Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

23 May 2018

Post No. 40

The Week’s Contents

• All in Development Stories project: Audio Storytelling, Listening and Short Film Experiences

• BIG CATS Campaign: Making Peace with Animals and Birds

• RILIVES Programme: End Ebola in DRC Appeal

   … and much more!

KEY Highlights of the Week’s Contents

Our All in Development Stories (AiDS) project will end with the end of this month, although we will continue to accept stories until mid-June.  Our engaging storytelling theme is still Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development.  The keywords of AiDS project for this week are audio storytelling and listening, and short films.

To enable people to use cost effective technologies to tell their stories, we are encouraging those who can to submit and share with us stories with audio and short film making; stories related to this year’s theme.    

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

BIG CATS Campaign

The BIG CATS Campaign continues this week with our call of “Making Peace with Animals and Birds”. 

There are countless examples of cruelty in Africa and elsewhere about beating, killing, exterminating and exploiting animals and birds for illegal trade and other purposes.  These examples include throwing stones to endangered birds, killing tigers for their beautiful skins, illegally trading the skins of leopards etc.). 

All these unkind acts against the nature are the evidence of the lack of peace between humans and animals/birds, especially endangered species.  Humans should not only do peace between them, but also between them and the nature.  We may not reinvent the wheels, but we can recreate peace with the nature (particularly with fauna and flora). 

We can make peace with the nature!

To support the BIG CATS campaign and or for further information, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

When we published our Spring Relief programme, we informed all our readers and supporters that we might alter or add to our initial plans new developments to take into account emergency and unpredictable situations. 

Emergency and unpredictability can happen if there is a war, environmental disaster, sudden appearance of famine or epidemics etc.  This is why we have the RILIVES programme (http://cenfacs.org.uk/development-programmes/). 

At the moment, this adjustment of our plan has been influenced by the current outbreak of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  As a result of this new wave of Ebola in DRC, we are launching End Ebola in DRC Appeal, which you can find under the Main Developments of this Week’s Contents.      

Main Developments of the Week’s Contents

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

You can use the capacity of audio to convey your poverty relief messages and changes.  Audio has a proven power and unique quality to convey poverty relief 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 contents.

If you have audio storytelling and short films related to poverty relief and sustainable development 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.

• End Ebola in DRC Appeal

•• What this Appeal is about

This health-enhancing emergency appeal aims at reducing poverty and hardships by helping to end the Ebola virus which has recently re-appeared in some parts of the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in the region of Mbandaka and in the capital Kinshasa. 

Ebola virus, which was discovered in 1976 in DRC, is a very deadly in its nature causing hemorrhagic fever and other health killing effects (such as vomiting, diarrhea etc.).  It does cause a severely critical risk to public health as it can lead to a chain of infections.  According to the local Congolese health reports, there are already 24 fatalities since the current wave of Ebola outbreak started.  This figure can increase if no sufficient action is taken. 

Whatever the causes of this virus, everything must be done to eradicate this very deadly virus.  No longer ago, the world should remember the deadly legacies and effects of this virus on the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia; virus which took so many lives there. 

In the case of DRC, there is already some work going on the grounds to fight Ebola (with the setting up of Ebola security zones).  Precautionary measures have been taken like protection of water and hand washing facilities at health centres and health checking of travellers.  Experimental vaccinations have been given.  But, this may not be sufficient.  The insufficiency of this work can be explained by the following factors.

Since the mid-1990s, the DRC embarked on the political transition and democratisation processes.  These processes have become costly and uncontrollable by local people as they resulted in a prolong war, which almost lasts 24 years and claims millions of lives to now.  As a consequence of this prolong war, health and sanitation infrastructures and structures have been destroyed and out of date.  This is let alone the degradation of transport, communications and other infrastructures. 

As we are making this appeal, the DRC is still struggling to come to term with itself in agreeing on the process of presidential election, election due to happen this year.

To the above factors, we can add continuous environmental events that this country has experienced over the same period.  The lack of adequate infrastructures and of good governance (characterised by a failing State) do not make easier the management of environmental events, especially if they are of gigantic magnitude.      

Because of the ferocity of this virus and the collapse of both major infrastructures and State in DRC, there is a great and pressing need to make sure this time that the Ebola virus will not be forgotten before it spreads across Africa or struck again in the future anywhere else.   Every effort must be deployed to stop it before it becomes an epidemic.    

Your support is more than needed to save and protect lives from the deadly Ebola virus before this virus overtakes people by speed and time.

The history of this kind of disease shows that the spreading speed of Ebola should be stopped before one runs out time, to avoid adverse health and human impact on a large scale, especially on the poor people.

•• What you can do to help

There are many ways of helping; however if you decide to join CENFACS’ End Ebola in DRC Appeal, together we can undertake the following actions.

• You could INFLUENCE people both around and not around you to help those who have been still affected by the deadly virus in the DRC.

• You could CHOOSE your own way of helping and let CENFACS facilitates  your help reaches out to the victims of the Ebola virus in DRC

• You could SUPPORT CENFACS to support the people and Africa-based Sister Organisations in need on the grounds where there are outbreak and spread of the Ebola virus.

•• What CENFACS want you to do

CENFACS would like to appeal to you to undertake any of the following actions by supporting

• The Overseas development charities’ funding appeals and works for the victims of Ebola virus in Africa

• CENFACS’ Spring Health-enhancing emergency Appeal for the victims of the Ebola in DRC

• CENFACS to support its Africa-based sister organisations and other organisations working on the grounds in Africa on similar related health issues

• A COMPREHENSIVE SUSTAINABLE HEALTH STRATEGY to eradicate the Ebola virus forever (for example, a strategy for the development of an efficient vaccine to complement the existing one against the virus and being accessible for all) so that in the future we will not have any more new waves or re-appearances of this deadly virus

• Medically volunteer by joining the teams of health experts working on the grounds to save lives over there (if you have experience with Ebola or similar tropical diseases)

• CENFACS’ Humanitarian Disaster Relief programme (Rebuilding and Sustaining Infrastructures and Lives)

•• How we can communicate to deliver this Appeal

For support relating to

• Overseas development charities and non-governmental organisations, contact them individually

• CENFACS’ sister organisations, speak to CENFACS
• CENFACS, contact us and/or send your support to CENFACS.

For medical volunteering, contact

• Health services and organisations already on the grounds

CENFACS hope you will consider this health appeal or circulate this message around you to help the victims of Ebola in DRC.   

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

16 May 2018

Post No. 39

The Week’s Contents

• All in Development Stories project

• The BIG CATS campaign

• Making Zero Hunger Africa

   … and much more!

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

The top story of the week’s work at CENFACS is All in Development Stories project which continues to occupy this month of May our development calendar.  Stories of Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development are the ones dominating our storytelling agenda this year. 

Stories of poverty relief are accounts that bring to light the experiences and conditions of life of those who have little or no money and few or no material possessions, and how they strategically managed to cope and survive in difficult conditions. 

Tales of sustainable development are those experiences that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  In other words, these are the records related to environmental, social and economic sustainability.  

A part from volunteers and interns, other development supporters can contribute.  There are many ways in which people can engage with May Stories.  Engagement can be via twitter, text/phone, e-mail and paper-based post.

Those who have these kinds of stories to tell, share and donate to CENFACS, they are welcome to do so.

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

Sedecim Year: 16.4 Project

The reminder of the week is the coming Sedecim Year or 16.4 Project, which will underline the 16 years of CENFACS in working with local people to develop sustainable initiatives; years to be remembered in 4 days.  This project comes at the right time as we are in CENFACS’ Year of Local People – the Local Year Campaign.  It will be undertaken next June.  Details of this project will be released in due course.

For progress report about this project, contact CENFACS.

The lead content of our Rebuilding Lives programme this week continues to be the BIG CATS campaign.  As part of this campaign, we are working on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15, which is Life on Land.  Goal 15 is about sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.

So, the BIG CATS Campaign continues this week through Sustainable Development Goal 15 (G15), particularly by dealing with the following three areas of interest making G15 targets:

∗ Protection and prevention of the extinction of threatened species (e.g. the BIG CATS)

∗ Action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species (e.g. the BIG CATS)

∗ Action to address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products deriving from these species (e.g. the BIG CATS)

To support the BIG CATS campaign and or for further information, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

Although our trending topic of this month remains Poverty Relief and Development Stories, we are as well MAKING ZERO HUNGER AFRICA (MZHA).  MZHA takes our fight against poverty to the next stage, from poverty intolerance to taking bold steps and implementing concrete actions showing that we do not only tolerate poverty but we are trying to do something to reduce and end it.  It is about making the fabric of an Africa without or with a very tiny level of poverty. 

Further details about MZHA are given below.  However, if you want to find out more, please contact CENFACS.  

Main Development of the Week’s Contents –

Making Zero Hunger Africa

We seasonally adjusted our Spring Relief programme compared to the initial plan we made as the Rebuilding Africa campaign started in March 2018.  We did this adjustment through Rebuilding the Victims of Environmental Disasters and Destructive Wars in Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic as well as with Islands East Africa (Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros). 

These victims (and other food deprived people in Africa) have many types of need to meet.  One of them is food to tackle famine.  This is why we are working on Making Zero Hunger Africa (MZHA).  MZHA takes stock of the theme of Rebuilding Africa with Zero Tolerance Hunger (ZHT) which we treated at this time round last year. 

What is ZHT?

ZHT was about raising awareness about sustainable food to highlight the role of sustainability as far as the fight against poverty linked to poor food consumption is concerned.  Sustainable food took forward Zero Hunger Goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Targets while echoing the food month of celebration across London and other parts of the world. 

Zero Hunger Goal (Goal 2) is about ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. 

The aim of ZHT was then to raise awareness of sustainable food consumption and production in order to end hunger and malnutrition amongst those who are extremely food deprived through safe, nutritious and sufficient foods.  The ZHT complemented CENFACS Rebuilding Africa in 2017, whose the focus was on Hungry Lives. 

For further details about ZHT, contact CENFACS.

This year we are Making Zero Hunger Africa.

MZHA is a building block from ZHT as it goes further in stepping up our efforts to help reduce poverty linked to the lack of food, undernourishment and malnutrition.

MZHA takes seriously the Hunger problem and its consequences just as ZHT did.

MZHA links us to the global campaign to Build Zero Hunger Generation or World.  As such, we shall come back on this in October to build on this initiative and echo the world’s celebration of Food Day.

In meantime, we can Make Zero Hunger Africa through the following actions.

∗ Support of small-scale African food producers

Examples of food producers who can contribute to MZHA and who need support are: family farmers, pastoralists, fishers, small food traders etc.

∗ Actions to support the food industry in Africa

Actions to support the food industry to support the extremely food deprived could include the following: promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, supporting small scale farmers, investing in agricultural infrastructure and green technologies, improving agricultural activities etc

∗ Meeting people’s nutritional needs

E.g. Adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, older persons

Actions for sustainable food production systems in Africa

~ Help maintain ecosystems

~ Strengthen capacity for adaptation to and mitigation regarding climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters

~ Improve land and soil quality

~ Develop protective and preventive strategies to protect food production and stock in times of wars, armed conflicts and natural disasters; as well as during the periods of peace.

CENFACS hope you will consider this appeal for the BIG CATS in Africa.   

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

09 May 2018

Post No. 38

The Week’s Contents

• All in Development Stories project continues…

• FACS Newsletter, Issue No. 60 coming in Summer 2018: The Odyssey of Climate Finance and Insurance for African Children

• The BIG CATS Campaign

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

Our All in Development Stories project continues as planned.  If you have a story to donate and help change or even save lives, please do not hesitate to give.  Submit your story to make the Top Story of our May Stories month. 

Before telling your story, please check CENFACS storytelling terms on this site.  Also, do not forget that the story theme for 2018 is Local People’s Stories of Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development.   

Thank you for your support!

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

The next title of FACS for the Summer Issue will be The Odyssey of Climate Finance and Insurance for African Children (OCFIAC).

OCFIAC is an extension of the Odyssey of Empowerment of the people in need like the 3W project users of CENFACS.   It is all the pain the victims of adverse climate change have to endure in their journey to win the mindsets of people to accept that climate finance and insurance are not a voluntary donation but some recognition of human responsibility and the price to pay for man-made behaviour against the nature and the victims from the forced change of the nature. 

More information about the OCFIAC will be released as we get close to the start of the Summer season.

To find out more about FACS Issue no. 60 and previous issues, contact CENFACS.

As part of our Spring 2018 Projects Planning and Development under RILIVES programme, we are re-making the case for the BIG CATS to be saved in Africa.  We informed you about the arrival of this campaign in our previous communications.  The campaign consists of rebuilding the lives of the three BIG CATS in Africa which are: leopard, lion and tiger. 

When we help to rebuild destroyed lives for the victims of environmental and war events, there is not only human life; there are also animal and plant lives.  This Spring 2018, we are working on rebuilding the BIG CATS species, among other development works we are doing.   The BIG CATS campaign is an element of our wider campaign to upkeep the nature. 

For further details about our wider campaign about the nature, you need to check in Autumn our A La Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) campaign.

• The BIG CATS Campaign

•• How the BIG CATS campaign came about

Every year, the BIG CATS – which are the largest living members of the genus Panthera – experience threats and risks of extermination and extinction in Africa and elsewhere.   These threats and risks lead to their illegal trade.  This is the general pattern of the threats and risks they face. 

To this general pattern, their lives and situations are made even worse in places where there are wars, armed conflicts, famine, insecurity and environmental disasters.  In these places, because of the economic difficulties that local people experience themselves in terms of copying and surviving from these situations and events, animals (in particular the BIG CATS) are completely forgotten.  They are not a priority as the crisis reinforces the perception in the mindsets of some locals that human lives are the first priority. 

This lack of interest makes even animals, like the BIG CATS (to name a few of examples of animals), more exposed to exploitation for illegal trade than ever before.  This is despite the conventions against illegal trade of animals, and similar works carried out previously.

Examples of places of instability where there is little considerable about animal lives are multiple, because the difficult local situations. 

One of them is in the Democratic Republic of Congo with prolong political instability and the destruction of natural heritage; the BIG CATS (such as leopards, lions and tigers) have to bear the costs and the prices of armed conflicts and irresponsible governance. 

Another example is in the dried region of African Sahel where animals and humans had to compete for water because of severe drought.  In this competition, quite often animals get sacrificed as human needs preside over animal requests.

Yet, it is possible to establish a fair balance between the two types of demands and/or competing ends.  This is why we are re-launching this campaign.

•• What the BIG CATS campaign is about

It is about helping to save the BIG CATS in Africa particularly in places that experienced destructive wars and environmental disasters.  We are arguing to reduce and end the threats, mistreats and risks faced by leopards, lions and tigers in Africa. 

Our campaign, which consists of rebuilding the lives of these Panthera species, should be understood in the context of our Spring 2018 Projects Planning and Development carried out within the programme of Rebuilding Lives Destroyed by Wars and Environmental Events. 

When we help to rebuild destroyed lives for the victims of environmental and wars events, there is not only human life.  There are as well animal and plant lives.  It is this specific context of our Rebuilding Lives programme that drives this campaign. 

So, for the rest of our Spring 2018 campaign, we are focusing on helping to rebuild the life of the three BIG CATS species in Africa: leopard, lion and tiger.

•• What CENFACS want you to do

CENFACS want you to support the BIG CATS in Africa.  You can either donate or support this campaign otherwise (in the way you feel it is the most suitable for you and within your means and limits) so that we can together help save the BIG CATS in Africa, particularly but not exclusively in places subject to armed conflicts, famine, environmental disasters and poor governance towards animal welfare and wellbeing.

CENFACS hope you will consider this appeal for the BIG CATS in Africa.   

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

02 May 2018

Post No. 37

The Week’s Contents

• All in Development Stories project (May Stories): Local People’s Stories, Tell it!

• RILIVES programme

• Halving Poverty continues…

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

Before highlighting this week’s contents, let us thank those who spent time to reflect on Making Transitional Economy Work for Poor Families on our last week’s Reflection Day.  It is a great 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.  Well done supporters!

Our All in Development Stories project (May month of poverty relief and development stories) has already kicked off.  This year’s and month’s stories are made with Local People’s Stories of Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development.  We have made this choice to highlight our Local Year Campaign or Local People’s Year. 

We have added to the May menu the BIG CATS stories to raise awareness and engineer action against the threats and risks endangered animals (such as lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars), to name the few, are experiencing from extermination and extinction in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

The week is as well of Projects Planning and Development under the RILIVES programme, which is African Rebuilding and Sustaining Infrastructures and Lives programme.  Spring 2018 projects planning and development will be to rethink, discuss and develop sustainable ways to rebuild lives of endangered BIG CATS. 

So, telling their stories and finding ways of reducing threats on their lives while saving and rebuilding their race will be our wildlife campaigning focus until the end of Spring.

Halving Poverty which started last week continues over this Spring.  We are keeping our resilience in making the case to halve poverty experienced by children without access to safe drinking water and sanitation services in Africa.  Those who want to donate and or leave a legacy are welcome to do so. 

For further details about this appeal, go to  http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

• RILIVES programme: Spring 2018 Projects Planning and Development   

RILIVES (African Rebuilding & Sustaining Infrastructures & Lives) Programme should not be confused with ReLive Spring fundraising campaign, which is done through ReLive communication online and print materials. 

RILIVES is a programme while ReLive is a project, a fundraising campaign made of 14 gifts of renewing lives. ReLive is part and practical expression of RILIVES. 

Likewise, the gifts or life-renewing projects (LRPs) making the ReLive campaign should not be confused with Light projects.  Basically, LRPs are about doing something about poverty and hardships through money donation whereas Lights Projects consist of doing something about poverty and hardships without donating money (by using skills such as communication, negotiation, networking, advocacy, lobbying etc.).  Light projects are mostly wintry projects while LRPs are Spring-like initiatives.

As said above, Spring 2018 projects planning and development will be to rethink, discuss and develop sustainable ways to rebuild lives of endangered BIG CATS that are continuously and critically threatened for extinction.   We hope our projects planning and development will generate proposals for our new BIG CATS advocacy work, which will revolve around developing actions to stop illegal wildlife trade.

For more information about our work under RILIVES programme for this Spring and the BIG CATS Campaign, contact CENFACS.

• MAY STORIES: All in Development Stories

Story telling is our main content for this month of May.  It is the month and time of the year we dedicate ourselves to telling and sharing poverty relief and 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.

•• 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:

• 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

• 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.

• AiDS is an inspirational and motivational support network

After all, the project seeks to inspire and motivate others in the road of change for change, especially 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 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 Local People’s Stories of Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development. 

We have chosen to focus on local people as we are in CENFACS’ Year of Local People.  Getting and exchanging stories with them 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 a special type of stories – BIG CATS Stories. 

•• MAY STORIES ADDITION: BIG CATS STORIES

The BIG CATS stories are the stories of protection and prevention of the extension of threatened animal species, here the BIG CATS. There is an expanded definition of BIG CATS which include many varieties.  For the need of our May Stories, we are going to focus on the following BIG CATS: lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.  The stories about them are some examples of the accounts of protection and safeguard of the world’s cultural and natural heritage.   

•• MORE ABOUT MAY 2018 STORIES

••• LOCAL PEOPLE’S STORIES

They are human stories from local people as change makers or witnesses in helping to reduce poverty and to enhance sustainable development. 

Stories about initiatives taken by local people

Stories can come from what local people do every day to make the world (the local area) a better place to live.  What they do can be just little things they do to relieve poverty and hardships experienced by themselves or others.  These things do not need to big or spectacular.

An example of initiative-taken story from a local person could be an account related to donating food to a food bank to help increase food stock and reduce food deprivation from those suffering with hunger or starvation.

Stories about projects and events witnessed by local people

They can also be the things local people witnessed that helped to reduce or end poverty as well as to improve the quality of life.  They could be witnesses in their daily life, at work, during holidays, at field work environment etc.  In this respect, their stories will come from the things they witness.

An example of witness story from a local poverty reliever could be watching, listening and telling the copying and surviving strategies of homeless people, as well as feeding this information to local decision making bodies to change the lives of those homeless people.

••• TYPES OF 2018 STORIES

8 types of poverty relief and sustainable development stories related to each of the following selected local people in their capacities in making the local and global worlds better places to live and work:

Local project/programme beneficiaries (1); Local supporters, volunteers and interns on local projects (2); Representatives of local African organisations such as workers, leaders, managers and board members) (3); Staff members and project/programme employees of local poverty relief organisations (4); Self-employees/local project owners like local farmers (5); Members of African organisations (6); Local authorities linked to overseas development projects/programmes (7); (8) Local environmentalists and conservationists

••• 2018 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 every day life. 

••• CALL FOR 2018 ENTRIES –

ANNOTED TIME FOR STORY SUBMISSION 2018

Start of online (e-mail) and paper-based submission (01/05/2018)

Story submission deadline (31/05/2018)

Notification of receipt/acceptance (by 17/06/2018)

Submission of revised stories (01/05/2018 to 31/05/2018)

Closing date of submission (31/05/2018)

••• CENFACS STORY TELLING & SHARING TERMS

To tell and/or share your life-changing 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, videos 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 clarification, contact CENFACS

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

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

25 April 2018

Post No. 36

The Week’s Contents

The week commencing 23 April is made of the following contents:

• Local Protections month with Economic Protection as a focus

• Reflection Day on Making Transitional Economy Work for Poor Families

• Halving Poverty by Halving the Number of Children without Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

Our month of Protections has entered its final phase with Economic Protection this week.  The last three weeks of our Local Protection activities were made of natural events (week one), infrastructure (week two) and people’s empowerment (week three).  We would like to thank those who supported us so far.

This week’s Local Protections is about ways of protecting local people and local life in the process of meeting their unlimited needs of consumption and production under the limited availability of resources and their budget constraints.  This demands the protection of local economic rights. The week is also of our Reflection Day, reflection whose theme is about Making Transitional Economy Work for Poor Families. 

So, we are conducting two protection activities this week, which are: 1) Protection of economic rights (to be run the all week), 2) A one day of reflection on Making Transitional Economy Work and Succeed for Poor Families.    

Our campaign against child poverty known as Halving Poverty is resuming this month to take over the ReLive fundraising work which officially ended on last 20 April.  We would like to thank those who supported the 10^th Issue of ReLive. 

This year’s Halving Poverty focuses on Halving the Number of Children without Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation.  For more about Halving Poverty or to support it, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

• Economic Protection Week, started 23 April

The economic protection week is about dealing with the protection of economic rights of local people and families.  This raises the issue of how we can use limited availability of economic resources to protect the minimum fulfillment of unlimited demand, for goods and services, for local people and families.

Raising this issue is also pointing at what we can do to go beyond the efficiency of resource use in the economy to add the removal of damage and injury from poor people and families.  This can be done by building protection-friendly development agenda.

In practical terms, the problem of economic protection leads to re-visit what can be called economic rights or second generation of rights in terms of constitutional protection of economic rights (as defined by the Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16 in 1966).

For example, in the Article 10 of this Covenant it says that the state parties commit themselves to the protection of the family, mothers, children, and minors.  So, economic protection goes hand in hand with the care of economic rights.  This is this week’s activity about local protections.

To support or join the Local Year Campaign, contact CENFACS.

• Reflection Day, 27 April: Making Transitional Economy Work and Succeed for Poor Families

There is always an economic cost when countries decide to disengage from economic regional integration, just as there could be benefits in doing so.  This is particularly obvious when exiting the European Union economic integration model. 

Because our week is about protection from harms and risks, we will focus on what we can do to minimise or nullify economic costs and threats rather than on protecting the benefits and opportunities resulting from this disengagement.   

Due to potential risks or costs that may accompany any exit from the EU, there is a need to make sure that these costs and threats are considerably reduced or nullified for the most vulnerable and poorest people.  In other words, how we can economically protect poor families (particularly but not exclusively women and children) when a free market-based economy exits from a regional economic integration model and goes in transition.  Equally, we can ask ourselves this: what to do to make transitional economy work and succeed for poor women and children?  Our Reflection Day will tell us what to do. 

The Reflection Day will be about thoughts on Making Transitional Economy Work for Poor Families.  We shall reflect on the shape that the economy may take during the transitional phase before the full exit.  Then, we will mirror the kinds of steps that need to be taken for the new economy meets the needs and aspirations of poor families.

To do that, we are going to refer to economic rights or second generation of rights.   We will think of direct and indirect economic rights as well as ways of protecting them.

Thought on direct economic rights

We are going to reflect on ways of protecting poor families to get the following:  adequate standard of living, health and education, work, social security etc.  These are the direct rights touching the economic interests and welfare of these families. 

Thought on indirect economic and sustainable development rights

There are indirect sustainable development rights as well, which include the protection of the poor from food prices, the necessity to combat biodiversity, the protection of poor countries and poor people from the effects and impacts of adverse climate change etc.  Whether it is about bio-diversity or climate change, there is always an economic content in them that is not easy to disentangle and that requires protection.

Briefly, our week of economic protection that will climax to an economic day of protection will be about thinking ways of keeping safe the different items that make household budget in a poor family; items making family balance sheet, income and expenditure account, wealth accounts etc.

Finally, our Reflection Day will be about how poor people, women and children can economically protect themselves rather than how we protect them.  In this respect, we shall think about economic self-protection and economic self-empowerment for protection.   

To support or join the Economic Reflection Day, 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.

The RD is a day of introspection to think in deep the ways forward for our systems of support network and protection for poverty relief and 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  

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

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

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

18 April 2018

Post No. 35

The Week’s Contents

The poverty relief display at CENFACS for this week is made of the following contents:

• Local People’s empowerment for protection

• ReLive No. 10: Only Two Days To Go!!!

• The Integrated Twenty-tens programme

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

We are now in week 3 of our Local Protections month.  This week’s focus is on the power that local People may or may not to protect themselves and the lives of others including of the environment, fauna and flora.

If they do not have the power for protection, how do we empower them or work with them to get the relevant power or authority they need in order to keep life safe?  The answer to this question and further information about this week’s protections work can be found below.

The week is also about the remaining Two Days of our ReLive campaign which is still on.  The campaign, which falls within the scope of this month of protections, is about supporting the local people in the Islands East of Africa (i.e. Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros).    

Now most of you are back from Easter holidays, we hope you can catch with what is going on at CENFACS if you were not following us online.  This campaign still needs support.   We welcome you for coming back and look forward to any support you may consider to give to this campaign.  To support, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

Finally, the week is of the news about updates of the Twenty-tens programme which has been enhanced with new features.  The three main areas of the integration in this programme have been conducted.  These areas include a) Sustainable Development Goals, Agendas 2030 and 2063 b) Digital and Social Media dimensions c) Transitional Economy.  Further details about these updates are given below.

• Local People’s Empowerment for Protection

Local protection can aim at reducing poverty and hardships through the empowerment of local people (particularly but not exclusively the poor and vulnerable ones) and promote their participation in peace and security building infrastructures and capacities. 

This can include a range of local perspectives and initiatives to empower local protectors, such as training, meetings, dialogues, meditation, facilitation, awareness raising and media support etc.  In terms of the work conducted by our Africa-sister organisations, it is the story of local humanitarian responders.  The examples of local protectors can be found the following countries:

In the Democratic Republic of Congo with Local Protection Committees aiming at empowering women in the North Kivu province in helping them to address local security issues and advocacy for women’s participation

In Central African Republic with self-protected persons, especially poor traders facing off with militia over extortion demands.

The empowerment of local people goes beyond that.  It involves the formation of local protection advisers and officers to deal with protection of those fleeing domestic violence and abuse, with child protection by protecting children victims of the adverse effects and impacts of climate change, children at risk of neglect and of international perverted ideologies etc. It is further about equipping them with online and digital technologies and facilities as the boundaries of threats and risks to protection keep shifting.  So, empowering local people with these tools can enhance both offline and online protections.

To support and or join CENFACS’ work on Local Protections this week, contact CENFACS.

• New Updates of the  Twenty-Tens Programme are Available NOW!

The projects making the Twenty-tens programme have been progressively updated following our integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agendas 2030 and 2063; of Digital and Social Media dimensions and of Transitional Economy into it.

The initiatives of the 2010s Programme

The updates concern the following selected initiatives:  Drugs and substance for poverty relief, Green conservation and sustainable forests, World Anti-Poverty System, Environmental science and energy for poverty relief, Food security and adapted to climate and human needs, Find my inspiration for poverty relief, Women and children FIRST development days, Volunteering for poverty relief, and June month of environmental and sustainable creative initiatives.

The updates and integrations made regarding these initiatives

The updates and integrations have been made at three levels related to: global goals, digitalisation and social mediatisation, and economic transition.

•• Enhancement with global goals and agendas

Each of these projects now contains the elements of SDGs, Agendas 2030 and 2063 related to it.  For example, the initiative of Food Security and Adapted to Climate and Human Needs is now related to Zero Hunger (Goal 2).  Likewise, the initiative of Drugs and Substance is linked to the Good Health and Well-being (Goal 3)

•• Upgrading with digitalisation and social mediatisation

CENFACS beneficiaries currently have the opportunity to interact each other on social media platforms and can create online networks of discussions (provided they mention it to CENFACS) with regard to the contents of these above projects.  They can visit our digital store and digitally access our services and products.  They can as well place comments and write reviews on our work 24 hours, 7 days a week.

•• Mixing with transitional economy

Each of these projects will be moving in line with changes occurring as economies transit in the Post-Regional Economic Integration era.   Plans have been made to get some mix of the transitional economy into the Twenty-tens.  For example, any changes in the free movement of people and in data protection policy will be reflected in our initiative of Volunteering for Poverty Relief.

For more about these updates and integrations, please contact CENFACS.

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

11 April 2018

Post No. 34

The Week’s Contents

• Week Two of Local Protections

• ReLive No. 10 continues…

• World Anti-Poverty System 2018: Coalesce to Shape the Pattern of Ultimate Poverty Relief

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

We are in the second week of our Local Protections month.  This week our focus is on the enabling infrastructure and logistics to support us to provide protection.  Indeed, protection cannot be done in a vacuum.  There should be some services, equipment and stock of facilities as well as planning and organisation. 

The above protective arsenal can be found within the organisation engaged in the protection work and within the environment in which that organisation operates. 

For more about this week’s local protections work, read below.

The 10th issue of CENFACS’ Annual Spring Appeal for Renewing Life (ReLive), which is on advocating for support for the peoples of the three Islands East of Africa (made of Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros),  continues this week. 

CENFACS would like to remind those who are willing to support this Spring initiative the following.  There are 14 Gifts of Renewing Lives or Life-Renewing Projects attached to this ReLive Appeal as the fundraising version of this advocacy: six for Madagascar; five for Comoros and three for Mauritius.  

For further details about this advocacy (including its deadline), go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

Our next thematic work about the WAS/ISPR (World Anti-Poverty System or International System for Poverty Reduction) will be to Coalesce Together To Shape The Pattern Of Ultimate Poverty Relief.  Although this 2018 act of WAS/ISPR will be conducted at the beginning of Summer, we are starting this week to discuss what will make the contents of this act. 

You can support WAS/ISPR with your voice, by e-signing our petition and e-mobilising through social media networks and platforms, by branding your event with WAS/ISPR message etc. 

To join and or support the WAS/ISPR campaign, contact CENFACS.

• Week Two of Local Protections: Local Infrastructures and Logistics for Protection

To undertake the work of protection at any levels (here local), it requires resources, infrastructures and logistics.  Much of this will be in the hands of local and national authorities whether in the UK and in Africa.  If so, how CENFACS and Africa-based Sister Organisations can undertake the work of protection in this context. 

We all need basic infrastructural and logistical support at various levels (at the local level particularly but not exclusively).  This could mean having local infrastructure charities to support local voluntary and community organisations working in the area of protection.  This can require support for voluntary sector infrastructure and local infrastructure bodies to deal with protection work.

Local infrastructure for protection will include the permanent services and equipment needed for a local area to enable itself to keep local people safe at local level.  In this respect, roads, factories, broadband and transport networks (to name the few) will be paramount in making the bulk of this infrastructure. 

Local infrastructure for protection also consists of other services and facilities such as protective equipment, creation of safety zones or areas, wildlife sanctuary, factories that recycle waste, facilities to prevent fires as well as local rules and permanent services linked to the protection of animal, trees, rainforests, foods, water, health, farming etc.

Additionally, data protection, protection suite software and apps can reinforce these infrastructural tools.  As we are in digital and online worlds, we can have local protection software and apps which can be installed or downloaded on people’s personal devices (tablets, laptops and mobile phones).     

So, this week it is all about this: what local infrastructure and logistical support we have at local level and how we can deploy them by working in partnership with local people to develop sustainable protection initiatives as well as make protection happen in the lives of those who are unprotected or with less protection. 

By the way, it is worth remembering some minds that our work is on protection not protectionism.  We are working with local people on shielding them from danger like adverse climate change (this is protection).  We are not here dealing with a system of protecting home industries against foreign competition by taxing imports (which is protectionism).

To support and or join CENFACS’ work on Local Protections this week, contact CENFACS.

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

Thank you as well to those who made comments about our weekly posts.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

04 April 2018

Post No. 33

The Week’s Contents

/ ReLive No. 10

/ Holiday with Relief – Spring 2018 Issue

/ Local protections

Key Highlights of the Week’s Contents

Those who are familiar with CENFACS’ development calendar know that April is the month of Protections at CENFACS.

As we are in the year of Local People at CENFACS, this year’s Protections month will be a local affair. 

This month is within one year of the UK’s exit from the EU.  Because of that, we will add to our Local Protections the economic dimensions of Protection.  In particular, we will think – at our climax Day of Reflection – of ways of Making Economic Transition Work for Children and Women. 

Details of the Economic Protection Day, which is scheduled for the 27^th of this month, will be released in due course.

The week is also about the Spring 2018 Issue of Holiday with Relief – one of CENFACS’ ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) resources.  This year the focus of our holiday resource is on Local Information and News. 

Indeed, whether we pass our Spring or Easter holiday at home or away, we need local information from whether we would be based to pass our holidays.  We need it so that we can make our plans and achieve our holiday goals and aims successfully. 

In digital and online worlds, accessing local information is now become easier than ever before.  With an average smart mobile phone, one should be able to access local information they need. 

The week is finally of the 10th Issue of ReLive.  ReLive is one of CENFACS’ Spring campaigns and a bridge between CENFACS’ Winter Lights and Spring Relief seasons.  The 10th issue of CENFACS’ Annual Spring Appeal for Renewing Life (ReLive) focuses on the support for the peoples of the three selected Islands East of Africa, which are: Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros.

For further details about the 10th Issue of ReLive and the fundraising campaign related to it, go to http://cenfacs.org.uk/supporting-us/

• Holiday with Relief (HwR) – Spring 2018 Issue: Local Information

This Issue, which gives some useful and hassle-free holiday tips and hints as well as handy holiday information, covers three areas of interest related to holiday making:

♦ Online local information with search tips and hints

♦ Print local information with guidance and directions

♦ The use of social media networks and platforms to access local information

To get a copy of this resource and or of previous ones, please contact CENFACS. 

• Local Protections: Tightening the Fences of Protection Locally

There are many types and aspects of protection.  To keep our Local Year Campaign going, we have chosen to focus this year on local aspects of protection, on tightening the fences of protection locally.   As a result, our month of Protections has been organised as follows.

♦ Local protection against natural events (week beginning 02 April 2018)

♦ Local infrastructures for protection (week beginning 09 April 2018)

♦ Local People’s empowerment for protection (week beginning 16 April 2018)

♦ Economic Protection (week beginning 23 April 2018), which will culminate with a Reflection Day at the end of the week

•• Local protection against natural events: Week beginning 02 April 2018

The process of shielding or keeping people safe from destructive natural events (such as flooding, landslides, violent rains, drought etc from severe weather) or against damage, loss and destruction; has a significant local content and impact.

In our first week of the Local Protections month, we are looking at the following:

♦ Ways of protecting people living in areas affected by natural disasters and complex emergencies to survive and protect themselves

♦ Ways of supporting locally-led natural crisis responses

♦ Community-led and community-based protection and survival

♦ Links between local, national and global protections from natural events

♦ How our Africa-based Sister Organisations are coping with local protections (for example the copying strategies in the case of the victims of natural disasters in DR Congo and of the poor traders facing off with militia over extortion demands in Central African Republic), with localisation and locally-led responses

♦Protection organised by local communities to support displaced people by natural events

♦Protection from the effects and impacts of treacherous weather in order to avoid risks and hazards to health 

To support or to get details about this week’s local protection work, please contact CENFACS.

 Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support during 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

28 March 2018

Post No. 32

The Week’s Contents

• Easter Holiday Arrangement

• Local Climate Action and CSPAC (Climate Stake and Protection for African Children) project – Phase 2

• All-Year Round Projects

• Easter Holiday Notice

During the Easter Holiday period most of campaigns will be scaled down to reflect the celebratory nature of Easter. 

We are closed on the Easter Bank Holidays (30/03/2018 and 02/04/2018). 

Some of our projects and programmes (e.g. children and family projects), which are linked to school terms are also scaled down over the Easter period.

You can still contact CENFACS online 24 hours and 7 days a week should you have any query.

As part of CENFACS’ Outreach project known as “Walks to the Need”, we encourage our supporters (those who can) to use Easter Holidays as an opportunity to visit our Africa-based Sister Organisations and other similar projects.  This kind of visit impacts or field works helps to get the real outcomes of poverty relief from the grounds and share experiences together.    

We would like to wish you Happy Easter!

For any queries about our projects and programmes over the Easter Holiday period, contact CENFACS.

• Local Climate Action and CSPAC (Climate Stake and Protection for African Children) – Phase 2

∴ Our Climate Action month ends this week. We have been overwhelmed by messages of support and encouraging comments about our work generally and the Climate Action in particular.  These are some of the comments we received from commentators who chose to stay anonymous:

“I have learnt a lot about your climate work.  It has inspired me in the way I do my own work.  Thank you for sharing your contents with me”

“Many thanks for your amazing blog. It was actually very useful. I am so glad I found this”

“Thanks for the blog, it truly is packed with a lot of useful information. This helped me a lot”

“I like everything you post. You have done really good job”

“This is a really great resource! A lot of useful info and handy tips, thank you”

∴ Continuing to make our case for African Children through CSPAC – P.2 with KIP (Katowice Implements Paris)

As part of our journey in the process of advocating that global goals (such as climate change goals) work for children, we are working this week on the fit of finance and insurance packages available on the market for the needs of children from developing countries like those of Africa.  We are also working on effective ways of distributing them amongst children in need.  

To support or enquire about Local Climate Action month and CSPAC – P.2, contact CENFACS. 

• All-Year Round Projects This Spring: Run, Play & Vote projects 

The following are the activities to carry out or questions to answer for those who want to support these projects and CENFACS.

… For Run project (or Run To Reduce Poverty in Africa in 2018)

Are you researching your African Global Games Runners, Agents of Poverty Relief (AGGRAPR)?

Did you or are you organising a run or race event?

Are you planning to include CENFACS’ 2018 Run To Reduce Poverty In Africa (RRPA) into your event?

Are you supporting the Run project in your own way?

Are willing to donate to CENFACS, and if yes for how much?

… For Play project (or CENFACS League for Poverty Relief)

Which team country will top up CENFACS’ Poverty Relief League as a result of you gaming?

Which team country will be above 40-point mark to escape the square of inescapability?

Which team country will cruise into quarters in Summer 2018?

Who will be and what is your bet for the Best African Countries which Will Best Reduce Poverty in 2018?

… For Vote project (or International Development and Poverty Relief Manager project)

Are you searching for your manager of the year 2018?

What does make him or her different from others?

What is their greatest achievement so far?

What are your selection criteria?  

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 2018, vote for someone who did something against poverty and hardships only. 

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

To do that, you do not need sophisticated technologies or a third party.  With your mobile phone only – if you have one – you can text, record voices, make a video, take pictures, phone etc 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 about your Actions and Results.   As these projects are all-year round, we would like supporters to them to communicate their actions and results every season; this Spring season too.  This enables all of us to track progress and improve the ways these projects are delivered.

What we expect from your support is to be able to tell us by the end of 2018 the following:

√ The Best African Countries of 2018 which best reduce poverty

√ The Best African Global Games Runners of 2018

√ The Best African Development Managers of 2018 

To support and or get further details about All Year Round Projects, contact CENFACS.

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support in 2018.

With many thanks

Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

21 March 2018

Post No. 31

This Week’s and Spring’s Contents

• Spring Relief Projects and Programmes
• Climate Stake & Protection for African Children (CSPAC) – Phase 2 – Katowice Implements Paris (KIP)
• Spring Appeal (ReLive, Issue No. 10) & ICDP (Individual Capacity Development Programme) Resource (Holiday with Relief)

What’s on offer at CENFACS

We have on offer for this week and this Spring 2018 the following.

For this week, we are continuing our work on CSPAC – P. 2 with KIP as our 2018 working theme.  We are also undertaking Local Climate Action activities to keep up with our month of Climate Action.

For the Spring season, you will find below a number of selected projects and programmes making Spring Relief.  We have added to them two coming initiatives: our Easter humanitarian appeal (ReLive, Issue No. 10) and our Spring ICDP resource (Holiday with Relief).

• This week’s activities

•• Activities under CSPAC – P.2 with KIP

Need Assessment of the Costs of Climate Protection for Children

Children have many types of needs starting from the basic to the more complex ones, like any human beings.  Amongst children’s needs are those to reduce poverty and hardships.  Along with these needs are financial and insurance requests to meet and address the adverse impacts and effects of climate change. 

As part of KIP, we are working on these financial and insurance needs.  This is because in order to advocate with children for climate finance and insurance covers, one needs to work out costs and carry out a financial need assessment of these covers.  This is done bearing in mind the characteristics of climate events at particular places.

•• Activities under Local Climate Action

Activities for LCA for this week include the following.

Climate Change Action plans: This activity is about looking at the gaps between plans and achievements, between what has worked and what is not working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mapping of Climate Change Actions: This activity helps in identifying good actions taken locally and rating them.

To engage with the contents or activities related to CSPAC – P.2 and LCA, please contact CENFACS. 

• Coming this Spring: Holiday with Relief (Resource) and ReLive (Appeal)

Holiday with Relief: Focus for 2018 is on Local Information

To reflect CENFACS’ Local Year Campaign in our Spring resource, we have chosen to raise the importance of local information whether we pass holidays at home or away.  To achieve a successful holiday, we need local information which we can get through local newspapers, magazines, institutions, shops, tourist offices, TVs, radios, libraries etc. 

We can also use Google search engine and other information search platforms from our mobile phones or any digital devices to access the types of information we need.  So, whether we pass our holidays at home or go away we need local information to enjoy our holidays.

ReLive, Issue No.10

CENFACS’ Annual Spring Appeal for Renewing Life (ReLive) will focus on advocating for support for the peoples of three African countries surrounded by water or island countries (Comoros, Madagascar and Mauritius). 

Details of the Gifts for Renewing Lives will be released by the middle of Spring.

Apart from these above coming initiatives, please also find below some other selections from our Spring menu of works.

To get further details about Holidays with Relief and ReLive, please contact CENFACS.

• Spring Relief 2018: Projects and Programmes

The following selected initiatives (selected for public information) are amongst those which will make Spring Relief 2018 at CENFACS.

April: Protection Month

••  This month’s protection theme is Local Protection (Protection project)

••  Women and Children projects (3W & PPS Reflection Day):

Making Transitional Economy Work for Women and Children – Economic Protection Day (Protection project)

May: Stories Telling Month

•• May Stories – Entries for Stories on Poverty Relief and Development for May 2018 are now open. Tell your story of change for change to CENFACS, contact CENFACS for story telling terms and conditions.

Local People’s and Champions’ Stories of Poverty Relief – Tell it! (Volunteer’s & Stories Telling project)

•• Rebuilding Africa: Rebuilding Lives in the African Islands of South-East Africa (Appeal project)

June: Creation & Innovation Month

•• 16.4 Project: Sixteen Years of CENFACS in Four Days of Celebration – Sedecim Year (Celebration project)

•• Creations and Innovations for Transitional Economy and Poverty Reduction with Jmesci project (Creation project): Featuring Local Creations

Note: 

The above initiatives are only a selection of what we have planned for Spring Relief season.  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.  

To request further information about Spring Relief projects and programmes, please contact CENFACS. 

Thank you for visiting CENFACS website and reading this post.

We look forward to receiving your regular visits and continuing support in 2018.

With many thanks