(1) Established an automated drone hangar and a comprehensive 3D high-definition model sandbox to facilitate aerial patrol monitoring; (2) Installed 17 field video surveillance points, 2 forest fire prevention radars, 1 meteorological station, and 28 dynamic field infrared camera monitoring points; (3) Developed the Smart Nature Patrol app; (4) Created electronic ID cards for nearly 80,000 Cycas panzhihuaensis and Firmiana major specimens in the science popularization area.

This module aims to address the lack of a scientific basis for the conservation of Firmiana major, which stems from an unclear understanding of its population genetic structure. Its methodology integrates molecular systematics and landscape genetics through the following key steps: (1) Sample collection: gathering 398 wild samples from 14 distribution sites across Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, while recording GPS coordinates and habitat information; (2) Molecular experiments: extracting DNA, designing primers for polymorphic loci, and assessing genetic diversity indicators; (3) Data analysis: delineating conservation management units (MUs) using landscape genetics parameters; and (4) Application: guiding the selection of mother trees for artificial propagation and identifying priority areas for in situ conservation. The results of this module were published in the international journal Forest Ecology and Management, providing scientific support for targeted conservation efforts.

This module focuses on habitat optimization to sustain wild populations and enhance their natural regeneration capacity. Key measures include: 1) Habitat cleaning—removing invasive vines and competitive species to reduce shading; 2) Targeted fertilization—applying fertilizers based on soil test results; 3) Grazing control—establishing enclosures and guiding herders to avoid seedling areas to prevent goat browsing; and 4) Stimulating sprouting through controlled, low-intensity burning—adult trees can produce 4 to 10 sprouts during the rainy season after burning, thereby maintaining population continuity. Monitoring indicates that habitats where vines have been removed show a 20% increase in seed set.

This module aims to improve the low seedling survival rate caused by poor seed quality and harsh environmental conditions. The key steps include: 1) precise seed collection; 2) seed disinfection to prevent fungal diseases; 3) sowing seeds immediately after collection or shade-drying them for sowing the following spring; and 4) seedling stage management, which involves controlling soil moisture and protecting dormant seedlings to reduce mortality. Data show that seedlings sown immediately after collection can reach a height of 50.2 cm during the rainy season of the following year, which is 60% taller than seedlings grown from stored seeds.

While Sparśa in Nepal serves as a pilot enterprise, NIDISI’s ambition reaches far beyond one country. Years of networking with practitioners, academics, social entrepreneurs, and NGOs showed us that many projects across the Global South are working with natural fibres — banana, sisal, water hyacinth, bamboo — yet most face similar challenges: how to process fibres efficiently, ensure product quality, secure market access, and build financially sustainable social businesses. To address this, we launched the Sparśa Blueprint Project, which creates a global community of knowledge sharing for compostable pad manufacturing.

The Blueprint is where Sparśa’s technical expertise, R&D, and social business lessons are opened up for replication. It documents machinery CAD files, sourcing strategies, financial planning models, and outreach approaches, but also creates space for dialogue and co-creation. Connecting projects across the globe enables local innovators to learn from each other and adapt the model to their own contexts and fibre plants.

First building block of Journey of Community Building: Creating a Globally Adaptable Blueprint Model for Fibre Pad Manufacturing — will be published on the PANORAMA platform in September 2025, and a full solution page will follow in November 2025. There, we will share the accumulated experience of years of building networks across continents, including insights from collaborations with grassroots entrepreneurs, academic partners such as Stanford University’s Prakash Lab and LGP2 from the Grenoble INP-Pagora, NGOs, and local governments. This scaling of our project will serve as the gateway for replication, helping others create their own fibre-based pad enterprises.

Compostable pads alone are not enough to create change — awareness and dialogue must go hand in hand with product innovation. To address this, Sparśa launched the Ambassador Program, a youth-led initiative that trains young women and men from local communities to become educators and advocates for menstrual health. After intensive training in SRHR, facilitation, and leadership, Ambassadors design and deliver sessions tailored to schools and community groups, using storytelling, games, scientific explanations, and product demonstrations to make menstruation a topic that can be spoken about openly.

In its first year of operation, the program trained 20 Ambassadors who reached 70+ schools, 7,500 students, and 1,500 adults with stigma-reduction sessions. Both boys and girls are included in school workshops to normalize menstruation and build empathy, while adult sessions focus on myth-busting and dialogue. Beyond knowledge transfer, Ambassadors gain leadership, public speaking, and facilitation skills that strengthen their own futures.

The initiative is described in detail in the published PANORAMA solution Sparśa Ambassador Program: Youth-Led Menstrual Health Education and Stigma Reduction in Nepal. That solution provides practical insights for replication, explaining how to recruit and train Ambassadors from within their own communities, how to engage schools and community leaders to secure legitimacy, and how to design education that is age-appropriate for students while also creating dialogue-based sessions for adults. It also shares lessons on sustaining motivation, offering mentorship, and building long-term community trust.

Sparśa is designed as a women-led, non-profit social business that integrates environmental protection, menstrual equity, and economic empowerment. The enterprise is aimed at creating ~16 direct green jobs for women in both rural fiber processing and urban pad production. Its structure ensures that decision-making power remains with local women, embedding gender justice into the heart of the business.

A defining feature of the model is the reinvestment of profits into education and awareness campaigns, linking financial performance directly with social impact. By doing so, Sparśa builds a sustainable cycle in which production funds awareness, awareness drives acceptance, and acceptance supports market growth. At the same time, the enterprise faces the challenge of competing with cheap, plastic-based imports — which dominate 98% of the Nepali market — making financial planning, partnerships, and strategic positioning essential.

This block connects directly to the published PANORAMA solution Sparśa Business Model: Gender-Responsive Entrepreneurship and Market Access, which delves deeper into the practical aspects of building a social enterprise in Nepal. It includes lessons on forming strategic partnerships with government bodies and NGOs, financial planning and reinvestment strategies, setting up production units, and navigating market entry in an environment dominated by cheap plastic imports.

At the core of Sparśa’s innovation is a commitment to listening to users. A nationwide survey of 820 women and girls provided critical insights into menstrual practices, preferences, and unmet needs. This research guided the first pad prototypes and shaped every design decision — from absorbency and comfort to cultural acceptance and compostability. Each prototype underwent testing in both laboratory conditions and community settings, striking a balance between hygiene standards and user expectations.

To ensure scientific credibility, Sparśa established its own testing protocols and partnered with certified laboratories to validate the safety and performance of its products. Results were documented and openly shared, supporting not only our product development but also providing evidence-based knowledge for NGOs, policymakers, and social enterprises working in the field of menstrual health. This user-driven, research-based approach is documented in detail in Defining a Good Menstrual Pad: A User-Centered R&D Process in Nepal, which explains how field research, prototyping, and quality assurance intersect to define standards for sustainable menstrual products.

Once banana fibers are prepared, the next step is to transform them into banana paper and menstrual pads. Sparśa developed and built its own production line in Nepal — combining machinery for fiber pulping, pressing, drying, paper-making, and pad assembly. Because some of this equipment did not exist on the market, our team designed machines from scratch in collaboration with skilled workshops in Kathmandu, adapting them for small-scale, cost-effective production. Locally designed paper-making equipment and pad-shaping machines were prototyped, tested, and refined in real factory conditions.

This engineering innovation is at the heart of Sparśa’s model: it proves that advanced machinery can be developed locally, reducing dependency on costly imports and strengthening Nepal’s industrial capacity. From paper moulds and deckles to pad-shaping machines, each design was prototyped, tested, and refined in real factory conditions. By making these designs openly available, we ensure that other initiatives worldwide can replicate production using locally sourced fibers.

This step is already showcased in PANORAMA solution ‘Engineering for the Production of Compostable Pads’, where readers can follow the full workflow from banana paper to absorbent core to finished pad. Further technical details, including CAD files and full documentation of the ‘From Natural Fibre to Paper: A Practical Solution Centered on Equipment Design for Small-Scale Production’ will be provided as a separate PANORAMA solution page to be published by November 2025, offering practical, step-by-step guidance for replicating both equipment design and small-scale production processes.

Once banana fibers are prepared, the next step is to transform them into banana paper and menstrual pads. Sparśa developed and built its own production line in Nepal — combining machinery for fiber pulping, pressing, drying, paper-making, and pad assembly. Because some of this equipment did not exist on the market, our team designed machines from scratch in collaboration with skilled workshops in Kathmandu, adapting them for small-scale, cost-effective production. Locally designed paper-making equipment and pad-shaping machines were prototyped, tested, and refined in real factory conditions.

This engineering innovation is at the heart of Sparśa’s model: it proves that advanced machinery can be developed locally, reducing dependency on costly imports and strengthening Nepal’s industrial capacity. From paper moulds and deckles to pad-shaping machines, each design was prototyped, tested, and refined in real factory conditions. By making these designs openly available, we ensure that other initiatives worldwide can replicate production using locally sourced fibers.

This step is already showcased in PANORAMA solution ‘Engineering for the Production of Compostable Pads’, where readers can follow the full workflow from banana paper to absorbent core to finished pad. Further technical details, including CAD files and full documentation of the ‘From Natural Fibre to Paper: A Practical Solution Centered on Equipment Design for Small-Scale Production’ will be provided as a separate PANORAMA solution page to be published by November 2025, offering practical, step-by-step guidance for replicating both equipment design and small-scale production processes.