Happy New and Welcome to CENFACS’ Online Diary!

03 January 2018

This week’s contents

• REVIEW 2017

• CONSUME TO REDUCE POVERTY IN 2018

• THE NEXT ISSUE OF FACS: The 58^th Issue

• EIGHT CHALLENGES TO CHANGE AFRICA IN 2018

New Year, New Hope & New Relief

Again, Happy New Year and welcome back to Poverty Relief in 2018 and the Years ahead!

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

Perhaps, the best way to start the year with CENFACS is look at what happened in 2017.  Possibly, we may or may not learn something about it.  But, it is still worth recalling 2017.  This is our Review 2017.

As we are already in January, this month is our month for Responsible Consumption following CENFACS development calendar.  It means that the theme for January is Sustainable Consumption and the monthly project carrying this theme is Consume to Reduce Poverty.  It is the month we act against consumption-based poverty and we deal with measures of poverty through consumption.  It is also an opportunity to act to preserve a good relationship between the way and products we consume and the reduction of climate change.

Much of what we do depends on the health of the UK economy and its direction.  This year, if we are allowed to say it, the UK economy may enter the transitional phase of Post-European Economic Integration; what we call Post-Regional Economic Integration Era.   As a result, we have provided an abstract of the next issue of CENFACS’ bilingual newsletter FACS; issue no. 58 to be entitled “Poverty Reduction in the Era of Transitional Economy of Post-Regional Economic Integration”.

A great deal of our work is as well linked to what is happening and may happen in Africa.  As such we need to look at beyond our lenses and sometimes to speculate about the future or simply the months or years ahead.  This is why we have identified some challenging trends for a better change in Africa in 2018, the EIGHT CHALLENGES THAT AFRICA FACES IN 2018 TO CHANGE.

This review shines a light into CENFACS’ work over the last twelve months from the 1st of January to the 31^st of December 2017.  The current Review is presented to you as an informal summary of eleven voted projects and one programme that made 2017.  The selected projects and programme are the ones that had the most votes in terms of their influence on work and activities.  

XI Projects and One Programme that Made 2017 at CENFACS 

There are in no particular order as follows.

Consume to Reduce Poverty (CRP) and Climate Change

This project was influential in raising awareness and developing solutions in the form of poverty relief that focuses on buying and consumption issues – whenever the time makes it possible and for every step of life.  

CRP is designed for children, young people and families who are poor buyers and consumers to work with them and find out improved and cost-effective ways of extending freedom by spending wisely their little income and getting the most benefit of it in improving their lives. 

ACSDGs (African Children Climate and Sustainable Development Goals) or Generation 3 (3G) project

3G project is the impact level in CENFACS’ process of advocating that global goals work for children but not way around.  It is indeed the testing of the gains that global goals claim to achieve and of their impact on the welfare and well-being of children.

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

This is a protection project.  Our 2017 Reflection Day helped us to find ways of Reducing Information and Communication Poverty for Women and Children to Fully Participate in the Information Society

All in Development Stories (AiDS)

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 2017 story telling was about Communications and Digital Stories, with some highlights on Elephant Stories.

7 Days of Development in July Festival (7DDJF)

The 9^th edition of CENFACS’ Annual Event 7DDJF was held in 2017.  The theme for 2017 was on Science and Engineer Education for Poverty Relief and Sustainable Development.  It was about discussing cases for  educational systems that take science and engineering seriously in the process of ending poverty and enhancing sustainable development   The 9^th event enabled us to think ways of raising levels of living for the poor through science and engineer education.

August Trends

Our integration theme of Track, Trip and Trending had its second year running.  Track focused on running, Trip on projects visiting and Trending on following the direction of poverty relief (we followed the direction of fake economy in 2017).  The three of them were popular in subjects within the CENFACSPHERE and the CENFACS Community. 

Halving Poverty

Set up in February 2012 as the 2015-2030 Campaign, Halving Poverty is a CENFACS’ child protection and safeguarding advocacy work.  It is indeed a linking and coordinating mobilization project of action that helps empower beneficiaries against multi-dimensional poverty and hardship.  The 2017 advocacy was on Halving the Number of Children Vulnerable to Air Pollution.

A la Une (Autumn Leaves of Action to Upkeep the Nature in Existence) Campaign

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. 

Our Autumn 2017 work on nature was a fivefold leaves of action of protection of Animals, Waters (e.g. oceans, lakes, rivers and seas), Air, Plants and Climate (weather)

Making Memorable Difference (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.  The 2017 dedicated two days (27 and 28 October) were of search on the Communicators of the African History.  We investigate on their contribution to Africa’s transformative development since the colonial era.

Climate Protection and Stake for African Children (CPSAC) – Phase 2

CPSAC – P.2 is our rebranded international child protection project helping to further up CENFACS’ process of advocating better climate deals for children.  CPSAC is the Phase 2 of CENFACS’ Climate Talks Follow-up project.  The 2017 follow-up activity was WHAT BONN SAY, that is we followed the climate talks in Bonn.

Women & Children FIRST Development Day (WCFDD)

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.  Our 2017 Development Day did not miss this opportunity by putting our thoughts on ways of Ending Poverty in all its forms for Women and Children everywhere

Communicating for Better Change Programme (CBCP)

This programme was originally set up in 2007 by CENFACS to respond to the need of developing and maintaining effective communication between CENFACS, her Africa-based Sister Organisations and UK stakeholders so that we can together share skills, best practice and experience in the process of delivering better change and ensuring a better quality of life for all.  Through this programme a better exchange and flow of information on poverty and development matters was meant to be established. 

As 2017 was dedicated as the Year of Communications, this programme was influential in most the activities and projects we undertook.

For further details about this Review or any of the above mentioned projects and programme, please contact CENFACS.

We cannot end this review without thanking all those who helped us to achieve what we managed to achieve. 

To all our supporters, we simply say thank you very much and wish you a Happy New Year!

Consume to Reduce Poverty (CRP) is our users’ New Year supporting information and accompanying booster that focuses on Buying and Consumption elements conducive to the reduction of poverty and hardship.  It is indeed a complimentary support to our Autumn Festive Income Boost resource.  The Festive Income Boost is an income-generating resource while CRP brings in a consumption-led look in our fight against poverty.  The next issue (issue no. 6) of CRP which will be Online Shopping ad Buying will expand on this.

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

Abstract of the 58th Issue of FACS:

REDUCING POVERTY IN THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF POST-REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

Reducing poverty in the transitional period of post-regional economic integration is a compliment and continuation of our work on post-regional economic development.  It is an additional to the Issue no.55 of FACS of Spring 2017 which was on “African Organisations in the Post-Regional Economic Development Times”.

The Issue no.55 dealt with potential challenges that African Organisations may or may not encounter when the post-regional economic integration is fully functioning.  Additionally, the Issue no. 58 is concerned with transitional economics; in other words how poverty could still be reduced by African Organisations during the transitional period before the full implementation of post-regional economic integration policy or strategy.

Indeed, when countries which were in a particular REI (Regional Economic Integration) scheme and leave for any particular reason, there could be a transitional period between leaving and remaining countries.  Their economies may go to a transitional phase to adjust to the new reality.  Transition may or may not apply to voluntary organisations having to deal with either the leavers or staying countries or even both of them.

During this transitional period, the business of poverty reduction will continue, perhaps in a different shape and content which may depend on many factors such as

• The terms of separation between leavers and remaining countries

• The financial settlement, if any, between leavers and remaining countries

• The level of influence of REI on voluntary organisations

• The environment in which voluntary organisations operate

• The degree of protection that voluntary organisations have

• The effects of transitional economics on voluntary organisations etc

Focusing on the effects of transitional economics, the key or central theme that the Issue no. 58 is dealing with is how transition affects CENFACS as an organisation and its stakeholders (like Africa-based Sister Organisations) on the first part.  On the second part, what CENFACS can do in order to play its game well and make the most of its life from the transition into the full period of the REI?

To find out or reserve a copy of FACS  Issue no. 58, contact CENFACS.

EIGHT CHALLENGES FOR A CHANGE IN AFRICA IN 2018

Eight Areas to watch in 2018 for Poverty Relief and Development in Africa

At the beginning of the year, the byzantine question which comes every year is how to start better and do better during the New Year from what we have been doing/taking as a course of actions to deal with a particular problem (for example poverty). 

How to start and do better means that there may some challenges that we need to find.  There are many challenges that Africa faces which each institution and or person can identify. 

We have selected eight areas in which we think that, if properly dealt with, there could a better change for those in need.   These are areas to watch for poverty relief and development in Africa. 

We do not assume these selected challenges are the most important.  They include the following.

1. Poverty Reduction Movements

The need and demand of poverty reduction movements (or what others call freedom movements) are far from being met by the governance currently in charge.  The struggle against poverty has better expressed the fight for freedom as happened in Zimbabwe in Autumn 2017.  In others words, the fight for freedom from poverty will continue to be the preoccupation of these movements.

Challenge 1: The struggle for freedom means today in Africa a fight against poverty

2. Social development

The focus on the need to put people first in development processes is still a major challenge in Africa.  The capacity of African states to deal with exclusion, unaccountable institutions, vulnerability etc. is still under challenge.  Committing to development processes that benefit poor people (through fair income distribution, social security networks, job creation, fair elections  etc.) so that they contribute in a positive way to their family, community and country; has still a long way to go.

Challenge 2: Putting people first in development processes

3. African Regional Economic Communities (ARECs)

The ARECs have managed to create a rapprochement between African economies in terms of free movements of people, labour and capital.  They have also increase cross border trades.  However, they still lack resources, capacity and solidarity to significantly affect poverty and deliver on their agendas.

Challenge 3: Lack of capacity for African Regional Economic Communities to significantly reduce poverty and hardships

4. Work and pay recognition

Often people speak about full employment and job creation in Africa as development goals.   What people tend to forget or not to argue about is that there are millions of people in Africa who work but do not get pay.  People work but for various reasons, they get lowly paid or the pay is delayed for months or they do not get paid at all or simply their work (like domestic and domiciliary works) is not recognised as rewarding occupation as such.  This is let alone the insurance and pension schemes without forgetting the informal and voluntary sectors as well. 

Challenge 4: What do people call in their minds work and pay?

5. Renewal of Poverty Relief Approaches and Ideologies

Most of approaches to poverty reduction are based on what a clan, a tribe, a religion and an ethnic group can do for people.  There is overreliance of people on clans, tribes, ethnic groups and religions to deal with their poverty problems.  The Post-independence Nation-states have never been forged as such to create a melting pot society with a true referential national identity with a national perception of poverty and its potential remedies. 

The formation and life of any political party is based on an ideology and the perception they have on the society as a whole.  On the contrary, in Africa political parties are based on clans, ethnicity, tribes, religions etc.  As such they fail to cross the boundaries of clans, tribes, religions etc. to the extent that they become blocking forces to truly Post-independence African Nation-States.  This lack of pure political ideology and practice that focus on the State and or market forces and solutions to reduce poverty fail to make big strides on the road to poverty reduction.

Challenge 5: How to fix African Nation-states, promote a pure political ideology and make the State accountable for national poverty

6. Integrating and mainstreaming child and women protections

The protection of vulnerable and poor children and women at all levels of society continues to be one of the most unsolved problems of our time.  There has been some progress on child protection policies and gender development matters and policies.  However, the experience of everyday life shows in Africa that more need to be done in terms of training and educating people on this area of protection and safeguarding.

Challenge 6: How to integrate the protection of children and women into all areas of life and work; and possibly to create a ministry of protections

7. Climate finance and insurance

The weather continues to be a challenge especially for agriculture and rural areas.  Long periods of drought have caused the displacement of people, loss of livelihoods and reduction of food reserves. To meet the climate goal targets and the cost of reducing the adverse impacts of climate change, it requires finances and insurances for the poor.  Poor people, especially those from developing countries of Africa, need financial help to transit to low-carbon economy and way of life.  Likewise, they need insurance against the impacts and effects of adverse climate change. 

Challenge 7: How to make global climate finance and insurance work for the poor 

8. Energy policy to protect the vulnerable and poor

The cost of accessing sustainable and clean energy is beyond reach for the poor.  The cost of energy consumption takes most of poor people’s household budgets to the extent it often leads to energy poverty and precariousness.   Yet, like anybody poor and vulnerable people have been asked to use clean energy and to reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution from the kinds of energy they use by doing something about the nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter of air (µg/m³) imposed to protect public health.

Challenge 8: Reduce energy poverty in Africa

One can think that if the above challenges are properly dealt with there could a push for better change for poor people, especially those living in Africa. 

We know that most of the above challenges require more years than just 2018.  However, if progress can be made on them, there could be a better change in Africa.

We would like ask to our readers-supporters to watch and monitor those selected areas in this 2018 and beyond. 

As far as CENFACS is concerned, we will do what we can and it takes us in our capacity and limitations to continue to work with those who are interested in and willing to reduce and end poverty so that 2018 can be a year of improved outcomes of poverty reduction both in quality and quantity of intervention.

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!

27 December 2017

PEACE + HOPE + CHARITY e-STORE

We hope that you are having peaceful and hopeful festive moments at this time of the year.  As far as we are concerned, we can only continue to wish you well in your Peace and Hope of the Season’s Reliefs.

As we informed you last week, we have scaled down our services and activities to take into account the Season’s needs and demands of break.  

For children, young people and families in need on whose behalf we relentlessly advocate, we can expect that they have managed to generate some little extras incomes they need to cover the extra expenses of the Season’s financial pressures.  More importantly than anything else, they are managing to exercise their right to decent and deserving festive celebrations.

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

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

The celebratory theme for the Season’s Reliefs is PEACE while the theme for the Season of Light is HOPE.   

As our all year-round projects (i.e. Play, Run and Vote for poverty relief and development) come to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank those who responded to our call for Action-Results 2017.

We would like as well to express our gratitude to those who replied to the Community Value Chains, the CENFACS Community, by adding their talents and skills to our register.

Finally, wherever you are in any part of the world to celebrate the end of the year 2017, we would like to reiterate our thank you for your support for 2017.

To you and all our web visitors, blog readers and commentators, users, supporters and other stakeholders; we wish you a Peaceful and Hopeful Season.

With best wishes!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

23 December 2017

FESTIVE ARRANGEMENTS

During the Festive holidays, we will only handle online queries and enquiries until the 4th of January 2018.  However, our Winter e-discussion on Volunteering in the Post-Regional Economic Integration Era is still on until the 5th of January 2018 as planned.  

Those who want to donate to our fundraising campaigns and projects (such as Gifts of Peace and Communications Gift) are welcome to do so. 

CENFACS’ Charity e-Store is opened during the Festive holidays for those who want to donate goods and or purchase donated goods.

Remember! We can only help reduce and possibly end poverty if you help us to do so.  And this time of the year is a unique opportunity for you once a year to change lives through your invaluable support however small it may be.  Please, don’t miss this opportunity!  

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

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

People should expect delay from us in returning to their calls/e-mails.  We heavily rely on volunteers for most of our services, who are sharing the Winter e-discussion with us during this Festive time.  Most of them are already on holidays. 

In case of emergency or exceptional circumstances, please do not hesitate to text/phone; we will respond to your text/phone as soon as we can. 

We apologize for any inconvenience or upset this may cause. 

We thank you all for your invaluable support during 2017 and look forward to your continued and further support in the New Year.

We wish you a Very Happy and Peaceful Festive break!

Welcome to CENFACS’ online diary!

20 December 2017

DECEMBER AND END OF AUTUMN 2017 UPDATES

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

All in Development Winter e-Discussion is currently trending well amongst CENFACS’ December products and services.  This e-Discussion is entering its third week.   So far, the items e-discussed are the definitions of volunteers’ role and tasks during transition of post-regional economic integration. 

To e-discuss volunteers’ matters related to the post-regional economic integration, contact CENFACS.

Gifts of Peace are also trending over this Season’s Reliefs.  If you are looking for appeals or projects to fund as festive gifts over this festive time, Gifts of Peace are something you can consider.

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

Community Value Chains, The CENFACS Community, is being prepared and trended.  We are doing an inventory and registering the talents and skills of the CENFACS Community.  We are setting up a talents register or database for our Talented Community.

To register or add your talents to the CENFACS Community’s talents register or database, just contact CENFACS.    

THIS FESTIVE WEEK’S CONTENTS

Today, the 20th of December 2017, is the last day of Autumn season.  The momentum we built from the beginning of Autumn Fresh Start season continues to galvanise our poverty relief action and is taking our relief journey into the Season of Light which starts tomorrow.

This week is thus the end of Autumn Fresh Start projects and programmes, and the beginning of the Season  of Light; season during which we light up a Blaze of Hope for people and communities suffering from the effects and impacts of destructive wars and natural disasters in Africa. 

At CENFACS the theme for the Season of Light is Hope which we try to bring through a Blaze, while the theme for the Festive Season’s Reliefs is Peace.

The Lights Appeal is the project that features the Season of Light while the Gifts of Peace make the Festive Season.

The week is as well of the last act or last legacy of the Year 2017, our dedicated Year of Communications.  The last act of our Year of Communications is an appeal for support in the form of gift of communications. 

With the Communications Gift plus Lights Appeal plus the Gifts of Peace; all these initiatives represent some great ways of helping to reduce poverty at this special time of the year.  They give indeed more opportunities to supporters to do something for those in need. 

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

THE LIGHTS SEASON

The Lights Season at CENFACS kicks off with the theme of Hope as said above.  We are going to deliver this Hope with sustainable lights and sustainable energy.  Sustainable lights and energy are part of our work in developing sustainable initiatives to help reduce poverty, particularly in developing those initiatives helping to reduce deforestation and forest degradation as well as to reduce poverty induced by deforestation. 

While the theme of Peace will be dominant over the festive celebrations period, the theme of Hope is the overall theme of the Season of Lights.  The theme of Hope is made of notes or pieces of sustainable lights and energy.   In this sense that we can bring a glimmer of hope through sustainable lights and energy over this Wintry season.    

The Gifts of Peace are included in the Season of Light.  Peace is the festive theme we choose to spread the joy of Season’s Reliefs to those in need. 

We try to help their wishes of poverty relief become true through the Gits of Peace that put a smile on their face with relief notes. 

KEEPING ON GIVING THIS WINTER WITH THE GIFT OF LIGHT

A gift of light for every person in need everywhere!

The Lights season is the season we try to bring light or shine light to impoverished lives. We try to bring clarity, brightness to people who need to see clearly and accurately about their life.  It is about helping them see the light of relief so that they can see the world in a new relieved light.

A gift of light that ignites and sparks the life of those in need! 

This is why we have the Lights project at CENFACS; projects which enable us to bring lights to those in need.  This Winter 2017-2018, our Lights projects will focus on two parts or two waves of action:  1/ post-war and post-natural disaster developments 2/ current and emerging armed conflicts and environmental catastrophes

A Blaze of Hope for post-life following armed conflicts and natural disasters

When there are environmental disasters and armed conflicts, there are pledges and commitments to end the effects of wars and disasters.  For various reasons, some of these pledges do not materialise.  The post-war and post-disaster developments are sometimes left without support sometimes until the conflicts and disasters return and or strike again. 

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

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

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

So, our second wave of intervention or Blaze of Hope will go this Wintry to erupted effects of armed conflicts and natural disasters in the areas of our interest in Africa. 

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

Run, Play & Vote projects 

As we are reaching the end of year 2017, it is now time to report on our three All-year Round Projects – which are Play, Run and Vote. 

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

The Action-Results of 2017: Tell it!

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

… Run if you ran for poverty relief over the year 2017 (or organised a Run activity)

… Play if you played the CENFACS League for Poverty Relief

… Vote if you have already voted your 2017 African Poverty Relief Manager.

Remember!

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

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

If you are casting your Vote for an International Development and Poverty Relief Manager of 2017, there are few days remaining until the end of the year 2017. 

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 your Action and Results to feature CENFACS 2017 Year of Communications.  Tell it!

What we want to hear

We would like to hear from you about

• The Best African Countries of 2017 which best reduced poverty

• The Best African Global Games Runners of 2017

• The Best African Development Managers of 2017 

If you have not yet told us, have your say by 23 December 2017!

As CENFACS’ 2017 dedicated Year of Communications is coming to an end, we would like to ask you to donate as a legacy towards our ten years’ efforts to help reduce poverty and harness better change through communications.

You can donate to support CENFACS’ anti-poverty message and to help reduce two types of poverty: Communications and Digital poverty. 

Your support can make helpful differences to communications and digitally poor lives. 

Your donation will help…

• Poor people against misinformation and or lack of information on poverty

• To empower poor people’s informational and communications capacity to move out of ignorance and illiteracy

• To train people to reduce poverty through the development of digital as well as Information and Communications Technology skills

• Poor people take informed decisions about their lives and well communicate their needs

• Unaware, ignorant and misinformed poor people against exploitation because their poor communications skills

Your donation can go further in helping to build and develop empowering capacity to acquire life-saving information and communicate this information for the security and defense of the vulnerable and multi-dimensional poor children, young people and families.  In doing so, they can be free from dangers, threats and harms from an insecure and threatening world for a safe, peaceful and sustainable future.

DONATE NOW!

♦ Make a One-time Donation…
today to help poor people lacking life-saving communications, and support CENFACS’ work on Communications.

You can also support CENFACS New Media and Digital Programmes if you wish.

 Choose an amount
You can give £5    £10    £15    £    per month

♦ Make a Monthly Donation… 
as a legacy for CENFACS’ Year of Communications

Make a monthly donation today to poor people lacking life-saving communications, and support CENFACS’ work on Communications.

Choose an amount 
You can give £5    £10    £15    £    per month

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!

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!