Kate Woodhead, RGN, DMA describes the work of Friends of African Nursing –a small UK based charity she works with, which delivers training to nurses in a variety of African countries.
Friends of African Nursing (FoAN) has been building capacity since 2001 and since that time has educated more than 2000 nurses in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The good fortune of nurses in high income countries with huge resources for personal learning, access to journals, study events and conferences, on-line resources and physical libraries to enhance our learning quite apart from numerous colleagues who willingly share their knowledge is often overlooked by those fortunate enough to be living and working in them. Cast an eye into a low or even middle income country and the lack of resources and opportunities is immediately apparent.
The United Nations has defined capacity as ‘the ability of individuals, institutions, and societies to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve objectives in a sustainable manner.’1 In order to help nurses find the knowledge that they need to undertake a complex role in hospitals with low resources, Friends of African Nursing has developed a set of education programmes. In the recent past, as many nations in Africa have developed, a greater range of bespoke courses have been developed to meet their specific needs.
We focus on delivering international best practice whilst recognising local resource issues. It seems a pointless exercise to set the hospitals up to fail by recommending high technology solutions or complex risk management frameworks when for the most part the change the nurses are empowered to make is small within their sphere of influence
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