value chain approaches are being used to enhance the livelihoods of food producers.  Value chains can drive food prices down, which can be beneficial to poor consumers.  So, moving a product or service from supplier to customers or end users (supply chain) while adding value along the chain is part and parcel of African organisations.

Page 9

Promotion of infrastructures to create domestic value chains

By infrastructures, we mean the basic structures of small and poor traders and Africa-based Sister Organisations.  We also take into account the facilities, services and equipment they can access to run their organisations.    They finally need local infrastructures to function as organisations.  These local infrastructures include roads, transport systems, factories, schools, hospitals and so on, that could be their potential market.

Promoting the structures of these organisations engaged or to be engaged in value chain strategies of the services they offer in the environment they are, can enable then to create domestic and economic values. 

Reducing transaction costs to create effective value chains

To be able to move goods from their places of production, storage to the market where the final consumers are, it means the cost of transportation should be affordable by those who sell for the poor people and communities.  Transaction costs (that are comprised of transport, handling, storage and penetration into high value chains) should be affordable.   So, reducing transaction costs can help to create effective value chains.

Page 10

Skills development to embrace and survive economic value chains or Skills for Value Chains (Skvach) project

The aim of Skills for Value Chains (Skvach) is to reduce poverty linked to poor or incomplete skills, knowledge, information and capacities amongst African organisations and those who are running these organisations living in deprived areas and anxious improve their skills in order to enable them to meet the poverty relief challenges of their users and beneficiaries while developing themselves.  This project will be achieved through a number of activities including training, adult education, supporting information, workshops etc.

Access to financing to develop value chains in the voluntary sector

Finance for voluntary organisations that are trying to creation value is always a headache for small and medium-sized ones.  Small and medium-sized organisations have two disadvantages: perception of the voluntary value and financiers’ preferences.

Being a voluntary or charitable organisation is not always seen by some people as a way of creating and adding value to the service or goods they need.

Failing to raise voluntary donations for a small and medium-sized voluntary or charitable organisation could mean they may be subject to market lending terms and conditions.  Often those terms and conditions may conflict with voluntary rules and the voluntary value or just not affordable.

However, if there are soft financial schemes, they can access them and enable them to create value for their beneficiaries.  Likewise, if they put together their assets and finances they can form a common financial front to help each other to create value chains.

For a paper copy and or enquiry about this Issue, contact 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!

15 May 2019

Post No. 91

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Support Sustainable Initiatives in Congo-Brazzaville, Mali and Togo

• All Year Round Projects, In Focus this Spring 2019: The Economies of Running, Gaming and Voting

• All in Development Story (AiDS) Telling Series, In Focus between 15 and 21 May 2019: Serial No. 3 – Recovery Stories

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Support Sustainable Initiatives in Congo-Brazzaville, Mali and Togo

As part of working in association with local people to develop sustainable initiatives, we have the following initiatives in the following three countries:

1/ Project of Social Welfare for Raped Women during Civilian Wars in Congo-Brazzaville

2/ Projects of Safe Drinking Water Supply for Needy Children and Vulnerable Population in Togo

3/ Social and Economic Promotion of Young Deaf Persons out of Schooling in Mali

As we all know, projects like these ones in developing countries like of Africa need support.  Support can be of various kinds including funding. 

Our African initiators of these projects and CENFACS would be more than happier if potential supporters considered them for support or any recommendation for support is provided.

Under the Main Developments section of this post, you will find some basic information about them. 

The full details or proposals for the above three projects are available on request.  However, CENFACS welcomes any enquiries or discussions related to them. 

 

 

 

 

~ All Year Round Projects, In Focus for this Spring 2019: The Economies of Running, Gaming and Voting

All the three components (Run, Play and Vote) of our All Year Round Projects are still running this Spring since they started in January 2019.  For this Spring and the rest of Spring 2019, our focus regarding these projects will be on their economies.

The focus will be to tackle the two twin problems of scarcity (limitation of economic resources to be allocated to these projects) and choice (a wide range of wants and needs that are required to be met to deliver them)

Organising and or taking part in projects like running, playing and voting or any other venture involve costs.  There are costs whether one does it alone or as a group or even as part of an organisation. 

To enable those who are already and would like to join these projects to meet project aims and goals, we are working on the basic economies (system of activities) of running, playing and voting to reduce poverty.  This is a support in terms of the economic aspects of running, gaming and voting projects; support for those who are experiencing some difficulties and those who want to find out the basic economic fundamentals before and while engaging with these projects. 

Under the Main Development section of this post, you will find further explanations about these basic economies.

 

 

 

 

~ All in Development Story Telling Series, In Focus between 15 and 21 May 2019: Serial No. 3 – Recovery Stories

The next sequential step in telling your renewal stories will focus in building interest in the data, facts and evidence collected in order to transform needs assessed into implementation or recovery.  It is the step of Recovery Stories.

Recovery Stories are the tales of solution design, construction, operations and maintenance.  They are as well of the process of putting needs assessed or plan into effect, execution to get recovery.

Recovery Stories are indeed those of regaining composure in the process of renewing or rebuilding lives, of regaining a former and better condition or shape after for example destruction, flood disaster, illness, economic downturn, armed conflicts, an earthquake etc.  They are or could be the tales of helping poor and vulnerable people and communities in getting back control over their lives. 

Briefly, they are the stories of

√ Conserving forest resources by reversing or stopping the continuing decline of endangered and threatened species and of renewing and ensuring the survival of wild

√ Helping disaster-affected communities to renew and reconstruct their infrastructures and livelihoods

√ Supporting disaster-stricken people to restore their economic, social, environmental and emotional well-being

√ Renewing lives through recycling of waste and goods

√ Recovery human lives and capacities from destructive wars and natural disasters

√ Helping the climate victims to gain compensation from damages caused by environmental events

√ Supporting the innocent victims of civil attacks fleeing from their attackers

√ Helping raped women during the civil wars like in the case of the project we have in the Congo-Brazzaville

Etc.

 

 

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ “Quadranscentenniality” and Recovery

 

Recovery should not be a short or medium term business only.  It should be a lasting process so that those who recover from let say destruction do not go back again to the same issue.  In other words, we can attempt to “quadranscentennialise” recovery by making it a process that lasts 25 years and /or more.  This way we can be sure that the problem experienced or poverty cannot repeat itself. 

For example, if one looks at the historical cycles (trends) of some of the crisis in some parts of Africa like the conflicts in Rwanda in the 1960s and 1990s, the droughts in the African Sahel with foods and water shortages, the Ebola cycles in the Democratic Republic of Congo etc; they repeat themselves after some times.  This could suggest that these parts of the world have never fully recovered from these problems.  Therefore, having a quadranscentennial recipe or view on the recovery process can help to a certain extent in nullifying the forces of return to the conflicting or destructive situation.

To support and or enquire about the Quadranscentennial Year and Project, please contact CENFACS.

~ Sustainable Nature Trajectories Advocacy: a New CENFACS Initiative

The Sustainable Nature Trajectories (SNT) is CENFACS’ new initiative to advocate for the conservation and sustainable use of the nature in order to achieve sustainability.

Indeed, many reports including the last Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Nature Report, from the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) converge to argue that many of the goals and targets for nature may be off track by 2020 if the world continues to move in the same direction or trajectory as far as climate change is concerned.  There is a greater need to take bold steps at all levels, however small it may be, to reverse this trend or change the trajectories. 

So, the SNT initiative will be part of CENFACS’ a la une (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature) campaign in the next Autumn.  There will be further details about this new advocacy when we re-launch our a la une campaign in Autumn.

To join and or enquire about SNT advocacy, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• Support Sustainable Initiatives in Congo-Brazzaville, Mali and Togo

 

• • Project regarding Social Welfare of Raped Women during Civilian Wars in Congo-Brazzaville

This is a great and valuable initiative to empower women and protect women’s rights by providing by them with humanitarian and professional assistance in order to advance the status of women.   As part of this project, there is the building of rehabilitation centres for victims of rapes and tortures.

This project is run by Association Coeur Africain (ACA) of Congo-Brazzaville.  So far, this organisation has managed to secure a sum of US$8,500 coming mainly from individual contributions.  To achieve this humanitarian project the organization needs additional aid of US$65,000, but they would not mind any support given to make up a partial aid, that is to say US$25,000.

For monitoring purpose, ACA will provide an evaluation report each semester evaluating their activities for healing the wounds of raped women and daughters.  They will be additional monitor via CENFACS.

Anyone who is interested in supporting this project, they can contact CENFACS.

• • Projects of Safe Drinking Water Supply; of Needy Children and Vulnerable Population in Togo

These projects, which are from a Togolese NGO called CETAAD (Centre of Technical Studies for Development Actions) working in the south of Togo, are to be developed in association with CENFACS. 

These initiatives seek to help children and people who are still suffering from water-borne diseases. .Some children don’t have access to school because they are orphan or their parents cannot pay their school materials.  The projects, which will have a strong positive impact, will support these needy children and vulnerable population in Togo.

Anyone who is interested in supporting these projects, they can contact CENFACS with their support.  Thank you!

• • Support to the Social and Economic Promotion of Young Deaf Persons out of Schooling in Mali

This is another deserving cause to be rolled out by AREM (Association pour la Réhabilitation de l’Environnement du Mali), which is  a non governmental organisation, in association with CENFACS.

The project aims at contributing to the efforts of the Malian association of deaf (ANASOURD) in permanent search to improve the life conditions of its members.

It is the project for social and professional integration of young people with hearing impairment or deficiency.  The beneficiary will be the leavers of AMASOUDS school (Malian association of deaf people) 

Anyone who is interested in supporting this project, they need to contact CENFACS with their support.  Many thanks!.

The details or proposals for the above three projects are available on request.  CENFACS welcomes any enquiry or discussion related to them.  We also appreciate if this message can be passed onto somebody who may be willing to consider them for support.  Thank you!  .

 

• All Year Round Projects, In Focus this Spring 2019: The Economies of Running, Gaming and Voting

 

• • The economies of running, playing and voting

 

For those engaged or will be engaged with the above mentioned projects, they will achieve more and better if they take into account the following elements for each sub-project making All Year Round projects.

 

a) The economy of Running or organising a Run Event to Reduce Poverty in 2019

 

The elements to consider for this economy include: market for runners, reading runners’ literature (such as runners’ magazines and newspapers), parity between male and female runners for a group of runners, digitalisation (if you do digital running), new forms of race to reduce poverty and raise awareness of good causes, what motives you running (for example help reduce poverty, raise awareness of climate change etc.).

 

b) The economy of playing the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

 

For those who are playing CENFACS League for Poverty Relief, they can consider the following:  their basic budget, equipment or resources, information they need for each African country (making the CENFACS’ League) in the process of reducing poverty, records of their fixtures, scores and results as the project progresses.

 

c) The economy of Voting the 2019 African Poverty Relief and Development Manager

 

For those who are casting their 2019 vote, there are as well elements to consider such as the cost of voting, computerisation or mobile vote, research costs to find the manager of the year, results presentation costs etc.

 

Briefly, whether you run or play or vote, there are economic data one needs to work out before and sometimes after they start as the following examples show.

 

If you want to run; you may need a short or track suit, a t-shirt, a pair of trainers, a watch to time yourself and a bottle of water.  

 

If you want to play the CENFACS’ League; you need data and statistics about each country of the league, information about their performance on poverty reduction league tables, the current definition of poverty and hardships or the definition of poverty reduction you are using.

 

If you would like to vote the 2019 manager; you need to know their poverty relief work and outcomes, their achievements, the organisation they worked with, if they have or had criminal records or convictions especially if they are working with children and vulnerable adults, if they can be vetted and pass the baring criteria etc.  It is not only about their professionalism but also their social behaviour in order to be considered as role models in the poverty relief and development fields.

 

With the above supporting economic information, one can engage with the 2019 Edition of All-year Round Projects.

 

• • The 2019 Edition of All-year Round Projects

 

You can Run or Organise a Run Activity to Reduce Poverty in 2019 

 

You can Play the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

You can Vote your 2019 African Poverty Relief Manager.

After running or organising a run activity, playing the CENFACS’ League and voting your Manager of the Year 2019; we would like you to share with us and others your experiences, stories and reports regarding these projects.  Your share will be a kind of Action-Results report 2019.

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, you can only vote yourself. 

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 by the end of the year.

To keep at track record, 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 make a short film  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 include in this year’s results and record.  Don’t forget to tell it!

 

What we would like to hear the three Bests of 2019

We would like to hear from you about

 

√ The Best African Countries of 2019 which best reduce poverty

√ The Best African Global Games Runners of 2019

√ The Best African Development Managers of 2019

The deadline to tell us your bests is 23 December 2019.

 

 

For more information about these projects, please contact 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!

08 May 2019

Post No. 90

 

 

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• “Quadranscentennial” (Q) Year and Project – In Focus on 09 May 2019: Act No. 2, Volunteering Story of CENFACS since 1994

• All in Development Story (AiDS) Telling Series – In Focus between 08 and 14 May 2019: Serial No. 2, Needs Assessment Stories

• Afforestation Stories: Making your Story Top Headline of our May Stories Chart

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Q Year and Project – In Focus on 09 May 2019: Act No. 2, Volunteering Story of CENFACS since 1994

 

This week, we are keeping you engaged with the second Act of the “Quadranscentennial” Year and Project – the Volunteering Act – by telling you our voluntary story since CENFACS began.

This story has never been told or written before.  It is a non-fictional story as it is about what actually happened.  The story, which is about the experience of CENFACS in volunteering, is not a brand story.  It is not written in inverted pyramid technique as we are trying to remember what happened in a chronological order rather than in order of importance.

After reading this historical account, there could be hope that readers will realise that volunteering is deeply rooted in the purpose of CENFACS of relieving poverty and hardships.  Although the story itself is not a brand story, volunteering is one of CENFACS’ brand assets as we could not have been able to harness the change of what was and is needed unless we included volunteering.  In this respect, volunteering became part of our brand story.

To get the full extent of this story, read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

~ AiDS Telling Series – In Focus between 08 and 14 May 2019: Serial No. 2, Needs Assessment Stories

 

Our AiDS Telling Series continue this week with needs assessment stories.

In our first serial of stories, we dealt with accounts related to the discovery of the problem of for example destruction of lives.  The second serial, which starts today, will cover the needs assessment stories.

Knowing what decimates lives, one can now assess the needs and volunteer for those assessed needs.  The stories that we are expecting for this second serial are those of voluntary work done in the area of needs assessment, of determining and addressing needs and gaps between destroyed conditions of life and the wanted conditions to renew lives.  It is about volunteering in need identification.

To donate your story, please contact CENFACS.

 

~ Afforestation Stories: Making your Story Top Headline of our May Stories Chart

 

You can donate stories of forestation and reforestation.  The tales could be a personal experience of growing or renewing forests and forest life again.  Additionally, they can be of renewing habitats for wildlife and of help to reduce global warming for example.

If one has such personal story to donate and help renew lives and is willing to share with CENFACS, please let us know.  You can submit your story to make the top headline story of our May Stories chart.

To donate or share your forestation or reforestation story, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ The IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Global Assessment Report as a great example of May Stories

 

Two days ago, the United Nations published the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Nature Report, highlighting the needs for restoration and protection of nature with species threatened with extinction.  It is an account of the consequences of mankind on the nature.

Nature report is a great example of an assessment story about the needs that should be met to the up keep of the nature in unshakable existence.  There are areas of this report that speak about forest and deforestation; topics which are in tune with CENFACS’ May Story telling theme. 

So, the UN Nature report is a perfect story that tells us what is happening with the nature as a result of human behaviour and how grave the situation is.  This is as well another wake-up call so that we can do something to help renew or rebuild the nature before it is too late.  The report has shown that there is an increasing need, better urgency to do something to save the nature from extinguishing.

For further information about the IPBES report, go to:

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/

 

 

 

~ Q Year and May Stories Month

 

We are in CENFACS’ Quadranscentennial (Q) Year (2019) and May Stories Month.  We can try to “quadranscentennialise” our poverty relief and life renewing stories.  In other words, we can ask ourselves the stories we are telling today about for example climate change or nature, how they can be relevant in 25 years.  Likewise, we can question the telling stories of renewing lives of today, how sustainable, learning and helpful in changing lives so that 25 years later the same issue of poverty does not reappear or disappear forever.

In the contrary, we can look back the stories that we were told let say in 1994 (25 years ago) about for example the impacts of climate change and how we can relate to them to our life today.  “Quadranscentennialise” our stories in this way before telling them helps us to give our stories their real historical values, weight, context, meaning and robustness.     

To enquire and or bring your input to the relationships between our life renewing stories and times, contact CENFACS. 

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• Volunteering Story of CENFACS since 1994: the Volunteering Act or Act 2

 

To make an idea that works, it requires that the creator(s) of this idea does (do) some work for it to work or put it more specifically deliver the aim and outcomes of the creation.  Work can be paid and or unpaid (voluntary) or even both.  This is what happened with the idea of CENFACS.

In the case of CENFACS, as it was not set up for financial gain, the first way of working was to volunteer for it in order to help it achieve its aim and objectives.  This is how our voluntary work started.  This altruistic philosophy or way of working in our journey in trying to make helpful difference in the lives of others has continued until today. 

In that volunteering journey, there were episodes that led to various models of volunteering and made us to donate our time for other good and deserving causes.  There were some factors that came into play in our altruistic journey, just as we could not achieve anything (for example doing fundraising or running an event) if we did not have some players or figures as the following will reveal.

 

• • Volunteering episodes

There are three episodes in the Volunteering Story of CENFACS which are as follows:

The first episode, which is between 1994 and 2002, is the volunteering story of CENFACS as an informal organisation but a forum for discussion on economic issues faced by Francophone Africa. 

The second episode, which is between 2002 and 2012, is the volunteering story of CENFACS as a formal organisation in the first growth decade of CENFACS.

The third episode, which is between 2013 and 2018, is the volunteering story of CENFACS as an international advocate for poverty relief and sustainable development.

The above episodes are linked to the phases of development of CENFACS as a voluntary organisation.  Indeed, CENFACS moved from an informal organisation (forum for discussion) to a formal charity and to an international advocate.

However, if one takes volunteering alone as a department or function within CENFACS it has experienced eight successive developments in its volunteering scheme, All in Development Volunteers, as the following shows.

 

• • Volunteering developments and models

They were different evolving trends in the way people and organisations volunteered within and or CENFACS which included: the single-handed volunteer, two-volunteer model, board members volunteer structure, CENFACS’ membership volunteer, recruited UK-based volunteers, overseas volunteers, Africa-based Sister Organisations volunteers and permanent volunteers.

1/ Single-handed volunteer (Sole volunteer)

This is the first way of volunteer characterised by the founder of CENFACS voluntarily working from home on CENFACS and Francophone African issues at the start of CENFACS.

2/ Two-volunteer model

As two hands may never be enough to work on this kind of project, one volunteer joined in 1995 to deal with the complexity of the Francophone African matter. 

3/ Members as volunteers

As we were and are still working on poverty relief, we wanted those who were the most concerned with the issues we were dealing with to get involved.  So, we expanded our volunteering scheme to bring more our members into our volunteering arm. 

4/ Board members as volunteers

In 2001, CENFACS elected its board members who fully volunteered in the running of CENFACS.  In 2002, All in Development Volunteers (AiDV) scheme was created as a way for volunteering for better lives. 

AiDV aimed at helping CENFACS to work in association with local people to develop sustainable initiatives.  It had the following goals: providing volunteers to enhance the work of CENFACS and to support board members’ work, to help promote CENFACS’ vision, mission and values; as well as to meet the needs of all our stakeholders (including users, funders and development associates). The aim and goals of AiDV continue until today.

There was a time when we were to hire venues to meet work and run general meetings at sporadic places and locations.  This was the time all the board members realised how challenging was to volunteer for a charity which tried to punch over its weight, a charity with very limited resources and which tried to achieve something beyond imagination.

We all were jugglers as we were juggling between making our respective families’ ends meet and helping our communities to meet their needs; juggling to get the balance right between voluntary (unpaid) work and family life; juggling between voluntary (unpaid) work and paid work for some for us

5/ UK-based recruited volunteers

Running advice and training projects in the UK has meant for us to recruit more volunteers not only to work alongside advisers and trainers, but also to support us in administration, fundraising, research, advocacy, events and other areas of office management.

6/ Overseas volunteers

Although we set up some basic projects and programmes in the UK (to deal with the needs of the community living in the UK) as we were and are registered in the UK, our area of operation was and remains Africa, in particular but not exclusively Francophone Africa. 

As we were and are still working on Francophone Africa on poverty reduction, our volunteer scheme became popular.  It was at the time CENFACS was member of BOND (British Overseas Network for Development), the UK network for organisations working in international development.  A part from UK volunteers, we had overseas volunteers from African countries and other countries (like Poland, France, Spain, Canada etc.)  

Many of them mentioned how happier they were to volunteer for CENFACS as we made them get involved with the real development work and files rather than asking them to make tea and coffee only.   We could remember for example how we got involved in 2005 in the Make Poverty History campaign and in exhibiting on the day of this event under the BOND umbrella.

At time, we were using Mavis Beacon (an application software programme that teaches touch typing) to help volunteers build on their typing skills in order to complete their administration tasks within a reasonable amount of time. 

7/ Africa-based organisations volunteers

To know how life looked like in Africa where we worked, our Africa-based sister organisations and their local people had to volunteer to inform us and provide inputs for projects and programmes in the process of planning and developing projects and programmes.  They volunteered and continue to volunteer in working in alliance with CENFACS to develop sustainable initiatives.

8/ Permanent volunteers

Like in any organisation people come and go.  However, there are those who sometimes choose to stay longer.  These are the permanent volunteers who keep CENFACS running as it was difficult for people to get paid for whatever they do in the charitable context.  The permanent volunteers are the backbone of CENFACS.

 

• • Volunteering experience of CENFACS to other organisations

We did not only recruit volunteers for ourselves.  We also volunteered outside CENFACS.  The following are the examples of CENFACS’ outside volunteering experience.

a/ CENFACS (through its Chair) volunteered as a founding member amongst other founding members of the current Croydon Black and Minority Ethnic Forum (Croydon BME Forum).

b/ CENFACS (through its Chair) volunteered as a board member of the African Diaspora Voices for Africa’s Development (ADVAD)

c/ CENFACS (through its Chair) volunteered as a member of the London Safeguarding Children Board

The above are just amongst the milestones in the volunteering experience of CENFACS to donate our time for good and deserving causes.  This giving has helped for the creation and the development of these organisations or structures aiming at improving lives.

 

• • Volunteering in fundraising applications

Most of fundraising applications and campaigns were run by AiDVs.  Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they failed to secure the funding we need for the good causes we were and are applying for. 

We could remember once we failed in our funding application.  We met the grant-making trust’s staff dealing with our failed application and got a feedback from them explaining us that the reason CENFACS did not get the funding requested is because we were not specific in our application about our users. 

We thought that saying in the application that we work with Francophone Africans, this would go against us.   We only said we work with Africans.  The grant maker told us that working with Africans was vague.  We should have been a bit more specific and why we did not say we work with Francophone Africans.  We learnt from this past mistake.

There were factors that influence this volunteering development especially in the last ten years.

 

• • External and internal factors or influencers

They included the following: location, service, economic, technology, climate change and the EU exit discussions.  Let us see how these factors impacted the volunteering development within CENFACS.

a/ Locational factor

Being located in the UK, CENFACS expanded its volunteering function to provide some basic services in the UK for the tiny community of Francophone Africans leaving in the UK and minority ethnic people.  This led us to recruit volunteers and organise our All in Development Volunteers scheme to cope with this demand, these users.  We did it while retaining our primarily area of operation, the Francophone Africa.

b/ Training service

This was about the various training courses we ran which resulted in us recruiting additional volunteers to cope with the needs of providing training.  These courses included:

√ Free Employability Training (3W) in 2004 to help French-speaking African unemployed refugee women living in Croydon with job searching skills

√ Basic Skills Development (deBASICS) in 2005

√ Project for Sustainable Skills for Employment (PROSSE) in Croydon to support unemployed multi-deprived women in 2007

√ Basic Skills in Health and Social Care (BSHSC) project in Croydon in 2008

c/ Economic recession

The 2008/9 global economic recession pushed us to rethink the way in which we volunteered as CENFACS was forced to curtail some of its services including its place to work.  The recession put enormous pressure on CENFACS and its volunteering ability and scheme.  We had to down size the number our projects and programmes as well as rethink another way of volunteering without losing grip on the business of poverty relief. 

d/ Digital technology

The digital technology has changed the way we work and volunteer by making us to use less paper.  This affected the way we volunteered as well as it pushed us to find a new and innovative way of volunteering such as using mobile phone devices, social networking etc. 

For example, between 2014 and 2015, we added our voice to the global conversation about the transition from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals by using digital means or doing what we called smart volunteering.

e/ Climate change

Being an organisation working on the development of sustainable initiatives, CENFACS strived and continues to make sure that in whatever we did or do we leave less carbon print or legacy.  This included in the way we volunteer and the themes we choose to volunteer for.  This was and is still reflected in some of the campaigns we ran such as our Climate Talks Follow-up project.

f/ EU exit discussions

Since (2016) the discussions about the possible exit of the UK from the EU started, these discussions have affected some of the plans within our volunteering scheme.  CENFACS’ All in Development Volunteers scheme had to adapt with economic transition which has already started since 2016 and managed this scheme with the uncertainty of the last two and half years. 

 

• • Volunteering story makers or players

The story makers of volunteering story are all the AiDVs.  However, like in any organisation, especially organisations run by volunteers, there are always people who would make sure that the interests of the organisation are protected and are above all both in bad and good times.  Amongst these persons in CENFACS is the founder, Celestin Tshilenge.

In every story, there are characters or players.  The main character in CENFACS’ volunteering story is the founder of CENFACS, Celestin Tshilenge.  The playmakers were and are volunteers.  Despite naming these figures, we should not forget our users, funders and other stakeholders without their contribution we would not be able to develop CENFACS’ AiDV scheme.

Without specifically talking about all the makers, we would reminisce about the Volunteer Centre Croydon, especially as it is about volunteers matter in this communication.  We could remember some of the volunteering sessions and meetings we attended in the mid-development of AiDV scheme at the Volunteer Centre Croydon.  We could also acknowledge the information, guidance and advice as well as supporting resources handed to us.  We should not forget the opportunity they gave to us to exhibit in one of their high profile events in the Croydon Whitgift Centre.   All this enabled us to develop our volunteer policy, programme and projects. 

By the way let us precise this.  All in Development Volunteers (AiDV) scheme at CENFACS is in-house service.  We did not and do not provide volunteers to other organisations, but we recruit volunteers for our own needs.  On the contrary, the Volunteer Centre Croydon provides volunteers to organisations looking for volunteers.

 

• • AiDV legacies

Volunteering at CENFACS is an opportunity to enhance one’s capacity and skills, network, discover new ideas, explore new terrains, and gain new insights into life by sharing skills, experiences’ and knowledge with others.  It is also about reaching out to the needy communities.

We had a volunteer with a Bachelor of Arts in Law who really was good to such an extent that she had a typing speed of 45 words per minute.  Before she came to volunteer for CENFACS, she struggled to find a job.  Everywhere she volunteered in big organisations, they could not let her put into practice her graduate skills.  They only confined her to boring tasks like checking mails, making tea and coffee etc.

During the time she was with CENFACS, we got her involved in writing policies, procedures and processes; while also doing other routine office work.  She got an interview with an American law firm in the City of London and we supplied her reference.  She got the job and left us with a big thank you.  She was over the moon how she could achieve with CENFACS something which was almost impossible for her to achieve with others.  

We had another case of a person who volunteered in administration and development for CENFACS.  This is what she said:

“Thank you CENFACS for helping me by giving me an opportunity to empower myself through an administration and development voluntary position.”

 

• • What the volunteering story of CENFACS tells us in the end

Although the volunteering story of CENFACS does not say everything  about volunteering within CENFACS, it does however provide to readers and supporters some understanding on the volunteering episodes, models of volunteering, volunteering legacies of AiDV so far, volunteering influencers and volunteering makers of CENFACS. 

Volunteering was central and continues to be a key function in what CENFACS did and does.  This is for various reasons which include the following.

As Yunus and Weber (1) put

“… human beings are driven by selfless motivations as well.  The existence of countless charitable institutions supported by personal generosity demonstrates this…An altruistic motivation is still required to make charity possible”. (p.XVI)

So, selfless or voluntary support can help not only to address poverty and hardships issues, but can also help tackle the flaw in theoretical arguments what paid or unpaid work can or cannot do.

The volunteering story of CENFACS has shown that it is possible to deal with the issues of poverty and hardships as well as reconstruct our theoretical structures in resolving the problems of poverty and hardships.

Beyond the problem of theoretical construct or mindset, there is this practical argument which is as follows.

It was and is not just possible in our history and development to conceive to pay for the labour for everything we did and do to help reduce poverty.  One can think of the impacts of Rwanda genocide in 1994, the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa this year.  It is not just possible to pay for everything to fix those issues.  Someone should voluntarily offer themselves to do something for not-taking money to help for example the victims of genocide, Ebola virus and flood disaster.  

The above is the volunteering story of CENFACS since 1994, the “Quadranscentennial” aspect of CENFACS’ Volunteering since it began, which we have tried to tell the essential of it.  However, if there is anything does need clarification or further development, please do not hesitate to contact CENFACS. 

 

Before you leave, please read the following notice.

For the purpose of the new general data protection and protection of the AiD volunteers, we would like to inform you the following:

⇒ Some dates related to this story have not been revealed

⇒ Names and details of people who volunteered for CENFACS have not been revealed as well.

⇒ Places and times they volunteered for CENFACS have not been disclosed.

We have made this precaution to protect the integrity of AiDV scheme and our volunteers.  Also, like any organisations people come and go at CENFACS.  To reveal any information related to them, we need to seek their permission.  However, if anybody wants to enquire about any of the pieces of this story, they are free to make their enquiry. 

We trust and hope we would understand our position on protection matter.

Thank you for your readership!

 

(1) Muhammad Yunus and Karl Weber (2010), Building Social Business – The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs, PublicAffairs, New York

 

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!

01 May 2019

Post No. 89

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• May Stories – All in Development Stories: Life Renewing Stories

• All in Development Story Telling Series

• Rebuilding Forest Protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ May Stories – All in Development Stories: Life Renewing Stories

 

Story telling is our main content for the month of May.  It is the month and time of the year we dedicate ourselves to telling and sharing poverty relief and sustainable development stories.  Why? 

This is because in whatever we do to help reduce poverty and appeal for support to development process, there is always a story to tell and share from various places we intervene and from different individuals and communities or organisations involving in our work.

How do we tell and share these stories?  We do it through All in Development Stories project.  This year, AiD Stories project will be on Life Renewal.

For more on AiDS project and this year’s storytelling focus, read under the Main Development section of this post.

 

 

~ All in Development Story Telling Series

 

A new series of AiDS Telling will start from the 1^st of May 2019, every Wednesday afterwards and will last until the end of May 2019.  These series, which are part of May stories, are a set of notes arranged in line to tell stories of Life Renewal.

There are many process models of life renewal.  However, for the simplicity of storytelling series, we are going to consider stories related to the following four sequences: the discovery or identification problem that cause for example destruction for life to be renewed; the assessment of the renewal of needs; the recovery or curative process when moving from bad situation to a good one; and the monitoring and tracking of the renewal outcomes.  

For further details about these sequences, please continue to read under the Main Development section of this post.

   

~ Rebuilding Forest Protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

 

Can the new democratically-transited State in DRC rebuild its forest protection?

Many observers asked what the new governance in DRC bring back this country where it was some 50 years ago.  This month, the problem of loss of biodiversity and deforestation resurface again about the DRC’s performance.  The question came back as Global Forest Watch refreshed the world’s deforestation data.   In these data, it appeared that DRC is the second country in the world with the greatest primary forest loss in 2018.  In 2018, the DRC forest reduction was at around 481,000 hectares after Brazil.  In the last 15 years, DRC has lost 6% of forest cover.

In the view of these refreshed data and other available information about deforestation in DRC, there is a forest protection challenge that the new State may need to address.  It is the challenge of rebuilding protection against over-exploitation and illegal trade of forest products and resources.  One can hope the new DRC governance will raise to this challenge.

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Reflection Day (27/04/2019): Thank you!

 

It is a great pleasure and gesture to spend only ONE DAY OUT OF THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE DAYS (1 out of 365 days) in a year to think of poor families, and among them are particularly but not exclusively poor women and children. 

It was marvellous to reflect on the conditions and protection of women and children in places of war and natural disasters.  None underestimates the pain and sufferings that people, and amongst them women and children, living in places like the above ones may have.  Taking times and making some thoughts for their defence against harm, danger and loss; is worthwhile.  Many thanks to all our Reflection Day supporters!

 

~ Protection against Floods (April 2019): Extra Takeaway

 

Our month of protection has just ended.  It takes sometimes to analyse and digest protection findings, draw the necessary conclusion and learn lessons, if any, as we are still working on the data and information we have collected so far.   However, this does not stop us to provide you with the key thoughts from last month’s hard work.

What one can take away now is: whether it is about protection against floods for the areas or people or building or even livelihoods; the stake of protection is still getting higher than ever before.  Measures can be taken to prevent floods to happen.  Not all the floods are preventable as the impacts of climate change are still with us.  Courses of action should also be undertaken to protect people when there is a flood disaster or just a flood.  Protective actions are needed especially for places where the locals do not have the capacity to deal with the flood disaster of certain magnitude and scale like the one we saw in Southern Africa with Cyclone Idai.

We would like take this opportunity for thank all those who supported our last month of protection.  Many thanks!  

 

~ Peaceful Poverty Relief Movements in Africa: Failure and Success Stories

 

Our analytical comparison between the two waves of poverty relief movements (PRMs) in North Africa continues this week as we are trying to find out why some PRMs succeed and others fail. 

As we are in the May month of Stories at CENFACS, we are as well extending to our May Stories the stories of success and failure regarding peaceful poverty relief movements in Africa (PPRMAs).

We are looking at how instrumental peace is in the PRMs in achieving their aims and goals of poverty relief and sustainable development.  We are additionally looking at other conditions and factors that can play in the success and failure of the stories of PRMAs.

If anyone is interested on the PRMs or working on the similar issue, CENFACS would appreciate to hear from them.

 

 

 

 

Main Development

 

• May Stories: Life Renewing Stories

 

••  What is ALL in DEVELOPMENT STORIES project?

 

All in Development STORIES (AiDS) is a life story developing, telling, sharing and learning project set up by CENFACS in 2009 in order to give opportunities to volunteers, interns and other development supporters to inspire others and spread the good news and will of better change to the community.  The project, which is run during the month of May, has three dimensions as follows:

1/ AiDS is a telling and sharing story

It is about telling and sharing with us your experience and achievements made in the fields of local (UK) and International (Africa) developments.

2/ AiDS is a learning and development process

It is also about learning from volunteers and interns how they improved their own life, changed deprived lives and reached out to the needy communities.  After learning, one can try to develop strengths and better practices to solve problems.

3/ AiDS is an inspirational and motivational support network

After all, the project seeks to inspire and motivate others on the road of change for change, especially for those who might prepare and use their summer break or any other occasions to take up volunteering and or internship roles and positions.

 Finally, AiDS is a state-of-the-art project as it enables us to get up-to-date information, knowledge and thinking in the fields of poverty reduction and sustainable development from those who went on the grounds to learn and experience real-life development works.  They return with volunteering stories to tell and share.

This year’s storytelling and sharing will be about Renewing Lives. 

We have chosen to continue our theme of renewing lives this Spring.  Getting and exchanging stories on life renewal with people is a great way of sharing the fruits of sustainable development work and change, and of supporting one another.

This year, we have added to our usual May menu afforestation (forest and deforestation) stories. 

 

• • May Stories Addition: FOREST and DEFORESTATION STORIES

 

The Forest and Deforestation stories are the stories of protection of forests and prevention of the extension of forests including threatened animal and plant species in forests.  For the need of our May Stories, we are going to focus on African forests and deforestations.  These are the stories or examples of the accounts of protection and safeguard of the world’s cultural and natural heritage as well.

 

• •  May 2019 STORIES: Life Renewal Stories

 

Springtime is a season of life renewal, of beginning again.  To renew life (whether it is about self-renewal or assisted renewal), there is or should be a process.  There are many processes just as there are many theories of life renewal. 

As far as CENFACS is concerned, life renewal can happen through any of our programmes.  And the renewing-life process can takes place in any of our programmes.  Likewise, voluntary work can be undertaken at the level of any of these processes.  

So, to continue the theme of Life-renewing season, we are running 4 series of AiD Story Telling during this month of May.

For those who want to tell their stories of renewing lives, they can choose among the following sequences to tell their stories. 

 

• •  Types of 2019 Stories and Story Telling Series

 

AiD Story Telling Series: Starting 01/05/2019 and after every Wednesday until the end of May 2019.

The following series have been planned from our chosen renewal process model for this month of storytelling (May Stories).

⇒ Wednesday 01/05/2019 to Tuesday 07/05/2019: Problem discovery stories

These are the stories of voluntary work done in discovery the problem of life self-renewal and or for those who need renewal.

⇒ Wednesday 08/05/2019 to Tuesday 14/05/2019: Assessment stories

These are accounts of voluntary work related to need assessment to deal with life renewal.

⇒ Wednesday 15/05/2019 to Tuesday 21/05/2019: Recovery stories

They include tales of voluntary work carried out in the recovery process for those in need of renewal

⇒ Wednesday 22/05/2019 to Tuesday 28/05/2019: Monitoring and tracking stories

They are the experiences of voluntary work undertaken to systematically collect data and information as well as to follow the trajectory of the outcomes expected.

 

• • 2019 Story Areas of Interest

 

We take stories that cover any areas of poverty reduction and local and international sustainable developments.

 

• • Contexts of Stories

 

Stories could come from any level of project/programme cycle (i.e. planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review) as long as it is to do with poverty reduction and sustainable development.  They could also be a result of research and field work activities or studies.  They could finally be an experience of everyday life. 

  

• • Call for 2019 Entries 

 

The 2019 Edition of AiDS has now kicked off.  For those who want to enter their stories of life renewal, please note you are welcome to do so.  Just read below the annotated time frame for story submission and CENFACS‘ storytelling  terms and conditions.

We await your responses to our call.

 

• • Annotated Time Frame for Story Submission in 2019

 

<> Start of online (e-mail) and paper-based submission (01/05/2019)

<> Story submission deadline (31/05/2019)

<> Notification of receipt/acceptance (by 17/06/2019)

<> Submission of revised stories (01/05/2019 to 31/05/2019)

<> Closing date of submission (31/05/2019)

 

• • CENFACS Story Telling & Sharing Terms

 

To tell and/or share your life-renewing story, please let us know who you are, where and when your experience took place and of course the story itself.  You could also text, twit and send some forms of supporting materials/resources to back up your story.  Should you wish not to be named, please let us know.  Please see below our story telling, sharing and learning terms.

1/ We welcome both told and untold stories

2/ Inside, witness, news, behind the scenes & case stories are eligible

3/ We only take real life stories, not fiction stories or fake news

4/ Tell true and evidence-based stories only, not lies

5/ If possible, back up your stories with facts and data (numbers or words)

6/ Mention location, dates and names of events in the story

7/ We accept photos, images, pictures, videos, infographics, audios and other forms of resources (e.g. digital or e- technologies) to support, capture and communicate the impact of your story 

8/ Plagiarism, prohibited, offensive, violation of copyrights and unlawful/illegal materials are not accepted

9/ Hacking, flaming, spamming, ransom ware, phishing and trolling practices are not accepted as well.

For further clarification, contact CENFACS

 

Tell and share your story of change for change by communicating the impact you make!

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!

24 April 2019

Post No. 88

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Reflection Day (27/04/2019) – In Focus: Protection of Women and Children in War-torn Zones and Natural Disaster-stricken Areas

• Protection of Sustainable Livelihoods: Week Beginning 22/04/2019

• Rebuilding Shattered Lives for Future Generations

 

… and much more!

 

 

Key Messages

 

~ Reflection Day (27/04/2019) on Protection of Women and Children in War-torn Zones and Natural Disaster-stricken Areas

To stay in tune with the theme of renewing lives in the Spring Relief season, this year’s Reflection Day, which will be held on 27 April 2019, has been planned to take into account the conditions and needs of women and children victims of and/or living in war-torn zones and natural disaster-stricken areas, particularly but not exclusively in Africa. 

Events like destructive wars and natural disasters can affect everybody who gets caught by them.  However, because our Reflection Day is about women and children, we need to pay a particular attention to them when it comes to dealing with these events.

To get the full extent of the first key message, please continue to read under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

 

~ Protection of Sustainable Livelihoods

The last of note about the theme of protection for this month is the Protection of Sustainable Livelihoods and other local lives from floods. 

As part of this note, we are examining the linkages between sustainable livelihoods and the need for floods protection, between sustainable livelihood systems and protection systems related to a flood situation.

Through this concluding note, we will go beyond the narrow satisfaction of protection of basic needs by embracing sustainable livelihoods.

More on this second key message can be found under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

 

~ Rebuilding Shattered Lives for Future Generations: “Quadranscentennialisation” of Rebuilding

Our appeal for rebuilding lives (which you can find one specific example of rebuilding lives on our support page of this website) continues this week with a focus on rebuilding shattered lives for generations to come. 

Rebuilding for Generations is about integrating inter-temporal and inter-space dimensions in our rebuilding projects or activities.  We want to help rebuild current destroyed lives.   If we want a lasting impact of our rebuilding help or work, then we need to think of temporal dimension (a t-dimension) or to integrate future generations in our model, plan, programme and project of rebuilding lives.  In other words, we want our rebuilding work tackles inter-generational poverty.   We don’t want to see the people we are helping to day in our rebuilding efforts, their children fall into the same poverty trap in the future.

As we are in CENFACS’ Q Year, we could even “quadranscentennialise” our rebuilding efforts by either going back 25 years from 2019 and integrate the time element of minus 25 years. Then, we could look at our rebuilding efforts backwards (minus 25) and what they have produced. 

If, on the contrary we look at our model of rebuilding in the next 25 years (that is adding 25 years), we can integrate 25 years to the same model of rebuilding lives.  Then, it will become Rebuilding plus 25.  Rebuilding plus 25 can tell us what we are trying to rebuild today will it help the generations to come in 25 years?  Our t-dimensional model can tell if what we are doing today in 2019 in terms of rebuilding will be relevant for the next generations after 25 years.

For further details on the “quadranscentennialisation” of rebuilding lives, please contact CENFACS.   

 

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Q Project – Act No. 1: Thanks

Thank you for those who supported the first Act, the Protection Act, of the Q Project and Year.  The Protection Act was about the Historical Survey of CENFACS’ Protection Work.  It has emerged from this Act that a great deal of history making at CENFACS was done through protection work.  Protection was central in what was done and continue to be a pivotal piece in CENFACS’ work today.  Sustainable protection supports CENFACS’ aims and objectives of working with local people to develop sustainable initiatives. 

Many thanks!

 

 

~ Q Protection questionnaire

As we told you last week, there was a basic questionnaire to complete after 19 April 2019 in order to support the historical survey about CENFACS’ protection work.  This questionnaire, which is just a research instrument of the survey, is related to the six trends or dimensions of protection as shown in the Table no. 1.    

The purpose of this survey is to collect information to assist CENFACS to improve its protection work as well as to research on the “quadranscentennial” legacies of CENFACS’ protection work.

So, our research frame of collecting information from stakeholders, users and other supporters through a questionnaire (online and in print) continues this week.  At the end of this collection process, we shall look at the data collected and analysed them for learning and development purpose.

To participate and or support our historical survey of CENFACS’ protection work, contact CENFACS.

~ Easter Break ad Holidays Moments & Experiences to Remember, Share and Report

Now, some of you are back from Easter Break and Holidays, it could be a good idea to think of sharing and or reporting about your experience regarding life-renewal or just about Easter Break.

Sharing your experience in this way helps to build a collection of memories and experiences about life-renewal which everybody can draw from and improve learning and development.  Furthermore, it helps empower others (those who need life-renewal examples) on the road to reducing poverty linked to the lack of life-renewing models.

As we said it in our previous communication, you can add photos, videos, audio materials, graphics  and any evidence you think is useful to your life-renewing messages.

To share and or report on your life-renewal experiences or moments, please contact CENFACS.

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• Reflection Day, 27 April: Protection of Women and Children in War-torn Zones and Natural Disaster-stricken Areas

 

Floods, droughts, storms and other natural disasters can cause a lot of damages, deaths and injuries as well as enormous financial costs.  They can create climate refugees.  They can cause all kinds of victims (humans, animals, buildings, assets etc.).

Amongst these victims are women and children.  Women and children have to be moved, relocated and supported to rebuild their lives sometimes in the new locations or environments.

Likewise, wars especially destructive ones create victims as well.  Amongst these victims are humans, animals, buildings, infrastructures and so on.  Focusing on two particular victims from parties in armed conflicts are women and children. 

Women and children victims of or living in war zones can greatly suffer from access to safe drinking water, medical care, shelter, education, protection etc.  They can be displaced and their human rights can be derided or violated just as they can be exploited in many forms.

They have been a lot of truly documented stories of women harm and child causalities; stories reported in places of wars like in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in places of natural disasters like in Haiti.  

Women and Children living in places of wars and natural disasters face an incredible amount of challenge for their life survival, let one their security to be alive.

This is why we need to think again the way in which women and children, especially the vulnerable ones, are protected in places of wars and natural disasters.  This is because in the places like these ones, the fences of protection could have been destroyed by the events.  Besides the urgency of meeting for example the basic needs of food, water, shelter and education; the need of protection could even challenge the possibility of meeting the other needs. 

The Reflection Day will be about thoughts on how women and children can be best protected in places of war and natural disasters; places where there is a great challenge for protection as most of the safety and security nets have been destroyed or damaged.

Our Reflection Day will go in depth not only to explore life-saving strategies, fixes and enhancements to tighten the fences of protection; but also to engineer ideas for solutions to the root causes of the lacks of protection and security.

To proceed with our Reflection Day, we are going to have three areas of reflection:

1/ Thoughts on Women and Children protection rights and practices in places of war

2/ Thoughts on Women and Children protection rights and practices in areas of natural disaster

3/ How women and children can protect themselves rather than how somebody else protects them, in the two places.  In this respect, one can  think of self-protection and self-empowerment for protection.

Although our Reflection Day will be on women and children victims of war and natural disasters, we shall also extend our thoughts on women in combat mission, female soldiers, women and children detainees, women journalists and reporters in places of wars and natural disasters, child soldiers etc. 

   

To support or join the Reflection Day on Protection of Women and Children, please contact CENFACS.   

Below we have provided a timeline about CENFACS’ Reflection Day for reference.

• • Reflection Day Timeline

The Reflection Day is a day of thoughts by bringing together the two pillars of our network and protection programme, which are 3W and PPS.  Although they started in 2003, we only introduced a Reflection Day (RD) in them in 2011. 

In 2016, we amalgamated 3W and PPS to become Women and Children projects as we noticed in some situations it was difficult to separate women’s and children’s needs.  Where their needs are separable or differentiated one to the other, we run either of the two brands (that is 3W and PPS) individually.  This is why these two brands of our network and protection are still alive despite their amalgamation.

The Reflection Day is a day of introspection to think in depth the ways forward for our systems of support network and protection for poverty relief and sustainable development in face of the current, new and emerging challenges ahead as well as the changing development landscape. 

Since its inception, the following is the timeline of 3W and PPS

2011: Making Networking and Protection Even Better in 2011

2012: Raising Standards in Poverty Reduction for Improving Lives

2013: Place of Women and Children in the Post-2015 Development World (Part I)

2014: Women and Children in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda  (Part II) – A Stock Taking Reflection Event

2015: Doing Business to Lift Women and Children out of Poverty

2016: Improving Digital Protection for the Extremely Digitally Poor Women and Children

2017: Reducing Information and Communication Poverty for Multi-dimensionally Poor Women and Children

2018: Making Transitional Economy Work for Poor Families  

For your information,

3W & PPS = Support Network and Protection for Poverty Relief and Development

Women and Children projects = amalgamation of 3W and PPS in 2016

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

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

KNA (Keep the Net Alive) = a motto that helps to keep our networking for protection running.

For more information on 3W and PPS or Women and Children projects, please contact CENFACS.

 

• Protection of Sustainable Livelihoods: Week beginning 22/04/2019

Sustainable livelihoods can be defined as factors and processes that enhance poor people’s ability to make a living in an environmentally, economically and socially way.  When there are floods or flood disaster (like the Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa), sustainable livelihoods can be destroyed. 

There are linkages between sustainable livelihoods and the need for floods protection.  Flood disaster can lead to loss or destruction of livelihoods as assets are destroyed and displaced by floods.  In addition, there could be restricted access to a means of production and of securing the necessities of life.

In this respect, protection of livelihoods will imply two approaches as follows.

1/ Protection strategies to preserve livelihoods (strategy approach): these are kinds of survival and copying strategies to make ends meet again.

2/ Relief programmes to ensure protection (programme approach): these are like a set of projects undertaken in the form of humanitarian aid and relief

Depending on the circumstances and the impacts of floods or flood disaster, one or the other strategy can be used or both.

In the context of our last note of the theme about protection against floods, we are going to deal with the following to protect sustainable livelihoods:

√ Security of water and food

√ Provision of medical support

√ Giving of shelter

√ Donation of clothing

√ Developing capacity to meet again the lost necessities

√ Restoration of dignity to people and communities affected by floods

Etc.

In brief, all the above activities are meant to enable the flood-affected people and communities to meet their daily requirements of living in a sustainable way.

To support and or enquire about the Month of Protection as well as this week’s note on the matter, please contact 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!

17 April 2019

Post No. 87

 

 

The Week’s Contents

 

• Historical Survey of CENFACS’ Protection Work (19/04/2019)

• Protection of Infrastructures, Homes and Buildings (Week beginning: 15/04/2019)

• Protection of the Hungry and Insecure People in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

 

… and much more!

 

Key Messages

 

~ Historical Survey of CENFACS’ Protection Work (on 19/04/2019)

Our first Act of the Quadranscentennial (Q) project is the Historical Survey of CENFACS’ Protection Work which will be held on the 19^th of April 2019.  This is a mapping activity and investigation about protection work since CENFACS was established in 1994 and since we are in the April month of protection at CENFACS.

Protection work began at that year.  It was once about what was happening in the region of Great Lakes of Africa in terms of protection need there.  Then, our protection work expanded to include other parts of Africa and other aspects of life. 

Under the Main Developments section of this post, you will find the highlights of this survey about the work of CENFACS on protection since 1994. 

~ Protection of Infrastructures, Homes and Buildings (Week beginning: 15/04/2019)

This week, we are dealing with the 3^rd note of the theme of protection against floods.  The focus is on how to protect infrastructures, people’s homes, public buildings and other basic amenities against floods or flood disaster.

In developing countries of Africa for example,  the challenge that can be brought by floods could be beyond local people’s capacity and ability, like in the case of Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa recently.   In particular, where infrastructures, homes and buildings have been destroyed, this challenge is even greater. 

So, this week’s work on protection against floods is about looking at the limits and budget constraints of places affected by floods and how they can be matched with the demands of protection.

More on this week’s protection work can be found under the Main Developments section of this post.

 

 

~ Protection of the Hungry, Insecure and Needy People in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

Although this week’s protection is about infrastructures, homes and buildings; we would like to extend our protection work of the last week, which was on protection of people, to include the needy people of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. 

We are including them as they are experiencing hunger, insecurity and scarcity of natural resources, especially water.  As it is known that the region of Sahel (in which these countries belong to) has a history of water shortage and drought which are a disadvantage for them, particularly for those living in poverty there. 

Added to this natural feature of these places, recently there have been killings in the region (in Mali against the Peul populations), inter-community strives, insecurity for farmers and stock breeders, general poverty, irrigation problems, drying of land, deforestation, desertification etc.  This has been coupled with extremism, inter-community conflicts, the lack of water drilling and decline of natural resources

As the brief picture of the situation in these countries has shown, this raises the question of protection of hungry, insecure and water resource-deprived people.  However, the injection of what is happening in these countries is not only about raising awareness concerning these people’s protection needs, but it is also about motivating those who can to do something about it.

Those who would like to help protect the peoples of these three countries who are desperate in need of food, security and safe drinking water; they can work with CENFACS on this matter.

 

Extra Messages

 

~ Easter Break with Life-renewing Experience Sharing and Reporting…

At home, on the move, away and on the field

To feature the renewal season at CENFACS, you can save the experiences about life-renewing you are having over this Easter break.  You can share and or report to CENFACS your experience of life-renewing initiative you are having or witnessing or even heard.  You can share it the time it is happening or when you return after Easter.

Life-renewing experiences are anything that has been done to help or support people in most needs to recompose, restructure and reconstruct themselves over this easterly time.

This experience can happen at any place (home and away) of Easter break.  You could even post your experience to CENFACS with photos, pictures, texts, videos or any supporting materials that better convey your life-renewing messages.

 

~ Comparative Analysis on Poverty Relief Movements in North Africa

Also, on the agenda this week is our reading of Poverty Relief Movements in Africa (PRMA).  As the young Algerians continue to demand an end to poverty linked to a lack of true, open and transparent democratic transition; what this does tell us about our model of peaceful PRMA.  Additionally, we are trying to make sense in the current PRM in North Sudan.    

We are trying to compare the two waves of PRM in North Africa: the first wave of PRM in 2010 (of Tunisia and Egypt) and the second wave of PRM in 2019 of Algeria and Sudan.  We are looking at the similarities and dissimilarities as well as what they are telling us about a model of peaceful PRMs.  In our model, we continue to argue that it is possible to achieve better change through peaceful PRMs or means.  It may take time but change will materialise one day or another.

In the 31^st Issue of FACS published in Spring 2011, CENFACS (1) simply defined PRM as

“a series of actions and a group of peaceful protestors with a common need and a common goal of advancing the cause of poverty relief in their respective countries” (p.4).

It is poor people’s revolution against poverty or poor people’s voices against poverty.  Their ways of expressing their voices can find accommodation in the streets and or anywhere else.

To comparatively analyse PRMA with CENFACS, contact CENFACS.   

(1) CENFACS, The Street Claimants of Poverty Relief in the North Africa: Case of the Youth Peaceful Poverty Relief Movements in Tunisia and Egypt, FACS Issue No. 31, Spring 2011 (pp. 3 & 4)

 

 

 

 

Main Developments

 

• Act One of Q Project: Historical Survey of CENFACS’ Protection Work (19/04/2019)

The historical survey of CENFACS protection work will be carried out through three elements: the background to CENFACS’ protection work, the identified areas of protection within CENFACS and a basic questionnaire to complete our survey.

 

~ The Background to CENFACS’ Protection Work

CENFACS’ protection story and work all began in 1994 when we saw the mass exodus of population leaving Rwanda and entering the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire) running away from their attackers, and human bodies thrown in the Tanganyika Lake.

It is not by chance if CENFACS’ Q Year coincided with the 25^th anniversary (07/04/2019) of Rwanda’s tragic event of mass murder, the genocide.  At that time, we had a choice to write a book to express our view or set up an organisation to advocate about the protection challenge that the Great Lakes of Africa faced.  The idea of setting up an organisation (a forum for discussion) overweighed that of a book. 

This is when our work on protection started, although our idea was an economic one.  We thought about protection of those people fleeing their lands to seek refuge in Zaire (today DRC), protection for the Congolese who were forced to welcome these Rwandan refugees while paying a heavy price for doing it, and protection of natural resources (like the Lake Tanganyika, farming lands, conflict materials etc.).

We wondered whether or not the international development community could not see what was happening and why these defenseless poor people were left to migrate and die in this way.  Why the genocide could not be prevented.  Why action was not taken.

The situation escalated to create two waves of war in DRC: the first Congo war between 1996 and 1997 characterised by a foreign invasion of Zaire led by Rwanda; the second Congo War in 1998 which became the deadliest conflict worldwide since the World War II with a toll of 5.4 million deaths by 2008.  This raised again the stake of protection to its highest level. 

This is CENFACS’ protection work and how it began.  This protection work took various shapes and forms as CENFACS develops as identified below.

 

~ Identification of the trends in protection work by CENFACS

Our investigative work found that there were and continue to be six trends or dimensions of protection which are as follows:

1/ Protection of the victims of destructive wars and natural disasters (like in the case of DRC) run under ReLives Programme

2/ Protection of the forgotten children of developments (children victims of the rivalries from the world system of exploitation)

3/ Protection of the ethnic minority people and communities

4/ Protection of the environment and nature conducted via a la une (Autumn Leaves of Action for the Upkeep of the Nature in Existence) campaign

5/ Protection of women and children (via Women and Children projects) that makes CENFACS’ What Women Want (3W) initiative and Peace, Protection and Sustainability (PPS) Programme

6/ Protection of children against the impacts and effects of climate change, which is conducted through our advocacy initiative known as Climate Protection and Stake for African Children 

These six dimensions provide the cartography of CENFACS protection work.

Without anticipating the results of the first Act of the Q Project, we can argue that this first Act will deal with these dimensions in trying to find out the outcomes, lessons and development we can learn from our 25 years experience of working on these six types of protection. 

To support and or enquire about CENFACS’ first Act of the Q Year and Project, contact CENFACS.

~ Q Protection questionnaire

To support the historical survey about CENFACS’ protection work, there will be a basic questionnaire to complete after 19 April 2019.  This questionnaire will be related to the six trends or dimensions of protection.

Further details about this questionnaire will follow in due course.  

 

• Protection of Infrastructures, Homes and Buildings (Week beginning: 15/04/2019)

 

~ What this week’s protection work is also about

This week’s third note of protection against floods is about looking at the financial limits and budgetary constraints of flood affected countries and organisations working there as well as how they can be matched with the demands of potential flood hazards or disasters in the future. 

~ What needs protection: destroyed infrastructures, homes and buildings

Often when there are wars, basic infrastructures, homes and other buildings are targeted for attack.  They get destroyed or vandalised.  This happened in many wars like in Rwanda, the DRC, the Central African Republic etc.  The places of refuge for those fleeing wars and atrocities are targeted as well. 

Conflicting fighters, sometimes both regular and irregular armies, destroy bridges, roads, airports, water infrastructures, transport systems, places of worship, local markets etc.  State and private buildings are not exempted.

This destruction can happen despite there are some laws of war (or the law of armed conflict) or conventions regarding the conduct of and during the war.  For example, there is a Geneva Convention (of 12 August 1949) relative to the protection of civilian persons in the war.   

When a major natural disaster strikes like the Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa; infrastructures, houses, dwellings, buildings, edifices and any construction are not exempt from destruction or collapse.  The infrastructures that get destroyed include water, sanitation, transportation, electricity, irrigation, and flood protection.

Yet, these basic infrastructures are the ones poor people and the rest of the population depend on for their daily life.  Likewise, homes and buildings are needed by the same people to live and work in or just function as human beings.

~ Providing protection to the affected infrastructures, homes and buildings

Generally, poor people and communities do not have the capacity to handle floods of certain level of impact like the one we saw with the Cyclone Idai in Southern Africa.  Where their capacity falls short, they can appeal to cover the difference or shortfall.  Obviously, in the case of these kinds people and communities this difference will be often covered by international humanitarian assistance.    

To support this third note and the protection month, contact 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