The building block emphasized the importance of using data for informed decision-making in conservation efforts. To facilitate this, the solution promoted the adoption of conservation technologies such as Survey 123, camera traps, and GIS software. The use of these technologies enabled more efficient and effective data collection and improved the planning of strategic patrols, while also incorporating intelligence data from community members. The adoption of GIS software and the Protected Areas Management System (PAMS) using the Survey 123 Mobile Data Collector provided tools to create hotspot maps, tables, and charts, making it easier to identify priority areas and plan targeted interventions. The use of data resulted in targeted conservation efforts, which improved the overall conservation strategy and highlighted the critical role of data in conservation efforts, and increased joint protection activities.

The solution trained 214 Village Game Scouts (VGS) from 19 adjacent villages to USNFR, including 32% women, on Human Rights, the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) handheld devices, and Participatory Management of the Nature Reserve. Additionally, the project provided patrol gear such as uniforms, gumboots, tents, GPS handheld devices, etc., to facilitate effective mobile camping patrol operations. The solution also supported joint foot anti-poaching patrol operations (which mentors local communities), mentoring local communities to conduct their own patrols in respective forest adjacent areas. The patrol teams consisted of TSF staff (22.3%), VGS formed from local communities (44.5%), and anti-poaching unit rangers (33.2%), with 10.4% women of all participants indicating increases in their participation. These efforts increased protection activities, reduced pressure from the forest, and ensured the sustained supply of goods and services that the forests offer. As a result, other villagers were willing to offer intelligent information on poaching incidents.

The purpose of the community engagement was to increase partnership and community involvement in the management of the USNFR. This led into achieving conservation goals and also increased benefits to local communities through:

• Meetings with Village Natural Resources Committees (VNRCs) which resulted in exploration of the means of collaboration, and a way forward in intervening the issues faced by them.
• Conducting Community Benefits Assessment (CBA) to assess the perceived benefits of the forest reserve by local communities, which revealed that a majority of respondents agree that using the forest reserve brings them benefits.
• The results of CBA led into the solution to facilitated access to non-timber forest products and social services provided by the USNFR through special permits supervised by VNRCs.