Four types of action are considered in this building block:

1. Observation missions by the local community that will consist in assessing if the recruitment of seedlings (propagules) takes place, defining the growth level (height) and evaluating the possible damage caused by the surrounding herds (especially by zebu herds) or climatic hazards;
2. Mission to monitor the state of the water channels to see if the banks are still stable and discharge (flow-through) is possible, especially during high water tides (02 months after planting);
3. First estimate of the level of success, e.g. approximate area of seedling settlement (03 months after restoration).
4. Long-term monitoring (biomass and biodiversity) using drone and satellite imagery; this step will be carried out jointly with the GIZ, the Malagasy Ministry of the environmental and sustainable development (MEDD) and the local community (from 03 months after restoration and onwards).

Prior community meetings were organized in the neighbouring village to raise awareness about the importance of mangrove restoration. During these meetings, the community was informed of the principles of the resoration method and the steps involved. Since mangrove restoration does not require any particular technical expertise (know-how), the entire community was targeted (women, men and youth) and mobilized for further actions. Furthermore, local authorities, state technical services, as well as administrative authorities were also involved, so that the method could easily be replicated elsewhere.

The identification and validation of the restoration site was carried out jointly with the local community to promote its adherence to the process. The regional forest service and technicians from the NGO Conservation International (CI) were also included to ensure the technical feasibility of the proposed site.

Local community elders, who know the historical, environmental and topographic context, are usually very good advisers for restoration site choice. They can indicate where degraded mangrove areas (inland) with some remaining plants can be found (the restoration site must have been a mangrove ecosystem in the past). These are usually suitable sites for reforestation/restoration.

We involve all stakeholders in all decision-making and invite all community members wo might be affected by projects to community meetings to ensure that there is no misunderstandings. It should be noted that we explicitly expect communities to contribute to the success of projects - be it through digging a well themselves, providing bricks when preschools are built, or taking care of planted trees. 

As women in rural malawian families are usually responsible to cook for their family members, they are also the ones who predominantly collect firewood, as well as to pump and carry water. 
Women are therefore the ones whose training will have the biggest impact on how they perform these practices for example: If a tree is cut off at about 1m height above ground it will coppice, if however the roots are dug out to get more firewood, then a close to irreversible damage will incur, so training is very important. 
By training and hiring mostly women for all steps required to restore a landscape we give them the basic tools and education to bring sustainable change to their landscape - as well as changing the basic income structures as their work often becomes the main source of income for the family.

Technology knows no barriers and we are yet to innovate and discover more with a changing world.

By using the underwater cameras it has allowed us to bring ahead the live viewing and monitoring where previosuly we were limited. Thus allowing us to better engage with local fisher community, for them to get a sense of ownership and unite to better understand and protect this ecosystem. 

This has also facilitated the data sharing of the status of the reef locally and across different channels but also to open the door for more scientific collaboration locally and internationally. 

Inspired by our transparent way of GPS-mapping our more than 2000 installed Zoë-pumps we knew we had to apply the same principle and expand it to show and document our tree planting projects. 

Now we have an elegant solution: We create GPS-Polygons of planting sites by walking around it with a simple smart phone app. We then import these boundary files into the drone mission planning app and fly a drone over the planting site capturing thousands of images. 

These are then stitched into a large photogrammetric map that can transparently show and document landscape change through the work happening on the ground. Additionally all workers inspecting the sites take thousands of GPS-photos which are displayed on our custom built map as well. 

Pathogen and disease detection under the PREDICT and PREDICT-2 projects as well as other research initiatives have generated a strong evidence base on the drivers of zoonotic diseases. In Liberia, the finding of Ebola virus antibodies in a bat provided evidence that Ebola is circulating in wildlife in the West Africa region and signaled that there are ongoing spillover risks requiring public health attention. 

Many people interact with wildlife and domestic animals in Liberia, but overall awareness about zoonotic disease risks is low. Raising awareness involved information about the purpose of the project, as well as dedicated engagement using the 'Living Safely with Bats' visual book. This messgaing integrated biodiversity and health information, in line with a One Health approach. 

Communities were initially concerned about outsiders coming to their villages. Sustained engagement with community leaders, and outreach to community members, helped to establish trust over time. In particular, a key feedback was hearing the appreciation that the team came back to share information.