Honey export value chains have been developed according to the following stepwise approach:

1. Selection of cooperatives
2. Training model farmers in pre-and post-harvesting quality management, organic certification and internal controlling system, traceability system to fulfill EU-quality parameters
3. Provision of food grade and quality improving equipment (packaging & processing equipment, solar lamps, food grade honey bags, presses etc.)
4. Provide technical expertise from Germany to smallholders, their cooperatives and unions in honey processing and fulfilling the export requirements (e.g. honey water content control)
5. Support the unions to acquire an export license, organic certificate and risk management certificate plus other necessary requirements from the Ethiopian government in order to implement the export process
6. Communication to veterinarians and other inspection authorities on EU-level by German partners to allow future import of Ethiopian honey
7. Constantly monitor and guide honey unions, laboratories and authorities during the export procedure
8. Establish a contact to the shipping line by German partners and prepare honey export logistics

The business model is based on trading, value adding and promoting specialty wild coffee on the European market, which is handpicked from the original coffee forests. Value chain development involved the following steps:

1. Build up and strengthen collaboration with local farmers
2. Identification of suitable collection areas based on resource availability, forest coffee conservation needs & accessibility. 
3. Training on a) harvesting (picking + separation); b) post harvest handling (separation, drying, sorting and spreading on drying beds
4. Training on the use of central drying station on cooperative level, site selection and training on the setting up of raised beds
5. Training on certification requirements (organic wild collection and fair trade certifications) and setup of an internal control system
6. Advise and support cooperatives and unions to fulfil certification standards

Scientists, who have been monitoring the area before it was closed, estimate a 500% increase in biomass within the area since the closure. The area, previously covered with sea urchins, is now a thriving biodiversity hotspot with the balance restored. The elders report new species in the MPA that have not been seen in living memory. The coral, previously destroyed by human feet, has recovered quickly and the lagoon area is now known as one of the best snorkelling destinations on the Kenyan coast. Local and international students come and learn in our living marine classroom. Turtles feed on the seagrass beds undisturbed, and the number of nests has increased significantly. The area has returned from being a marine desert to a marine paradise and a critical model globally that shows how a poor community can help conserve nature and benefit from it too. Bigger and better catches outside the MPA has ensured support for the permanent closure.

Although the MPA quickly recovered and livelihoods began to improve part of the management plan was to introduce other non-fishing based enterprises in an attempt to achieve a self-sustainable solution. Initially, outside funding had to be sourced to enable this to happen, and various grants were forthcoming. Initially, a tourism business taking advantage of the improvement of coral and biodiversity within the MPA attracted visitors. This produced training opportunities, created steady employment to fishers improving their livelihood and taking pressure off the marine resource. The youth were trained in furniture making from old dhows, honey was produced, sustainably caught fish sold to restaurants, vegetables and crops grown and sold, various aquaculture projects are underway, and the women group have various enterprises including tailoring and a craft shop selling products made from driftwood and natural soaps. A loan scheme allows the members to finance other projects. A portion of the profit goes towards community welfare needs like water, health and sanitation. Beach waste is collected and sold to recycling companies. A school education programme educates the children on the importance of sustainable use of resources, and we provide trips within the MPA. 

Community recognition that action was needed to improve dwindling fish stocks was followed by the identification of various stakeholders to help us achieve our goals. Communication, outreach and awareness building programmes were set up and a visit to a similar project in Tanzania went ahead in 2004, and encouraged the community to use local marine resources sustainably.

A democratic decision to close an agreed lagoon area was agreed. Legal and policy frameworks were put in place, and the first LMMA in Kenya was approved in 2006 under the National Environmental Management Authority. Following this, a collaborative governance model has emerged under Beach Management Units (BMU's), where fishers and government work together towards sustainable fishing and improved livelihoods. In setting up the MPA, we went through various phases; conceptualisation; inception; implementation; monitoring; management and ongoing adaptive management.

Relevant stakeholders are engaged to identify challenges within their respective communities and solutions that are ecosystem friendly but contribute to the enhancement of local livelihoods. This process follows a prior participatory community-wide assessment and validation of results from the assessment or survey process. The assessment identifies livelihood and climatic trends and impacts on various sectors. Following this, a stakeholder meeting is initiated through which potential adaptation and sustainable livelihood stategies are proposed and adopted against each challenge and included in the overal community-based adaptation plan. A community-based action plan matrix is then generated through the stakeholder participatory process that includes the following sections: livelihood and adaptation options, duration of implementation, actors, required resources, key expected results and estimated amount to implement each adopted strategy or action.

Exchange visits were organized to places where the initiative has been active for some time and the implementation is on-going. For example, in order to acquire drought tolerant crops for local production, Ecofinder Kenya visited the Tangokona community in Busia County, Kenya where improved cassava and sweet potato varieties have been promoted and grown by local communities. The model was studied by Yala wetland communities, seeds purchased and farmers are now growing drought tolerant cassava and sweet potatoes.

This involves participation of all stakeholders at the local level in order to come up with locally viable solutions that all participants are comfortable with and that contribute to sustainable livelihoods and long term conservation of local biodiversity. We achieved this building block by involving stakeholders at different levels, i.e. at the meso or County level and micro or local community level. First, we engaged representatives of the Siaya County government departments  (such as Agriculture, Lands, Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources) and Civil society representatives working at the local and regional levels. A workshop was organised upon which the government and non-government actors discussed the challenges facing agriculture and biodiversity in relation to climate chage in the County and amicable and potential solutions sought from the participants. Secondly, local level meetings were held with community members and local leaders and resource persons including elders, retired government staff, health workers and conservation enthusiasts. The challenges facing agriculture and local biodiversity were sought and potential solutions reached. These were then analysed to come up with overal challenges and solutions from the stakeholders perspective.

During this survey, the Nature Reserve's launch was made available to study the shallow coastal waters. With a length of 8 meters
equipped with sounder, GPS and radar. To complement this equipment and obtain the finest possible accuracy, the launch was equipped with a differential GPS operating in real-time WAAS/EGNOS metric mode, with an accuracy of the order of 1 to 2 meters. An RTK (Real Time Kinematic) system was used for greater precision during the investigations. Its beacon was placed on the roof of the Cap Béar semaphore, close to the survey area. This is a method whereby GPS signal corrections are transmitted in real time from a reference receiver, located at a precise known point, to the boat's mobile receiver. Accuracy can then be
centimeters if you are close to the reference receiver.

For several years now, numerous studies have been carried out on Posidonia meadows in the Reserve. Each study provided increasingly accurate results, but left a number of gaps. The Reserve decided to fill these gaps by simultaneously using several innovative systems, such as side scan sonar (SBL). This sonar provided an overview of the characteristics of the seabed. The integration of Acoustic Systems for Automatic Bottom Classification (SACLAF) data from previous missions into this project will have been a complementary means to the acoustic scanning imaging system, providing an element of data validity. The reliability of the results was assessed using GoPro® cameras. All data were processed using ArcGIS version 10.3 geographic data processing software.