Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

14 December 2017

Newly opened CENFACS Charity e-Store!

We would like first of all to inform and remind you that CENFACS Charity e-Store is now opened for you to donate goods and or to shop for donated goods which are on our online window display store on the page “Charity e-Shop” of this website.

CENFACS would be more than happier if you could be one of its goods donor or donated goods shopper at its newly opened Charity e-Store.

We would like to make the following request.  The festive time is a particular time when we can try something new or a new experience in our shopping habits.  In particular, when shopping at business stores for gifts one can try as well to promote good causes by shopping at charity stores.

We would be pleased if you could consider CENFACS Charity e-Store as a new shopping experience over this festive season.

Thank you for your support.

Contents of the week beginning 11 December 2017

The hit/pick of this week’s advocacy is the pursuit of Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 2 through the follow up of the Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation.

The week is also the start of our preparation for the end of the year 2017 through our December celebratory project the Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community.

Our All in Development Winter e-discussion, which normally takes us to the New Year, has already kicked off since 05 December 2017.  This time our discussion is about doing voluntary work during a transitional period after a country (like the UK) is the process of exiting a regional economic bloc (such as European Union).  It is what we call Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Integration Era.

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

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

The CENFACS demand to the global climate talks is to give climate protection and stake for African children.  This demand is undertaking through the follow up of global climate talks like the PSCM.

Our climate follow up of this week’s round discussions held in Paris would be on

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

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

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

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

We all know that the Paris Summit was held on last 12 December 2017.  We are still discussing the outcomes of this Summit.

The findings from these outcomes will be included in our next communication regarding the CPSAC – P.2. 

In meantime, if you would like to talk about this Summit  with CENFACS, just forward your comments.  

To tell what you think and or support CPSAC – P.2, contact CENFACS

• All in Development Winter e-discussion: Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Era

Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Integration Era is CENFACS’ 7th Winter volunteering e-discussion since we launched in 2010 our discussion on Volunteering for Poverty Reduction in the 2010s.  These 2017 wintry thoughts will focus on the effects of the process of a country (like UK) leaving a given regional economic integration scheme (such as European Union); effects on voluntary organisations for example CENFACS and its Africa-based Sister Organisations.

Over the last years, All in Development Winter e-discussion has become one of the CENFACS’ bridging projects, a bridge between the ending year (2017) and the starting year (2018).  

Since 2012, our Winter e-discussion has been influenced by what has been happening at the global level with development goals settings; so reflecting our desire to keep a link between both local and global developments as the two are intertwined.  The 2016-2017 Winter e-discussion expressed the same spirit and degree of interest when planning and formulating its content. 

With a slight difference and noticed exception, the 2017-2018 Winter e-discussion has been influenced by the exit of the UK from the European Economic Integration model.   

Supporting All in Development Volunteer Scheme (AiDVS) 

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

Supporting us does not need to be magical and majestic. 

You can still enjoy a great festive season while you are supporting us. 

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

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

• Gift ideas for the best ways of monitoring, evaluating and reviewing projects and programmes in the new year and development era

• Savings and scrimping for AiDVs

• Festive deals, packages, coupons & vouchers for AiDVs

• Technologies for volunteering to make the world a better place for a low-carbon and sustainable future we all want

• Low carbon economic products to protect the environment

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

• Festive gifts for sustaining for voluntary work in the Post-regional    Economic Integration era

• Wintry & festive giveaways for volunteering for a better world etc.

Recalling CENFACS’ Winter Volunteering E-Discussion Since Its Inception In 2010

2010-2011: Volunteering for Poverty Reduction in the 2010s which was the first e-discussion was based on how All in Development Volunteers (AiDVs) could play their role in CENFACS’ 2010s Poverty Reduction Advocacy programme of work

2011-2012: Green Volunteering helped us to e-discuss ways of supporting Green Economy  through Voluntary Green initiatives

2012-2013: With Sustainable Volunteering, we looked at the new currents and waves of sustainable development on volunteering and voluntary work

2013-2014: The focus was on Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda Process

2014-2015: Our e-discussion theme was Volunteering for the Post-2015 Development Agenda Process & Climate Treaty

2015-2016: Our e-conversion was devoted to The Implementation & Delivery of New Agendas, Goals & Agreements 

2016-2017: Our e-talks dealt with Projects and Programmes of Monitoring, Evaluation and Review within the Context of 2020-2030 Follow up Programme 

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

• Community Value Chains (CVC): The CENFACS Community 

What is CENFACS’ Community Value Chains (CVC)?

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

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

It is all about improving lives and outcomes of community members and enlivening capacities by sharing good practices, values and achievements. 

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

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

What are those Shared Values?

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

They could be life and work learning experiences, lifestyles, helpful differences, social responsibilities and principles that underpin them.

In focus for CVC 2017 Celebration: CENFACS AS A TALENTED COMMUNITY

The Celebratory Theme for CVC’s 9^th Celebration is CENFACS as a Talented Community

We are a community of talents because our children like us got talents.   Because we and our children got talents, we can make a basic mathematical assumption as follows.    

If we sum up or totalise our individual talents, the total of our talents will make us a community of talented people.

The 2017 CVC celebration is of the display of our known talents, but also of unknown or hidden ones.  The hidden talents are those we were not aware of or simply we did not have the opportunity to put them into practice.

So, the CVC’s 9^th celebration is about bringing together our talents (both revealed and hidden) to celebrate them as what makes us a Talented Community.

Share, spread, Tweet & Facebook the message

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

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

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

Whatever way/means you choose to enter this project, please reply by the 23rd of December 2017 to ease the end-of-year 2017 celebration and the start-of-year 2018 preparatory activities, projects and programmes.

Community Value Chains TIMELINE

The following highlights the different yearly themes that so far made the CVC. 

2009: Inception of Community Value Chains as a Community Value Control, Inspirational and Motivational project of end-of- year celebration

2010: Community Value Chains as a Preparatory and Celebratory project to smooth our move to the next year

2011: Our Richness in Community Cohesion:  celebrating the greatness of, and extent to which we are linked to, our community of values and owning our shared values by sticking together as one world.

2012: Great for My Community: What is great value for me could be a great value for the community I am part of and for the organisation I am involved with.

2013: Upgrading Together: Moving together between different stages of the Community Value Chains to gain higher and better returns to participation in high value chains

2014: It is about poverty relief.  Is it?: Bringing under one umbrella all forms of poverty and engineering relevant customised reliefs.

2015: We as a Thriving Community of Capacities: We have the capacity to reduce certain forms of poverty amongst our members and around and outside ourselves

2016: CENFACS as a Social Media Community for Poverty Relief and Development: CENFACS is a social unit having common values, identity and beliefs

CONTACTING CENFACS for the CVC project

To celebrate our shared values and bonds of culture, to take part in our CVC project and develop the CENFACS Community, to tell us about your good value or valued practice or learning experience or even helpful difference and to add your talents (both revealed or hidden) to our Community of Talents; please get in touch.

http://twitter.com/cenfacs               http://facebook.com/cenfacs

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

06 December 2017

• BRIEF REVIEWS ABOUT A la Une & WHAT BONN SAY

Before talking about WHAT IS ON (SEASON’S RELIEFS) during this month of December inside CENFACS, we would like to start this week’s post with A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep Nature in Existence) which finished last week, and with Climate Protection and State for African Children – Phase 2 which we recently ran under the banner of What Bonn Say.  

This year’s A la Une has been different compared to last year’s one as the advocacy sub-themes were extended and varied. We hope you found it interesting, engaging and practical in putting into action our Autumn environmental agenda.  We would like to thank all those who supported the campaign.

As What Bonn Say was not enough to meet our demand of Climate Protection and Stake for African Children, we are taking our advocacy awareness and action to the Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation scheduled for this December 2017. 

If you have any comments or reviews to make about A la Une and What Bonn Say, please do not hesitate to do it.

• WHAT’S ON IN DECEMBER 2017 AT CENFACS

December is the Income Generation month of CENFACS‘ monthly development calendar and planner.  It is the month during which we advocate and provide tips, hints and other types of advisory support on how to generate additional income to cover shortage in regular income, by using other avenues within the boundaries of the law in order to enable multi-dimensional income poor children, young people and families (C, YP & Fs) to exercise their basic human right to celebrate the end of the year in their own way.  

Indeed, income poverty is one of the dominant features that characterize and number some of the world’s C, YP and Fs as poor or not.  One can imagine what life looks like when you are below the poverty line (that is an income below a minimal standard).  It is even a painful and unbelievable situation that at the time of Festive Celebrations to mark the end of the year, tons of food and kiloliters of drink will be wasted and ended in bins in some of the most affluent places and households of the world while millions of C, YP & Fs in some of the deprived parts of the world will go hungry to bed in Festive nights, let alone without any celebrations once in a year life time. 

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

As part of festive support, our Edition 2017 Festive Extra Income Builder, Booster and Calculator is available for those who need it.  This year, this resource focuses on Online Income Generation as other vehicle to raise some basic income for those who managed to overcome digital poverty.

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

• CENFACS POVERTY RELIEF LEAGUE

• Run to Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2017

• Vote your African Poverty Relief Manager of the Year 2017

We expect those who took part and or organised activities on our behalf about these projects to come forward, report and share with us their actions, results and experiences. 

December is finally the month we start CENFACS Winter Lights Season, the first season of our development seasonal calendar.  The Season of Light, which kicks off around Mid-December, includes the Gifts of Peace.  Peace is the festive note we choose at CENFACS to spread the joy of Season’s Reliefs to those in need.  We try to help their wishes of relief become true with the Gifts of Peace, by putting a smile on their face with reliefs notes. 

To support the Edition 2017/2018 of Gifts of Peace, please go the page Support Us of this website at www.cenfacs.org.uk/support-us/.  

Details of projects and programmes making the first part of this first season have been announced below.  Some of them intertwine between our monthly and seasonal development calendars.  All will depend whether one is reading our development calendar on a monthly or seasonal basis.

The CENFACS Community Value Chains, which generally concludes our yearly development calendar and planner, marks the end of civil year at CENFACS.  This is an end-of-year eventful project enabling us to look upon us again as a community of shared vision, values and beliefs which connect us as human chains with a purpose of reducing and ending poverty amongst us.  This year we shall focus on ourselves as a Talented Community.

To carry the CENFACS Community into the New Year, our discussion on Sustainable Volunteering is scheduled to take place from 05 December 2017 to 05 January 2018.  The discussion theme for this year is Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Integration Era. 

To get details about WHAT’S ON IN DECEMBER 2017, contact CENFACS 

• SEASON’S RELIEFS

The above initiatives including those listed below make December 2017  SEASON’S RELIEFS at CENFACS.  These are seasonally blended projects and programmes aiming at providing helpful and smart reliefs during the Festive time.   A stunning selection of poverty-relieving projects and contents to help not only reduce poverty but to help create new life in the new year.

A list of selected December 2017 initiatives – SEASON’S RELIEFS – is given below. 

• Festive Income Builder, Booster & Calculator: Online Income Generation

• Community Value Chains: Celebrating Hidden Talents of My Community

• Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Integration Era

• Thanking 2017 Year Makers & Enablers

• Climate Protection and Stake for African Children – Phase 2: Paris Summit on Climate Mobilisation

• Gifts of Peace (Edition 2017/2018)

• Run, Vote & Play for Poverty Relief and Development (Action-Results 2017)

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

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

29 November 2017

Our November-December 2017 fundraising campaign concerning three of our new projects – which are TRIACONTADI project (Project 32), project MISATU (Project M) and Post-REI (Regional Economic Integration) Transitional Capacity Building and Development programme – is still on course.  This is the last fundraising campaign of Autumn 2017 before we start the Lights Season. 

CENFACS welcome any amount of donations to be pledged and given towards these projects.

The week beginning 27 November 2017 is the continuation of the last episode of A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) campaign; episode devoted to Climate Finance and Insurance for the Poor and Vulnerable Children, the Victims of the Adverse Effects and Impacts of Climate Change. 

CENFACS would like to thank all those who stay engaged, resilient with and continue to support us since this campaign started.

The week also marks the end of Skills Development month.  The theme for this Year’s November Skills Development has been Digital and Online Skills and Capability.  This November has been as well the month during which we started to implement our New Media and Digital Programmes (NMDPs), programmes which took over and extended the Communications for Better Change Programme.

The coming month of December is the Income Generation month according to CENFACS Development calendar/planner.   Our Individual Capacity Development Programme (ICDP) booklet entitled “Festive Income Builder and Booster” is indeed designed to consolidate the Income Generation month and prepares us for the New Year’s income relief.  This year’s focus of this seasonal ICDP booklet, the Festive Income Relief Guide, will be on Online Income Generation. 

The theme of Online Income Generation builds the bridge between our November Skills Development and December Income Generation themed reliefs, between the acquisition and development of digital skills on the one hand and the capacity to apply these online/digital skills on the other hand to generate a little extra income over December, between our ICDP and NMDPs, between our digital capacity and communication.

Festive Income Builder and Booster Edition 2017: The Festive Income Relief Guide

As a key highlight, the resource states that while core sources of income could the most secure and sustainable as they could be a long term solution to the income poverty issue, there are however ways of improving one’s income scope and scale in the short term.  This requires one being enterprising and ambitious so that they can make the most of their potentials to capture those incomes that they were losing by lack of awareness and or earn an extra one through their own imagination and courage.

As example of Little Extras that can be added up to Build and Boost Income, the Festive Income Relief Guide mentions the following areas:

• Money savings on price comparisons, price hunting, checks and verification on purchase, payments savings, reducing waste (through recycling, reuse and retaining), store coupons and vouchers, store offers and gifts, family packages, credit renegotiations and repairs etc

• Expenses reduction, control and reprioritisation

• Apps from smart phones, online ads, download of free software

• Income from fundraising ideas and small projects

• Temporary festive time work

• Income from previously unclaimed credits

• Refunds/payments for unsolicited damages and liabilities incurred

• Reimbursements for overcharges etc

As this year’s focus is on online income generation, there is as well some Little Extra Income that can come from initiatives such as

• filling online surveys or questionnaires

• entering online competitions/draws

• providing online reviews about shopping experiences

• getting paid for online fundraising campaigns

• online proof reading documents

• online ads and shopping at discounted prices etc.

Remember! The resource is primarily and mostly intended to support Multi-dimensionally Income Poor Children, Young People and Families who may also be digitally deprived or not.  However, if they are digitally skilled and have overcome digital poverty, they can try to explore the window of opportunities of the online and digital worlds and technologies to build and boost their festive income.    

Attention! The resource is not designed for those who are looking for big money business or simply big money.  For those ones, they can tap into other sources of income available on the market. There are other organisations out there on the market that can assist them.

As far as CENFACS is concerned, our mission as a charity is to relieve and possibly end poverty in all its forms and everywhere, particularly but not exclusively in our areas of operation.  In doing so, we try to support those living in poverty in the UK and Africa.  As a result of our poverty relief work, over the festive period CENFACS try to PROMOTE THE RIGHT TO CELEBRATE FOR MULTI-DIMENSIONAL INCOME POOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES.   

This is why the Festive Income Relief Guide exists. The resource is free but a donation of £5 may be asked to cover the cost of producing, updating and posting it.

To enquire and or order the ICDP Autumn 2017 Festive Income Builder and Booster – the Festive Income Relief Guide – please contact CENFACS.

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

22 November 2017

This week’s post will start with a thank-you note for every support that our last Sunday’s Development Day received.

The Development Day provided us the opportunity and moment to re-engage with and re-communicate our message against poverty in all its forms and everywhere for women and children.

We shall continue to advocate for progress on the development of resilience and policies to protect poor and vulnerable people, especially women and children in conditions of poverty.

Many thanks for your support!

The week is as well the furtherance of A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) campaign with the sub-theme of Climate Finance and Insurance.

We have added to this communication, our summary regarding the climate talks we are following under CPSAC (Climate Protection and Stake for African Children) – Phase 2 project; the current and last climate talks follow up being named as What Bonn Say.

Finally, we are starting a new fundraising campaign for three of our eleven initiatives of Autumn programme, which include: TRIACONTADI, MISATU and P-REI (Post-Regional Economic Integration) TRANSITIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME as of 22 November 2017.   This is the last fundraising campaign of Autumn 2017 before we start the Lights Season.

We hope that this week’s contents will be interesting and engaging.

• Climate finance and insurance

The last episode of A la Une campaign this year will be devoted to Climate Finance and Insurance for the Poor and Vulnerable Children, the Victims of the Adverse Effects and Impacts of Climate Change.

 Climate finance

Briefly the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Standing Committee on Finance argues that

“Climate finance aims at reducing emissions, and enhancing sinks of greenhouse gases and aims at reducing vulnerability of, and maintaining and increasing the resilience of, human and ecological systems to negative climate change impacts.” (http://unfccc.int/focus/climate_finance)

From their perspective, Climate Change refers to local, national or transnational financing, which may be drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing.  These funds are meant to cut carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.

To raise these funds and allocate them to the victims of the adverse effects and impacts of climate change pose some issues.  With regard to children victims of the climate change, we would like to deal with the following selected issues during our two weeks campaign:

• Mobilisation of climate finance for child protection
• Tracking progress on commitments made for the climate finance budget
• Sustainability of share in the climate finance flows to child protection
• Reporting mechanisms and rules of engagement for climate finance needed and received for children
• The allocation of fair share between adaptation finance and mitigation finance for children’s needs

Climate Insurance

Raising the funds for climate finance is not enough unless climate risk insurance for the poor and vulnerable children is also taken into account.

The chosen campaigning points for climate insurance for child protection are as follows:

• Affordability and accessibility for poor children to any climate insurance policy
• Sustainability in the climate insurance schemes
• Reliability of climate insurance coverage for children victims of the adverse effects and impacts of climate change
• Policy responsive based on needs not on ideologies
• Rights-based approach to climate finance and insurance

 The above issues have been around in the climate change negotiations for some years, but they have never been properly addressed throughout these various Climate Change talks.  Some of them have been talked about in the previous finance and insurance meetings to make up the agenda. 

As far as children are concerned, they are not a specific attention/focus of global climate talks/gatherings.  Attention is much devoted to the BIG issue of reducing the carbon emissions rather than on dealing with the issues of the adverse impacts of climate change on children. 

We hope this campaign will help not only to raise awareness but to take some concrete actions.  Especially as A la Une campaign is about action not only talks.  

To support and or find out more about CENFACS’ Climate Finance and Insurance Advocacy Initiative, contact CENFACS.

• What Bonn Say: More or Less?  

Although there have been climate action pledges and initiatives to get on track towards the objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and to ultimately achieve the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals at the COP23 in Bonn, there is still a number of pending issues. 

The good news is that some pledges were made by delegates.  These pleadges include funding to coordinate climate action, corporate emission cuts, an agreed 12-month engagement, a G20 (the world’s 20 leading industrialised and emerging economies) and V20 (group of 20 vulnerable nations) partnership initiative, insurance funds to support poor and vulnerable people, clean energy transitions, financial support to curb deforestation, steps to meet pre-2020 ambition and the long-term goals of the two-year old Paris Agreement etc.

The bad news is it was not possible to do better together to drive climate action further and faster ahead as participants initially thought.

However, beyond the  BIG issue/picture  of the ultimate objective of all agreements under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development; there has been no progress for our demand to protect children the victims of the adverse impacts of climate change.  There was no much say and action on children’s climate stake.

Additionally, the facts that some of the issues have been delayed until the next Paris talks in December 2017, this suggests that the opportunity was missed.  Therefore, our climate protection continues by looking forward the December 2017 Paris Meeting and the next round of climate talks (COP24) in 2018 in Poland.

To support CPSAC – Phase 2 and or follow up Climate Talks with CENFACS, contact CENFACS.

• November-December 2017 Fundraising Campaign

This November-December 2017 fundraising campaign concerns three of our new projects: TRIACONTADI project (Project 32), project MISATU (Project M) and Post-REI (Regional Economic Integration) Transitional Capacity Building and Development programme.

TRIACONTADI stands for Together for Renewal of Infrastructures in Africa to Create Opportunities and Needed Transformations for Alternative Development Intergeneration.

TRIACONTADI is project that helps to both create inexistent infrastructures and develop basic infrastructures destroyed by wars, armed conflicts and environmental disasters in order to relieve poverty. 

Project MISATU (Project M) means Making Impactful Support to Africa Together with Users. As an impact analysis project, MISATU helps to capture and communicate in effective way the impact of support to Africa by involving users.

Post-REI (Regional Economic Integration) Transitional Capacity Building and Development is a two-year empowerment programme aiming at reducing poverty during and after the transitional period when countries leaving and/or remaining in the Regional Economic Integration through the building and development of poor people’s skills, knowledge, power and ability.

This fundraising campaign, which starts today the 22nd of November 2017, will end on the 23rd of December 2017.  However, CENFACS will accept any donations, gifts and stories given after the closing date of this campaign.

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

16 November 2017

KEY POINTS/CONTENTS OF THIS WEEK’S POST

The lead content of the week is the continuation of our follow up of the Climate Change Conference in Bonn.

This week we are spurring our interest on the 8^th Development Day for Women and Children.

Our arsenal this week is directed towards Saving Rainforests.

• SAVE RAINFORESTS this week with CENFACS

A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) campaign with SAVE RAINFORESTS as the current sharing contents of this campaign continues in its second week. 

It has been encouraging from the comments we have received so far about it.  Thank you to all our readers for their supportive comments.

• Following the Climate Change Conference continues …

Our branded climate protection advocacy as Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 2 is still on track with the theme of “What Bonn Say”.   “What Bonn Say” means that we are following the Climate Change talks which are in progress in Bonn (Germany). 

We hope that the participants to the Climate Change Conference will go beyond the BIG picture to include the protection of children in their talks. 

We wish that the outcomes of these talks to be a successful boost for the protection of children against the adverse impacts of climate change. 

• General Follow-up Programme (FXX 236.3)

CPSAC – P.2 is a specific follow-up and part of our general programme of follow-up previously known as 2020-2030 Follow-up Programme or (XX23FP).  As said at the start of “What Bonn Say”, this November is also about XX23FP or even better the extended version of our follow-up programme which is XX236.3FP.  

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

The coming CENFACS’ Development Day is the verification of the implementation of the four agendas against poverty for Women and Children.

To enquiry about and or support XX236.3 Follow-up Programme, contact CENFACS.

• Coming Soon: Women and Children FIRST Development Day (WCFDD)

This week will end with our Development Day whose the year’s theme is on ENDING POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 

At the start of the year 2017, we thought that child and women protections were one of the seven key areas to watch for poverty relief and development in 2017 and beyond. 

We said that strengthening the fences of protection for children and women against both global and national/local threats and risks would not only help reduce poverty, but would also open up a world of tremendous possibilities for them and future generations in Africa.  This will further impact on the society as a whole. 

Equally, building resilience to vulnerabilities and improving policy frameworks for women and children are paramount in order to relinquish them from the burdens of poverty and underdevelopment.

Having said that our Development Day (DD) will focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 1 and targets 5 and 7 of this goal  (G1: T5;7).  In short, Global Goal 1 is NO POVERTY; Target 5 is Building Resilience while Target 7 is Policy Frameworks. 

The DD on G1: T5;7, which is going to look at progress made so far and areas that need development,  is the day of searching and thinking of the means to reduce and possible to end poverty for women and children.  The day is therefore organised in two parts as follows.

Part 1: Building Resilience

Building resilience to vulnerabilities is the DD’s focus on progress made to reduce various forms of vulnerabilities and exposures to various conditions of life of women and children.  As our day is about development, we shall explore ways of improving and developing a better resilience system against future vulnerabilities and exposures.

Part 2: Policy Frameworks  

Searching on policy frameworks that seek to protect women and children is the second activity of WCFDD.  Again as our day is about development, the second part will examine the frames of existing policies if they are strong enough not only to protect women and children, but also to provide scopes for their development in a sustainable way. 

Building resilience and developing policy frameworks to end multi-dimensional poverty for women and children concern all the areas of life where women and children appear to be: at home, at work, in the local community and in everyday’s life.

As we are in the Year of Communications, this DD will help to enhance CENFACS’ anti-poverty messages.

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

To support the DD and CENFACS, contact CENFACS.

WCFDD Timeline : 2010 to 2016 

Since its inception in 2010, the WCFDD provides an opportunity and scope to communicate CENFACS’ anti-poverty work/message and the need to develop new ideas and proposals, and improve practices to enable us to enhance the quality of life of multi-dimensionally-deprived women and children. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note: For your information,

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

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

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

Copyright © CENFACS, 2010 to 2017

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

08 November 2017

The opener of this week’s engagement to poverty relief at CENFACS is Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 2 with What Bonn Say.  It is the start of our follow up of the climate change talks which are scheduled to run from 6 to 17 November 2017.

The week is also the continuation of A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) campaign with a change of gear as we are now campaigning for Saving Rainforests.  In the last six weeks, our leaves of advocacy action held under A la Une were Save Endangered Animal Species, Water Access and Conservation, and Reduce Air Pollution.

Finally, a week ago we introduced CENFACS Charity eShop.  Some of you have noticed some changes on the structure of our website and something new on the page Support Us.  This is about the CENFACS Charity eShop which is in construction.

• CENFACS Charity eShop

You can donate unwanted and unneeded goods to help run CENFACS Charity eShop and raise the money for deserving causes of poverty reduction.  A summary of the kinds of goods eligible for donations is given on the page Support Us of this website.

To donate goods and or find more about CENFACS Charity eShop, just contact CENFACS.

• CPSAC – Phase 2: What Bonn Say

The Climate Change Conference in Bonn (Germany) is a wonderful opportunity to start taking bold decisions and serious actions about the protection of the victims of climate change, notably children and the new generations.  One can hope that in the contents to be deliberated and shared at the Bonn Conference children issues will have a stake, especially for issues related to children living in those poor parts of the world with less or without climate protection. 

One can also expect that beyond the BIG picture of the Conference agenda, the following child protection contents will be included in the Bonn climate talks:

• Better climate governance that works for and benefits children’s welfare and well-being
• The political economy of negotiations for child protection against climate-induced poverty
• Green and climate capacity building and education for child protection
• Climate-friendly and children-friendly technologies for poverty relief
• Climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes for children and future generations.

Another hope for the Bonn gathering could be climate finances and insurances, which are still pending and need to benefit less fortunate children from the poorest areas and communities of the world. 

For details about the United Nations Climate Change Conference, visit: https://cop23.unfccc.int

• Save Rainforests

Support the African Regions of Tropical Rain Forest and the Savannah Lands. 

Save Rainforests Campaign is shaped around three strands of action as follows: actions against threats to rainforests, action against deforestation and action against forest poverty.

•• Action against threats to rainforests is our stand for the removal of any form of pressures to rainforests from those who want to conduct illegal logging and forest clearance activities in Africa in places like the Congo basin.

•• Action against deforestation and forest degradation is our rise against the forest clearance activities through slash-and-burn without replanting and natural regeneration.  Deforestation and forest degradation in Africa and elsewhere continue despite zero-deforestation pledges made by some countries, companies and other players around the world.

•• Action against forest poverty linked to the exploitation of rainforests.  We are acting against poverty experienced by those who are poor and use the forest products to make their living (e.g. woods to cook and warm houses).  Our action is against poverty not against poor people.  We are also acting against poverty created or exacerbated by those who are not poor but exploit forests for big business vested interests.  As a result of their behaviour, they create and or exacerbate poverty in the rainforest regions.

Save Rainforests Campaign does not stop there.  It goes further in seeking solutions to save rainforests by exploring ways of rescuing forests including plants, trees and other natural species living in the rainforests.  Therefore, our engagement about saving rainforests is about tracking deforestation in Africa with the aim of advocating for the reduction of the pressures on the local poor and the development of green conservation and sustainable forestry.

Our July 2015 call for support to life-renewing forest products and reforestation in the African Regions of Tropical Rain Forest and the Savannah Lands is an example of the ways of saving African rainforests.    Very little has changed and been done since 2015 for the state of African rainforests.  

Because of the lack of sustained progress on this matter, we are renewing our call for action and support for the African Regions of Tropical Rain Forest and the Savannah Lands.  We are doing it through these Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence (A la Une). 

To respond to our call to save rainforests and or support Save Rainforests, please contact CENFACS.

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

01 November 2017

At the start of this week’s post, we would like to thank those who responded to our two days of Making Memorable Difference last week.  Your responses have made a memorable difference too.  Many thanks!

WHAT’S ON DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2017 AT CENFACS

The projects and activities making the contents of November 2017 at CENFACS will be:

√ Skills Development as the main November feature of our development calendar

√ CPSAC (Climate Protection and Stake for African Children) – Phase 2 with As “What Bonn Say” Nears like climate advocacy theme

√ Women and Children FIRST Development Day with End Poverty in all its forms for Women and Children everywhere as our working theme

√ The next issue of Autumn Individual Capacity Development Programme (ICDP) resource (Festive Income Boost) with Online Income Generation as the Season’s theme.

To the above, we need to add the continuation of A la Une Campaign and other ongoing programmes, campaigns and projects. 

For this week, we have selected three of the above initiatives for your readership and engagement, which are: Skills Development, As “What Bonn Say” Nears, and Festive Income Boost.  

● November Month: Skills Development

November is the month of education and training which revolve around the development of skills for life, for work and for poverty relief and development at CENFACS.  It is the month during which we look into ourselves and try to assess, explore and learn the skills we need in order to further reduce poverty in a sustainable way amongst ourselves and re-engage with the business of development.  It is also the training implementation month during which educationally related projects or projects that involve training, skills development and acquisition of new knowledge to help users and our Africa-based Sister Organisations to empower themselves with the educational tools and training resources they need to further reduce poverty. 

We all know that poverty is not only material or the lack of monetary income; it is even more the lack of knowledge, skills, know how and technologies than anything else.   Therefore, knowing and learning a skill can help further reduce poverty and set one on the right course of the development process. 

We strive to support those who want to learn a skill while we at CENFACS as an organisation plan our own training, learning and development programme from time to time when we can access both funding and training.  The November 2017 focus on ourselves will be on digital and media skills as well as capacity as we embark on the New Media and Digital Programmes.

To find out and or support the skills development month, contact CENFACS.

● As “What Bonn Say” Nears

Part of November 2017 is our continuing work on Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC – Phase 2) with As “What Bonn Say” Nears.  We will be following:

1. the next climate talks round related to the Twenty-third session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which will take place from 6 to 17 November in Bonn (Germany)
2. the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (CM13) which also take place the same dates at the same place
3. the second part of the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CM1-2) which again take place on the same days and at the same place. 

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

Recap on 2016 Climate Action

Our 2016 Climate Action month (April 2016) was devoted to the setting up of a new follow up strategy for the climate talks round.  As part of this new follow up, the following issues were highlighted and discussed:

• Insurance claims and programmes for the vulnerable children victims of climate change
• Loss and damage caused by the adverse effects of climate change
• Integrating mitigation and adaption into poverty reduction strategies, programmes, projects and processes
• Climate/green finance and aid for climate change-stricken children
• Ways of managing disaster risk for children in unstable development contexts
• Climate-change driven migrant children.

The 2016 Climate Action Month was more about Protection as we were in the Year of Protections at CENFACS than anything else.  The focus was on Protections of all children.

Now that we are in the Year of Communications for Better Change, our emphasis on Climate Action has gradually shifted by embracing climate communications for a better change for children while still retaining the essence of our climate project, which is CENFACS’ process of advocating better climate deals for children.  In other words, it is about finding ways of best communicating our anti-poverty messages to best protect children against the adverse effects of climate change. 

As we are embracing the New Media and Digital Programmes at CENFACS, we are in the process of finding a better way of using the new media and digital means of communications to enhance our messages for the same purpose of relieving children from climate adversity. 

What Bonn Say

This November climate focus will be on what climate change experts and participants to the next talks will say at Bonn Climate Change Conference regarding the 2016 issues (as highlighted above) in terms of progress made and outstanding climate issues. 

What Bonn Say (WBS), which is now near, is both a specific follow-up as part of CPSAC Phase 2 and an example of the application of the 2020-2030 Follow-up (or XX23F).  For more on XX23F, contact CENFACS and or read our previous posts in the archive section of this website and other resources in the CENFACS depository.  

WBS will consider previous unsolved and pending issues and new ones from climate talks.  We kicked off WBS in March 2017 with following engaging points which will continue until the start of the Bonn Climate Change Conference:

• Better climate governance that works for and benefits children’s welfare and well-being
• The political economy of negotiations for child protection against climate-induced poverty
• Green and climate capacity building and education for child protection
• Climate-friendly and children-friendly technologies for poverty relief
• Climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes for children and future generations.

The above sharing advocacy or campaigning points/contents are the ones that we will be monitoring besides the other issues which may emerge from the Bonn Climate Change Conference. 

To engage with CENFACS and or support CPSAC-Phase 2, contact CENFACS.

● NEXT ISSUE OF AUTUMN ICDP RESOURCE (Festive Income Booster): Online Income Generation

The next issue of our Autumn ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) resource, known as Festive Income Boost and which is designed to support Multi-dimensionally Income Poor, Young People and Families, will focus on various ways of generating income by using online and digital technologies.   

Indeed, some income poor families can find more convenient to use traditional means of generating a little extra income.  In the contrary, others who managed to overcome digital and communications poverty barriers by acquiring some basic digital skills can explore ways of generating a little extra income via the opportunities of digital and online worlds and markets.

The Autumn ICDP resource provides some income generation leads and tips on this matter, which will include the following: get paid by filling an online questionnaire and or survey, pay per click, online selling of unwanted and unneeded household items etc

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

The resource finally covers online security and protection when trying to generate a little extra income to make ends meet.

The resource will be available as a booklet from CENFACS eStore.  It is normally free of charge but we will appreciate a donation of £5 to help us help reduce poverty and the cost of producing this resource.

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

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

25 October 2017

This week is full of user-centred engaging and poverty relief driven contents at CENFACS.  The week started with the continuation of A la Une campaign with AIR POLLUTION resurfacing as our fortnightly focal area of this Autumn environmental campaign. 

The week is also about reporting or briefing you about the findings or KEY OUTCOMES made about the two programmes we reviewed together before Summer holidays, which are: The Twenty-tens Poverty Reduction programme and Communications for Better Change programme. 

Finally, it is in two days time that we will hold our October HISTORY project – Making Memorable Difference; project that concretises October month as the HISTORY one at CENFACS.   

I. A la Une: REDUCING AIR POLLUTION (Week beginning 23 October 2017)

HALVING THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY AND VULNERABLE TO AIR POLLUTION

In Spring 2017, we advocated and appealed, under Halving Poverty campaign, for HALVING the NUMBERS of CHILDREN VULNERABLE to AIR POLLUTION.  AIR POLLUTION is still an environmental issue of major concern.  It is the world’s deadliest environmental problems. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “the cost of a polluted environment is 1.7 MILLION CHILD DEATHS A YEAR”.  (www.who.int/6 March 2017).  The WHO also argued that “More than 1 IN 4 DEATHS of CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OF AGE are attributable to unhealthy environment”.  In one of the two Spring 2017 published reports by the same WHO, report entitled “Don’t pollute my future.  The Impact of the environment on children’s heath”, AIR POLLUTION is amongst the TOP 5 CAUSES OF DEATH in CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS linked to the environment.  The report states that “EVERY YEAR 570,000 CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS DIE from respiratory infections such as pneumonia, attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution, and second-hand smoke”.  African children also make these numbers.  

The above shows that there is a need to tackle the adverse effects of air pollution on children.  Some cities across the world are taking action against AIR POLLUTION, like London that has recently introduced a TOXICITY CHARGE of £10 against toxic cars to combat AIR POLLUTION.  Campaigners against AIR POLLUTION can hope that other polluting cities across the world will follow suit.  

You can help together with CENFACS HALVE THE NUMBERS OF CHILDREN living in poverty and vulnerable to AIR POLLUTION.

YOU CAN DONATE £5 TO HALVE POVERTY WITH CENFACS AND CREATE A TREBLE IMPACT: IMPACTS ON A CHILD, ON A FAMILY AND ON THE ENVIRONMENT.

To donate and or for further details about HALVING POVERTY CAMPAIGN, contact CENFACS

II.1 CENFACS AND THE NEW MEDIA AND DIGITAL PROGRAMMES – Key Outcomes

The New Media and Digital Programmes (NMDPs) take over our Communication for Better Change Programme (CBCP).  After ten years of experience of the CBCP, it is now time for us to move on and look at in different angles the way in which we communicate our poverty relief messages.  The findings or KEY OUTCOMES of the reviews on CBCP have shown that the logical step in the CENFACS’ process of communicating with all stakeholders is to embrace the digital world and integrates the new forms of media (the social media platforms) in our communication, connection and networking strategies and channels.  It is the integration of both online and offline marketing communications of CENFACS.   

Having said that what are the NMDPs?

NMDPs are a three-year series of planned communication projects and activities involving the use of digital technologies and social media platforms helping to enhance CENFACS’ online and offline messages and campaigns with the aim of reducing poverty and improving the quality of life.   It is the digitalisation and social mediatisation of CENFACS’ processes and overall way of doing development work.  The programmes, which complement the offline side of our print communication, use a multi-channel approach to achieve their end; approach which includes: social media networks, email technologies, mobile internet and sites, online and print media, website, online and offline advertising etc.

Like any project or activity, the NMDPs require support of various forms which could include: funding, trading, training, volunteering, knowledge sharing, legacies (in the form of IT, media and digital technologies) as well as the development of means for interacting with our supporters and for serving our users.  This development of means include app, mobile site, hub and kiosk for poverty relief etc.  

To support the NMDPs, please contact CENFACS 

II.2 THE 2010s PROGRAMME: Revised Version (2017 to 2019) – Key Points

The findings and consensus reached after the Twenty-tens Minus 2 (2010s-2) Evaluation, Review and Survey were as follows. 

In order to continue to meet the current and emerging needs of users, we need

• To integrate some of the elements of Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 30 into the Revised Version of the Twenty-tens without forgetting Africa’s Agenda 2063
• To integrate digital and social media dimensions into the Revised Version
• To adapt the Revised Version with the demands or requirements of the Post-Regional Economic Integration and Development era

The above are the KEY POINTS from the reviews; points which will be implemented progressively as per the implementation plan we have organised.    

Again like any project or activity, the Twenty-tens Programme Revised Version needs support.

To support the Revised Version of the 2010s Programme, please contact CENFACS. 

Supporting information about CENFACS 2010s Poverty Reduction, The Twenty-tens Minus 2 Evaluation and Reviews, The Twenty Minus 2 Survey

For those who do not know anything about the 2010s Programme, we have provided some basic information about it as follows.

a. CENFACS 2010s Poverty Reduction Programme

The 2010s Poverty Reduction Programme is a rolling 10 year work plan that began on 1 January 2010 and will end on 31 December 2019 and aiming at improving the quality of life for those people living in poverty.  It is indeed a 10-year advocacy programme of work and a strategically review, renewed commitment and engagement with stakeholders, and innovative and visionary approach to dealing with those old problems, new and emerging challenges brought by poverty in Africa

b. The Twenty-tens Minus 2 (2010s – 2) Evaluation and Reviews

The 2010s-2 Evaluation is an examination about the worth, quality, significance, amount, degree and conditions of this programme since its inception in 2010. 

The 2010s-2 Review is a record tracking and reappraisal of the same programme by considering the objectives set up in relation to the progress made and areas of improvement and completion.

c. The Twenty-tens Minus 2 Survey

This brief survey, which is part of CENFACS’ Poverty Reduction in the 2010s programme, was designed to capture and communicate the impacts of the 2010s programme or at least to collect users/stakeholders’ views and experience regarding the selected projects and activities that made this programme so far.

To get additional details about the above, please contact CENFACS.

III. MAKING MEMORABLE DIFFERENCE: The Communicators of the African History

October is the History month in CENFACS development calendar.  We normally remember the African history through Making Memorable Difference (MMD) project.  At the beginning of this month, we provided MMD timeline since its inception in 2009.  

What is MMD? 

MMD is

• a two-day event of Awareness, Thought and Recognition set up by CENFACS in 2009 to celebrate the Black History Month in our own way and feeling while preserving the tradition linked to this remembrance and standing on the shoulders of similar celebrations

• a historic project of collective memory about works carried out, heritage and legacies left by Africans

• all about collectively telling, acknowledging, studying and learning that every day Africans wherever they are (in Africa) or elsewhere (in the UK-Croydon and the world) are striving to improve the quality of their lives and of others. Through their historically valuable works, they are MAKING MEMORABLE DIFFERENCE and the world a better place for everybody, including the generations to come

• a celebration of African Abilities, Talents, Skills and Gifts to Africa and the world

As we are in the Year of Communications at CENFACS, this year’s dedicated two days (of 27 and 28 October 2017) are the days of historical study, analysis and skill recognition and celebration of the legacies left by Africans in the history of communications in Africa.  We will search on the Communicators of the African History.  So, ways of communicating in the history of Africa, of transmitting the history of Africa from generations to generations as well as the legacies of the Communicators of History in helping to reduce poverty; all these are our sharing and engaging contents this October.  We shall investigate on their contribution to Africa’s transformative development since the colonial era.

27 October 2017: IDENTIFICATION & IMPLICATIONS DAY

We shall IDENTIFY the means of communications (e.g. oral tradition, papyrus) and their respective roles in Africa’s history before the telephone and telegram technologies were introduced and their IMPLICATIONS for the new generations in understanding Africa’s history today. 

28 October 2017: LEGACIES & GIFTS DAY

We shall find out how communications and communicators of the time contributed to poverty reduction in Africa of pre-IT, pre-digital and pre-internet technological eras.  Likewise, we will celebrate the empowering capacity of communications in lifting people out of poverty as well as the LEGACIES and GIFTS of the African Communicators of history. 

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

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

18 October 2017

HOW WE CAN USE MATHS OR NUMBERS TO REDUCE POVERTY IN AFRICA – Key Highlights

An abstract about the 57^th issue of FACS, CENFACS’ bilingual newsletter was already given last week.  The key highlights make the contents of the issue; highlights which are as follows.

• MAKING NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THE POOR, NOT FOR THEMSELVES

There is an expression saying that numbers or statistics speak for themselves.  Sometimes, numbers alone tell or remind us the stories about the people who need help.  Sometimes, they do not tell us anything unless we add an explanation to them.  In these circumstances, numbers become only relevant if they/we are able to explain the conditions of people living in poverty.  For example, 10% OF CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN 0 AND 5 BORN WITHOUT ASSISTANCE OF MEDICAL HELPER OR NURSE.  These 10 percentages do not say anything unless we know the total number they apply to.  If poverty reduction numbers do not speak, then one should be able to make them speak at least for the poor. (page 2 of FACS)

• HOW WE CAN USE NUMERICAL DATA TO SAVE LIVES (page 3 of FACS)

There are many ways in which lives can be saved.  Lives can be saved by giving humanitarian rescue to those threatened by environmental disasters or catastrophes (like Hurricane IRMA in the Americas and the Pacific), by evacuating the victims of armed conflicts of armed conflicts and wars, by treating those who are at risk of contaminating by epidemics  or diseases.  But lives can also be saved by getting the numbers we need of those in need.  These numbers could be the size of their population expressed in numbers and any intervention or project to be carried out expressed in numbers.  The more we know in terms of numerical data and indicators about those who need their life to be saved, the more support can be done, the better we can measure the gap between saved lives and unsaved ones.  In other words, when lives are not counted and numbered it is difficult to meet the saving needs for all.

• CAN WE LEARN TO LIKE NUMBERS ABOUT POVERTY REDUCTION? (page 4 of FACS)

Not everybody likes numbers.  Some people prefer words to express themselves than using numbers.  However, the reality of life is that we cannot avoid numbers.  We use numbers every day and time as well as all occasions whether to check time, to plan our daily journey, to do shopping and banking etc.  We may not like it but we need or are forced to use, speak and understand about things through numbers.  This applies too to poverty reduction.  We use numbers to measure and speak about poverty and its reduction.  Sometimes numbers are staggering.  We heard about 5,000 NUMBERS OF PEOPLE are FORCIBLY DISPLAYED PERSONS; 7,000 PEOPLE are the VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTERS in the Pacific; 1,000 GIRLS have been EDUCATED etc.  We may not like it but we may have to learn to like or at least use the numbers about poverty and poverty reduction.   

• LES NUMERIQUES ET LA REDUCTION DE LA PAUVRETE EN AFRIQUE (pages 5 of FACS)

Il y a deux manières d’exprimer les données et informations relatives à la réduction de la pauvreté et au développement: valeurs numériques et données qualitatives.  Ces deux méthodes ont des avantages et des inconvénients.  Dans le cadre de cet article, nous nous intéresserons seulement aux valeurs numériques.  Cela bien entendu malgré les critiques à l’égard de la présentation chiffrée de l’information. 

Quand on écoute ou voit la présentation des chiffres ou données numériques relatifs à la pauvreté, à la faim, aux épidémies, à la détérioration de l’environnement etc. en Afrique, cela fait raisonner dans nos esprits sur le décalage à combler ou l’effort à accomplir sur la différence entre la vie qu’on considère pauvre et celle qui n’est pas pauvre.  Les chiffres ou valeurs numériques sur la pauvreté et le développement durable nous permettent soit de comprendre soit de questionner les situations et conditions de pauvreté. 

Brièvement, les chiffres ou numériques peuvent apporter les contributions suivantes aux situations et conditions de pauvreté: faire l’état des lieux de la pauvreté, motiver à réduire la pauvreté, mesurer l’effort intellectuel, motiver à réduire la pauvreté, apporter l’autorité, soutenir les mots, comparer, planifier, projeter les situations de réduction de la pauvreté etc.   

• LES NUMERIQUES ET LES ACTIVITES GENERATRICES DE REVENU EN AFRIQUE (page 6 of FACS)

Les projets générateurs de revenu par le biais de la vente des biens et services,  formulés en mots et en chiffres, ont la chance de réussir quand les nombres ou chiffres présentés sont sensés et les additions sont équilibrées.  C’est le cas par exemple ceux intégrant des données numériques présentées au sein des états financiers (tels que les comptes de marge brute d’autofinancement, le bilan, les comptes de revenus et de dépenses, l’analyse de coûts et bénéfices etc.).  Cela sans oublier les autres numériques tels que les taux d’intérêt, l’indice de prix ou le taux d’inflation.  Ces données numériques ont besoin de transmettre  ou traduire la réalité de la pauvreté pour les projets dont elles font partie aient une vraie chance d’être financées.  Cela étant la présentation chiffrée ne suffit pas, il faut qu’il y ait une cohérence et une logique entre les expressions numériques et les expressions litéraires.  Autrement dit, il faut il y ait une relation entre les mots et les nombres.  

• QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA: production and use for poverty relief (page 7 of FACS)

Quantitative data are numerical expressions (numbers) while qualitative data are information expressed in words.  Both words and numbers can help reduce poverty.  Words produced, if properly used, can capture the feelings and imaginations of people to do something about poverty.  Likewise, numbers produced, if meaningfully explained, can help understanding and mindset to affect poverty.  They are complimentary.  That is why when we try to reduce poverty, we need to choose and express ourselves in the right words.  Likewise, when we use poverty numbers, we need to make them convey a specific poverty-relieving message and meaning.  Poverty numbers do not speak by themselves.  We need to make them speak with our explanation of poverty.  So, both words and numbers produced and used can help reduce poverty.

• WHY IT IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO GET THE NUMBERS WE NEED TO END POVERTY (page 8 of FACS)

It is well known that statistical apparatus in developing countries (including those of Africa) is not well developed for both primary and secondary quantitative data.  This is for various reasons, which include: the lack of financial resources and capacities, the high level of informal sector, the devastating effects of wars and armed conflicts on statistical infrastructures, the damaging impacts of natural disasters, poor governance, the lack of genuine census and democratically transparent process etc.  All these make the numbers we need to end poverty difficult.   There have been many projects across Africa for example to collect statistics and analyse them at national, local, pan-African, regional and multilateral levels.  Some of these projects have been successful; others still need improvements.

• NUMBERS MAKE DONATIONS Simple, Sensible, Fast, Collectable and Accountable (page 9 of FACS)

Using maths or numbers to help reduce poverty in Africa is also about using numbers to make donations happen, to convert a humanitarian appeal into reality (e.g. money donated).  When asking or appealing to people to support good and deserving causes, numbers can motivate them.  One can explain the needs in Africa and use other variety of means or tools (such as images, videos, voices recorded, words, stories etc.); but when it comes to numbers they can convey a simple, sensible, collectable and accountable meaning to prospective and existing or continuing donors and funders.  This is because some donors or funders are interested in words and stories; others in numbers and others more in both (words and numbers).  Numbers make donations possible, simple (easy and straight forward to understand), sensible (perceptible to the pain poor people are suffering), fast (quick to collect and send), collectable (because donations are expressed in amount and currency) and accountable (explicable and responsible).

• ADVOCACY EXPERIENCES OF USING NUMBERS TO HELP REDUCE POVERTY (page 9 of FACS)

The following are two advocacy experiences or case studies showing how CENFACS is using numbers to help reduce poverty:  Halving Poverty and The 3 Bottom Thousands in Africa

HALVING POVERTY

Set up in February 2012 as the 2015-2030 Campaign, Halving Poverty is a CENFACS’ child protection and safeguarding advocacy work that brought together the aspects of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to children’s well-being – children global pledges – (as set up in the United Nations 2000 Paris declaration) and the Istanbul Programme of Action (resulting from the 2011 Istanbul declaration of the United Nations – Least Developed Countries IV Conference).  It is indeed a linking and coordinating mobilisation project of action that uses two target deadlines of 2015 and 2020 (respectively from the Paris Declaration and the Istanbul Declaration) to advance the causes of children of Least Developed African Countries in seeking to expand the poverty reduction outcomes together with them.  The project, which aims at improving child protection and safeguarding results, will empower beneficiaries against multi-dimensional poverty and hardship.

As the MDGs reached their first deadline in September 2015 and transited to the 2030 Agenda and Global Goals for Sustainable Development by the United Nations, we therefore added a new target deadline to the Halving Poverty to reflect this transition, which was 2030.  Despite this addition, the spirit and underlying principles about our campaign project remains the same as before, which are of Halving the NUMBERS of Children Living in Poverty.

THE 3 BOTTOM THOUSANDS IN AFRICA

The 3 Bottom Thousands is a CENFACS project originated in 2013 from a statement and estimation that around 3 BOTTOM BILLIONS in the world are the Hardest Hit by poverty.  47.5% OF THE POOR IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA were amongst the WORLD’S 3 BOTTOM BILLIONS.  The basic assumption of this project was/is that we can set up targets and objectives to reach out to and lift up some of them, let say 30 OF THEM.  Then, as the years pass by we can MULTIPLY our support by 10 to relieve another 300, then afterwards we keep the momentum of 10 MULTIPLE until we reach our 3 BOTTOM 1,000 or Hardest Hit by poverty and hardships.   As you multiply your support, you multiply saved lives as well.

The above two experiences show that, it is possible to set up goals and targets in NUMBERS to help reduce poverty in Africa and elsewhere.  

• SUPPORT NUMBERS PROJECT: The 3 Bottom Thousands in Africa (page 10 of FACS)

As part of projects conceptualised by the idea of numbers, we would like to offer to the voluntary giving market and apply for support for The 3 Bottom Thousands. 

The 3 Bottom Thousands is a CENFACS poverty relief advocacy project based on holistic approach that seeks to help THE HARDEST HIT by poverty in Africa through a variety of ways, particularly in building their own capacities, capabilities and imaginations to escape from continuing poverty and hardships.  The project uses the concept of numbers or quantity: 30 TIMES 10 EQUAL 300, 300 TIMES 10 and so on until we reach the NUMBERS goal target of 3 BOTTOM BILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY.  Details of this project can be requested from CENFACS. 

Like any initiative, this project requires funding.  People can donate according to the amount they can afford and their wishes. 

To donate, just email, text and phone CENFACS. 

For more information about supporting CENFACS and projects, go to the page Support Us on this website.

To reserve a copy or get more details about the 57th Issue of FACS, please contact CENFACS.

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

12 October 2017

COMING IN THIS AUTUMN 2017 IS THE 57th ISSUE OF FACS

What’s on this week beginning 09 October 2017

This week is about revealing the main content of the next issue of CENFACS’ bilingual newsletter – FACS; issue which is about HOW WE CAN USE MATHS OR NUMBERS TO REDUCE POVERTY IN AFRICA. 

This week is also the second one for the History month while we are preparing and gearing towards the Making Memorable Difference (MMD) event.

This week’s engagement is finally the continuation of A la Une project.

• Making Memorable Difference: Communicators of Africa’s History

As announced at the start of Autumn 2017, this year’s MMD will be on the means of communications and Communicators of the African History.  This is an open event for history-minded people.  If you have any materials and contributions to make to the MMD content, please do not hesitate to share with CENFACS.

To make a difference to and or support MMD, contact CENFACS   

• A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the nature in Existence)

A la une is an environmental advocacy project aiming at reducing poverty while protecting the physical world and everything in it.  It is about exploring ways of using less natural resources to reduce poverty while caring for the plants, animals, mountains, oceans and rivers, stars, seas etc.  In doing so, we can help meet poor people’s own poverty-relieving and development goals while working to achieve the global goals and targets for sustainable development and carbon free world.  This Autumn and even after, we need to take actions on several fronts and facets to be able to realise the aim of reducing poverty and protecting the nature.  We are advocating for actions to be taken to protect what makes the nature in its features, forces and processes to exist independently of human beings.  Our Autumn work on nature will be a fivefold leaves of action of protection of Animals, Waters (e.g. oceans, lakes, rivers and seas), Air, Rainforests and Climate (weather).

After introducing A la Une with the topic of Reducing Conflicts between Humans and Animals over Natural Resources, we moved to consider Saving Endangered Animal Species in September 2017.  The following is the schedule for A la Une advocacy work

Week beginning                 Leaves of Advocacy Action

25 September 2017             Save Endangered Animal Species

09 October 2017                  Water Access and Conservation

23 October 2017                   Reduce Air Pollution

06 November 2017              Save Rainforests

20 November 2017              Climate Finance

To engage with these fortnightly environmental topics, please contact CENFACS.

Going back to the 57^th issue of FACS, please find below the abstract of this issue.

• Abstract of the 57^th Issue of FACS

HOW WE CAN USE NUMBERS TO HELP REDUCE POVERTY IN AFRICA

P = f(N)  Poverty is function of numbers

Poverty can be investigated by using both quantitative and qualitative methods and expressed by using quantitative and qualitative data.  We can use words (qualitative expressions) and or numbers (quantitative measures) to express our feelings and understanding about poverty.  Both methods or data or even techniques have their own values and merits, and can be used differently depending on the circumstances and types of study or campaign.  In an article published under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme, Selim Jahan (1) noted that “development is best measured by the quantity of change… such metrics, while useful, do not tell the entire story of development… to understand that, we must consider the quality of the change that is being reported”.

Although what Selim said is true, our focus in this issue is on numeric representation or use to explain, monitor, evaluate and possibly cure the disease of poverty in Africa.  The 57^th issue of CENFACS’ bilingual newsletter – FACS – is about the extent to which figures can enhance a poverty relief message.  This includes methods of presenting numbers, whether they are presented as graphs or charts (e.g. tables, bar or pie charts etc.).  By talking about quantitative data in this issue, we are not referring to sophisticated level of let’s say econometrics or statistical models.  We would like simply to point out the use of numbers or figures to express ourselves like one will do in plain English or French or any other language.  Recognizing the role and importance of numbers in communicating the poverty relief message, this does not mean that one should undermine or invalidate the power of words (qualitative data) or undervalue those who prefer words.   Instead, we should acknowledge the difficulty some individuals may have with numbers and help them to overcome this barrier. 

As Patrick Forsyth (2) put it “Numbers can either enhance written communication or they can confuse and, at worse, result in the communication falling on stony ground” (p.77).  We do not want our poverty relief message to fall on stony ground.  Numbers we use to help reduce poverty in Africa should not send confusion.  They should instead enhance the message of poverty reduction.  For example, if we were to run a sensitisation campaign against child trafficking through the use of relevant and understandable keywords, and the majority of people understood the keywords and got sensitised; that is good.  If we can argue that more than half of the children were rescued as a result of sensitisation; this is very good.  Conversely, if we could capture the impact of our campaign using numbers by expressing that 100 families were involved in our campaign and 57 children have been saved from trafficking, this is much better.  This is one of the many ways of using numbers to help reduce poverty.  Numbers can help us better understand the scale and deepness of poverty in numerical sizes or expressions. And if we set up ourselves a target or policy in numbers to help reduce the number of people in poverty we can start to argue that poverty is function of numbers one wants to relieve, that is P = f(N).  This is a basic mathematical function telling us that the more we get and understand the numbers in poverty, the more we can do something about poverty.  CENFACS’ Halving Poverty campaign and the 3 Bottom Thousands project move in that direction of illustrating how we can use numbers and figures to reduce or perhaps end poverty in the simplest way.

Having said that how can we use numbers to help reduce poverty in Africa?

We can do it by

• tolerating numbers in our mindset in learning to demystify and like them

• understanding that the lack of skills in numeracy should not be an excuse or barrier to use and read numbers and figures related to poverty issues in Africa

• using numerical data to save lives and accommodating numbers in our response to poverty relief demands

• making it easier to get the numbers we need to end poverty

• responding to humanitarian appeals expressed in numbers

• funding projects that help to get numbers or build numerical data banks

• making numbers speak for the poor

• facilitating access to numerical data and helping to build data infrastructures for poverty relief

• telling the stories behind the numbers and going beyond to find out the reality on the ground about poverty

• Creating and maintaining relationships between numbers used and words expressed in the context of poverty relief.

Briefly, we can use numbers to help reduce poverty in Africa by counting what is countable to do that.  This is what the 57^th issue is all about. 

To reserve a copy or get more details about this issue, please contact CENFACS

__________

(1) Selim Jahan, Counting What Counts in Development, UNDP, (http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/counting-what-counts-development) 

(2) Patrick Forsyth, How to Write reports and Proposals, The Sunday Times Creating Success (2^nd edition), Kogan Page, 2007, London & Philadelphia (www.kogan-page.co.uk)

Thank you for supporting us and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits to CENFACS website and continuing support.

With many thanks!