Let Nature Feed Your Senses

Aims

Let Nature Feed Your Senses will connect disengaged groups with nature. The main beneficiaries are young, disabled and older people. Through a national series of visits to the countryside the project aims to develop sustainable, lifelong connections between people and nature.

Innovative activities, training and learning techniques will be used to provide a creative approach to environmental education; community engagement and visitor management. The focus will be on interactive sensory engagement, an approach that takes people beyond simply visiting the natural world to becoming emotionally connected and actively involved with it. The project will be exemplary in demonstrating how the range of barriers to accessing nature can be overcome.

The project will be delivered through regional networks (a network of farms, nature reserves and environmental education centres) throughout England.

It will:

• Establish eight regional networks 
• Build the capacity, through training and support, for 240 land managers who will host the visits, events, training and activities at the Nature Networks
• Provide the opportunity for 9,600 disengaged people to take part in visits, activities and volunteering
• Build relationships with 500 stakeholders (members of environmental organisations, community groups and voluntary organisations) to share resources and learning  
• Enable 50,000 people to access web based resources like audio trails, green box environmental monitoring kits and other learning materials. 

We will:

• Create opportunities for disengaged people to become involved, passionate and enthusiastic about the natural environment 
• Create opportunities for disengaged people to form lasting, lifelong connections with the natural environment  
• Facilitate the building and strengthening of networks within and between communities, land managers and environmentalists
• Build the capacity of land managers to promote and encourage the sustainable management of the natural environment

Evaluation

Feedback will be gathered on the project’s success to share experiences and identify lessons learnt to provide a blueprint for others to use.

Each site will be monitored on a quarterly basis both internally among the group in the Nature Networks and by the project leader. We will use peer-led reviews whereby beneficiaries are involved in gathering and reporting evidence.

Measurements will be based on specific outputs and outcomes. This will include number of events, numbers attending, change of opinion, experience, habits and behaviour, particularly relating to understanding and personal relationship with nature. A full analysis of web hits and downloads will be recorded on a monthly basis.

We will work with the University of Essex to monitor the health and wellbeing benefits and change in outlook and understanding.

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© 2009 Sensory Trust