At Ecophilic Scientific Research and Innovations (ESRI), we recently held our quarterly in-house workshop with members of our team and volunteers.

The workshop provided an opportunity to reflect on our work, strengthen collaboration, and enhance our productivity and public engagement. A key part of the training was hands-on learning in the use of iNaturalist for biodiversity documentation and citizen science.

Beyond building our own capacity, the goal is to equip our team with the skills needed to subsequently train local communities and other stakeholders to document and better understand the biodiversity around them.

We believe that effective conservation begins with knowledge, but lasting conservation is strengthened when that knowledge is shared, and communities are empowered to participate.

We look forward to putting these skills into practice as we continue our work towards conserving inland biodiversity in the Afrotropics.