Connecting the public: This mini program aims to promote the mainstream of biodiversity conservation by desensitizing current monitoring data in the industry and designing low threshold interactions for the traditional data labeling process. This allows the public to participate in the training process of biodiversity models in a more accessible and intuitive way through the mini program. On the one hand, the public can enjoy and learn about the most authentic protection monitoring images through the form of "playing games"; On the other hand, the power of the public can be utilized to continuously train a universal model of biodiversity, achieving the goal of citizen science in the process.
Through product design, 'Wild Friends' breaks down the process of annotating and verifying institutional data into tool based tasks, reducing the initial training costs of institutions. With simple guidance, volunteers or the general public can complete basic annotation content.
The first step is to check for the presence of animals (manually identified or judged by AI);
Step two, estimate the number of animals (manually determined);
Step three, select animals (manually or through AI evaluation of selection accuracy);
Step four, identify the name of the animal (manually selected or judged by AI);
Step five, randomly allocate cross validation in the background. Ensure the accuracy and consistency of data.
 

AI species recognition: This product uses AI recognition as the underlying technology, with endangered species as the core recognition object. It trains a large biodiversity recognition model that can support monitoring of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands systems. The model is free and open to public welfare organizations dedicated to biodiversity conservation, such as research institutes, conservation organizations, and individuals. The reason why "wild friends" are so powerful is because they have a powerful "engine": YOLO World.
As the underlying universal model of 'wild friends', its primary characteristic is strong learning ability. It has powerful multimodal zero sample recognition and few sample recognition capabilities, which means it can quickly identify animal location regions and species information of multiple species through a small number of samples. For example, to recognize a new species, traditional models require thousands of photos and several days of training; YOLO World only requires a small number of photos and training iterations to achieve rapid adaptation.
Secondly, it has a high degree of tolerance. No longer limited to training and prediction of specific species, it has strong open vocabulary recognition ability and zero sample recognition ability, and can accurately identify and locate untrained species. For example, traditional models can only recognize trained species such as tigers and antelopes; The new model can also recognize snow leopards and foxes simultaneously - even if it has never trained these two animals before.
Another advantage of "wild friends" is that they spend less money. Common AI models heavily rely on high-performance acceleration cards, which result in high costs for both hardware environment and maintenance operations.

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This building block strengthened governance by enhancing the oversight capacity of MBOMIPA WMA’s Authorized Association (AA) and Board of Trustees through structured peer-learning and institutional reforms. A 5-day exchange visit to Randilen WMA (that has been considered as one of economically viable WMA in the Northern Tanzania being valued by their constituent communities) enabled 21 WMA leaders to adopt proven practices, including clear role separation (Board/AA/Management), financial oversight tools (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism Portal, invoicing systems), and community engagement strategies (equitable benefit-sharing and conflict resolution). Post-visit evaluation revealed 92.5% of leaders demonstrated improved governance knowledge and 85% noted enhanced transparency. Key outcomes included a development of MBOMIPA WMA Board Constitution and a 25% revenue increase from new tourism investments ensuring accountable management and aligned conservation-community goals.

This building block aimed to establish a robust governance framework through the development and implementation of essential management tools. Financial management systems, such as QuickBooks, were introduced to streamline budgeting, accounting, and financial reporting. Additionally, standardized reporting templates and monitoring frameworks, along with key management tools such as the Code of Conduct, Human Resources Manual, Gender Policy, Environmental Policy, Court Policy, Procurement Policy, Dispute Resolution Manual, Stakeholder Engagement Plan, and Business Entrepreneurship Sustainability Tool were developed to ensure effective resource management in the WMA. These tools promote adherence to human rights, enhance data collection and evaluation, ensure transparent communication with stakeholders, foster meaningful engagement, incorporate gender considerations, and support sustainable business practices. Their integration has significantly improved financial accountability, operational transparency, and decision-making, thereby fostering trust among community members and external stakeholders.

This building block focused on recruiting and training a professional management team (initially the General Secretary and Accountant) for MBOMIPA WMA to enhance its operational efficiency. The team comprises individuals with expertise in conservation, financial management, and community engagement, ensuring a holistic approach to managing the WMA. Soon after recruitment, six weeks of the onboarding commenced with the training sessions conducted on governance best practices, financial reporting using QuickBooks, and other resources such as human and assets management. These trainings equipped the management team to handle day-to-day operations, engage with stakeholders effectively, and ensure sustainable management of natural resources. The professional team was tasked with coordinating patrols, managing budgets, and improving the overall governance of the WMA.

MBOMIPA WMA engages communities in decision-making and alert systems.The community is responsible for electing the board members and engaging in making decisions on management of the WMA. The community is also responsible for providing information to VGS on elephant presence in their farms or when elephants have moved out from WMA, heading to the village land or farms. They normally contact VGS directly through phones, or report to the village chairperson so that he/she can report to the MBOMIPA HWC Response Unit. The Response Unit then responds towards local farmers' alerts. This has strengthened local participation in conservation efforts and fostered trust and shared responsibility between the WMA and local villagers.  

MBOMIPA WMA in partnership with STEP have integrated the use of novel conservation technology the EarthRanger (ER) in management of HWC around MBOMIPA WMA. The established HWC Response Unit uses the ER app in their smartphone to record information related to the reported HWC incidents and the unit is being tracked live (through an InReach device) for accountability purposes and to help mobilize scarce resources efficiently. The use of ER has also simplified data collection, reduced errors associated with data entry from paper forms, and reduced the time required to process information. This technology allowed scouts to be more strategic and efficient in their patrols, leading to improved protection for both wildlife and crops.