Strategic Partnerships for Scalable Impact

Contour Enviro Group has established partnerships with some key conservation authorities in the country which further include local and provincial Protected Areas, where Contour gains access to conservation sites for its training programmes and exposing the MSMEs to conservation projects. Further discussions with other PA management authorities outside the Western Cape province are being discussed.

This provides the facilities that Contour Enviro Group and Grasshopper does not have by using the following conservation areas for training purposes: Helderberg Nature Reserve, and 3x Protected Areas under the management of a provincial conservation authority. 

  1. CapeNature (provincial conservation authority)
  2. City of Cape Town (local conservation authority)
  3. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (national authority)
  4. Department of Business Development

The conservation staff from these sites do provide access for training as well as the sites for practical purposes for the participants. 

Collaborating for Sustainable Impact in Freshwater Aquaculture: State-Level Multi-Stakeholder Platforms

To strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable freshwater aquaculture, state-level Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) were initiated in the states of Assam and Odisha. The platforms were designed to bring together actors from government, the private sector, cooperatives, academia, and civil society to collectively address sector-specific challenges and align efforts across policies and programs.

The MSP development process in Assam and Odisha was carried out over a period of approximately 18 months. It began with a strategic planning workshop involving the Department of Fisheries, where the concept, purpose, and governance structure of the MSP were introduced. Feedback was collected to refine the structure, clarify roles, and ensure alignment with state priorities.

Subsequent workshops facilitated dialogue among key stakeholders, leading to the identification of priority challenges and opportunities in the freshwater aquaculture sector. As a result, in both states thematic working groups were established on e.g., One Health, Feed and Seed, Capacity Building, Finance and Insurance, and Decentralized Renewable Energy. These groups developed draft proposals for scoping studies and potential action plans to address key issues within their thematic areas.

Layer Assembly and Construction Process of Compostable Menstrual Pads

We purchased a semi-automatic pad assembly machine and later modified it to suit our specific process. Standard machines are typically designed for industrial-scale use with plastic-based materials and continuous roll inputs. Since we work with natural banana fiber absorbent cores, which are not in roll form, we had to adjust the machine to make it work with our setup.

The top and bottom layers (non-woven cotton and PLA-" bioplastic made with Poly Lactic acid material which is compostable layers" )come in rolls. These rolls are installed on the machine. In the middle, we manually place our pre-cut fluffy absorbent cores onto a moving conveyor belt. The machine is equipped with sensors and a timing system that aligns everything.

As the materials move through the machine:

  • The three layers are pulled together
  • A roller system compresses and seals the pad using ultrasonic sealing
  • The pad is then shaped and cut
  • After this, each pad passes through a UV-C light tunnel for sterilization

Finally, we manually apply the adhesive and pack the pads for distribution.

These modifications allow us to work with eco-friendly, compostable materials while still maintaining a semi-automated workflow. It’s not perfect, but it works—and it’s much more suitable for small-scale, low-resource settings than fully automated systems designed for plastic pads.

For a detailed understanding of the technical specification

  • PDF titled “Detailed Explanation of layers assembly system” 
  • PDF titled “Technical Parameter Layers Assembly Machine”
  1. Consistent Raw Material Quality: The machine performs best when the top and bottom layers are delivered as uniform rolls. The top layer (non-woven cotton) and bottom layer (PLA-"Poly Lactic acid" bioplastic) should both be approximately 20–30 cm wide, with consistent thickness and tension to avoid jamming during feeding. Materials that are too stiff, too stretchy, or too thin may not seal properly.
  2. Absorbent Core Dimensions: The banana fiber absorbent cores need to be pre-cut to a fixed length and width so they fit exactly within the sealing area of the machine. If the core is too thick, it may cause misalignment or sealing errors. In our case, cores are around 3–4 mm thick.
  3. Proper Electricity Supply: The machine requires single-phase electricity with a stable voltage. Power fluctuations can affect sensor calibration, roller pressure, and sealing consistency. Installing a voltage stabilizer is recommended if your grid is unstable.
  4. Operator Familiarity with Materials: Since the core is manually placed, the operator needs to be trained to recognize and align materials correctly, especially when working with non-standard, eco-friendly components.
  5. Machine Setup and Calibration: Sensor positions, roller pressure, and timing need to be calibrated for the specific material combination. Minor adjustments are often required when switching to a new roll or absorbent core batch.
  1. Test the Machine with Your Own Materials Before Shipping: When importing a machine—especially one that requires custom modifications—it’s essential to maintain regular contact with the supplier. Ask for photo and video updates throughout the build process, and if possible, visit the site for in-person testing using your actual raw materials. This helps catch issues early and ensures the machine functions as expected in your context.
  2. Always Test Raw Materials Before Buying in Bulk: Materials that work in theory may not work in practice. We learned it’s worth requesting samples from multiple suppliers and running small-scale tests on the machine before committing to large orders. This prevents mismatches, production delays, and waste.
  3. Sort Out Import Documents in Advance: If the machine is being shipped internationally, make sure all legal and customs paperwork is handled while the machine is still in production. Waiting until the last minute can result in costly delays at the border once the machine is ready to dispatch.
Machine & Material Specifications with Safety and Maintenance Protocols

This section outlines comprehensive technical details regarding the raw materials used in the manufacturing of Sparsa sanitary pads. It also includes specifications for each material layer, associated machine requirements, maintenance considerations, safety protocols, and final packaging standards. This information is critical for ensuring production quality, material traceability, and process control.

The three functional layers—top, absorbent core, and barrier—are assembled using a pad assembly machine (refer to Building Block 3 for detailed information). After assembly:

  • Adhesive is applied manually
  • Pads are tri-folded
  • Each pad is packed individually using a compostable pouch

Additional Resources for Replication:

  • PDF: Details of information about the Raw materials used for compostable pad production
  • PDF: Details of information about machine maintenance and safety protocol
Interactive Interface for Citizen Scientists

Apart from common comprehension of wildlife, citizens can also get involved in the following advanced activities and become “citizen scientists”.

1. Verify the existence of wild animals through the AI recognition tool “Species Eye”;

2. Estimate the number of wild animals manually;

3. Select the species of wild animal;

4. Figure out the name of the wild animal through the AI recognition tool “Species Eye”;

5. Ensure the accuracy and consistency of data by marking the geographic location.

Connection with Citizens

This mini program, through scanning or searching, provides the access for every citizen to infrared images of wildlife in his/her geographic location, which allows them to participate in the sharing of nature with wildlife in a simpler and more intuitive manner through this application.

Processing of Numerous Infrared Images Driven by AI Species Recognition

The Mini Program, with AI intelligent recognition as the underlying technology and endangered species as the core targets for recognition, trains a large biodiversity recognition model capable of monitoring such systems as mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sandy lands. This recognition model features a powerful “engine” – Species Eye. As the fundamental and general model of “Wildlife Friends”, it is primarily characterized by strong learning capability, that is, multimodal recognition based on no or a few samples. It indicates that it can rapidly recognize the location and species information of multiple wild animals based on a few samples. For instance, it may take thousands of photos to be captured and days’ training for a traditional model to recognize a new species, but Species Eye can complete such mission quickly through a small number of photos, as well as trainings and iterations. In addition, it boasts a high extent of tolerance. It is no longer limited to the training and prediction for specific species with a powerful capability of open vocabulary identification and zero-sample recognition, and is able to accurately recognize and locate species without trained data. For instance, traditional models can merely recognize species based on trained data, such as tiger and antelope; while this new model can discriminate snow leopard and fox at the same time even without trained data of those two wild animals before. Another advantage of “Species Eye” is lower costs. Common AI models rely heavily on high-performance accelerator cards, which cause a high cost in hardware environment and its maintenance.

The underlying technology of this mini program is advanced and complex. Firstly, it has a powerful storage function that can store over 100 million infrared camera-taken photos provided by social institutions. 

WeChat Mini Program Development

WeChat Mini Program is an application accessible without download, near at your fingertips just by scanning or searching. It is very simple to design a mini program, as a mini program development environment and developer ecosystem has been established in nearly two years. WeChat Mini Program is also an innovative achievement which genuinely influences general programmers in China’s IT industry for it involves over 1.5 million developers in its development together with WeChat. Its number has exceeded 1 million, encompassing more than 200 subdivided sectors and accommodating 200 million daily-active users.

1. Use without download: Users can open the mini program by scanning the QR code or searching in no need of download, which saves the storage space for mobile devices and lowers the usage threshold; they can quickly visit the mini program directly through WeChat to meet their temporary usage demands.

2. Low development costs and short cycle: The mini program sets a low technical standard and causes a small learning cost to developers based on front-end technology stacks (HTML/CSS/JS); and is compatible among various platforms and supports iOS and Android after development, which saves human labor and time costs.

3. Powerful traffic inlet and social fission: WeChat boasts 1.3 billion monthly-active users so it is easy to cultivate a sound user base. It supports the sharing channels to chat boxes, Moments, official accounts, and Search. Social dissemination, through sharing, group buying, and bargaining, can rapidly multiply and is suitable for marketing activities.

Wildlife Friends is a mini program on WeChat. As a lightweight application, it boasts the following apparent advantages suitable for quick access for users and enhancement of their use experience: Use without download: Users can open the mini program by scanning the QR code or searching in no need of download, which saves the storage space for mobile devices and lowers the usage threshold; they can quickly visit the mini program directly through WeChat to meet their temporary usage demands.

 

Systematic Fire Management and Technology Use

Systematic Fire Management and Technology Use in Ngao Model Forest as involving several key strategies. The community has built small check dams to save water, prevent wildfires, and reduce post-fire erosion. These dams also aid in vegetation growth and create fire breaks, contributing to a more resilient environment. The fire watch team uses walkie-talkies for real-time communication, enabling efficient reporting and response to fire conditions. Additionally, the district authority supports the initiative by broadcasting updates and progress on YouTube live daily, increasing transparency and community awareness. This combination of local knowledge and modern technology has significantly improved the efficiency of the community's fire management efforts, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating traditional practices with contemporary tools.

The enabling factors for Systematic Fire Management and Technology Use in Ngao Model Forest include building check dams to save water and prevent wildfires, using walkie-talkies for real-time communication, and expanding to YouTube live broadcasts to share activities with a wider audience. These strategies have enhanced the community's ability to manage wildfires efficiently, increased transparency, and fostered greater community involvement and awareness.

The lessons learned from the women-led fire management initiative in Ngao Model Forest include the importance of having a strong understanding of the local landscape. This knowledge has enabled the village to build small check dams that not only prevent the spread of fires but also create water reserves, fostering new economic opportunities. Additionally, combining local knowledge with modern technology has significantly improved the efficiency of the community's response to fires, demonstrating the value of integrating traditional practices with contemporary tools.

Community Engagement and Leadership

Community Engagement and Leadership in Ngao Model Forest as driven by a passionate village leader who shares a vision for a thriving forest. The community formed a team of women who regularly patrol the forest and clear fire prevention paths. Equipped with walkie-talkies for real-time communication, they efficiently report fire conditions. The district authority supports them by broadcasting updates and progress on YouTube live daily, increasing transparency and community awareness. Regular awareness-raising campaigns educate the community about fire prevention, fostering a sense of responsibility and involvement. This approach has led to stronger community relationships, teamwork, and a significant reduction in wildfires, demonstrating the power of community engagement and women's leadership in environmental conservation.

The enabling factors for Community Engagement and Leadership in Ngao Model Forest include being driven by a passionate leader who shares a vision for a thriving forest. This leadership fosters strong community relationships and teamwork, essential for effective wildfire management. Additionally, regular awareness-raising sessions are conducted to educate the community about fire prevention, ensuring that everyone is informed and engaged in protecting their environment. These factors collectively enhance the community's ability to manage wildfires and promote sustainable forest conservation.

The lessons learned from the women-led fire management initiative in Ngao Model Forest include the significant involvement of the older generation, particularly retirees, who are among the most motivated and actively engaged in the fire watch team. Younger generations also show a strong interest in the fire watch team's work and are motivated to support their efforts. Additionally, awareness-raising campaigns on fire prevention have proven effective in helping the community understand the importance of fire prevention and have encouraged discussions about alternative livelihood opportunities. These lessons highlight the value of intergenerational engagement and continuous education in enhancing community resilience and wildfire management.