Nature First Responder
Scoping Project: Nature First Responder Training
Capacitating Communities for Health, Governance, and Environmental Action
December 05, 2023
Overview
Nature First Responder (NFR) is a capacity-building program that delivers participatory community health development training to marginalized communities facing heightened risks of health and environmental crises. Through participatory training, NFR capacitates and guides these communities to advocate for and address their health concerns, including environmental threats. This proposal aims to outline the pilot project of Nature First Responder (NFR) and seeks collaboration with potential partners to address environmental, health issues, and governance issues.
About NFR
Nature First Responder (NFR) is based on the successful Scottish community health development program Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) which aims to capacitate communities to understand and address the various health issues that affect their communities. HIIC is supported by Community Health Exchange (CHEX) Scotland which has a broader remit of promoting community-led health to tackle persistent health inequalities. NFR is a program of Baraza Global and was designed by Baraza COO Sarah House, MPH, who previously served as a Public Health officer in Scotland and oversaw HIIC implementation in deprived areas throughout central Scotland. Additionally, Sarah has lived in Kenya and South Africa and worked on various local community development, health, and environmental projects.
Overall Goals of Nature First Responder Training
Capacitate Community Members to Take Effective Action on Community Health and Environmental Issues Through NFR Training: NFR is a unique capacity-building approach that integrates First Aid training with participatory sessions covering the Social Model of Health, Power, Participation, Democracy, Inequality, Equity, Social Justice, and Community Development and Reporting. NFR training enables communities to identify their health and environmental issues collaboratively and to engage power structures to bring about positive change for all stakeholders.
Connect Community Members to Governance Structures and Decision Making: A specific goal of NFR training is to introduce and link community members to pertinent governance structures through direct participation to positively affect the health and environmental outcomes of their communities.
Specifications of the NFR Scoping Project
The NFR pilot project aims to identify, map, assess needs, and engage communities in Southern and Eastern Africa for potential NFR training and create a model for NFR future engagement. In the scoping stage, the project will focus specifically on direct engagement with communities and stakeholders with health, environmental, and governance remits.
Milestones
NFR Stakeholder Identification
NFR Stakeholder Mapping
NFR Training Needs Assessment
Produce NFR Engagement for Communities Plan
More Information
Contact: Sarah House at sarah@baraza.global or WhatsApp +1 202 681 9798
