E Kilo Pualu is a collective community monitoring tool that combines our kilo (observations) to support each other, our individual places, and our collective goal of ʻāina momona.
Background
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic our islands saw an unprecedented pause in tourism. Our kuaʻāina communities also saw some remarkable changes in the natural environments they mālama. Without the heavy traffic of tens of thousands of visitors, they saw fish returning to koʻa and an abundance of limu. Out of conversations about these positive observations and how they might inform protections and pono policies in a reopening transition, KUA co-developed a Community Kilo Survey. The survey, constructed using the Google Forms platform, provided a targeted snapshot including general statistics and stories of impact during COVID-19 travel restrictions. The ʻiʻini (desire) expressed from this initiative called for a collective platform that provided an organized way to record stories & data across our communities.
E Kilo Pualu App
The E Kilo Pualu App is an evolution of the Community Kilo Survey developed by KUA and community network leaders in partnership with CI-Hawaiʻi, Department of Aquatic Resources (DAR) staff and Maui-based app developer and CEO of Natural Resource Data Solutions (NRDS), Sam Aruch.
Based on frameworks from our community network experts and launched on Piko o Wākea – Ke Alaʻula a Kāne in 2021, the E Kilo Pualu app is a central tool for collective monitoring efforts that combines project management, GIS, data collection, reporting, and analysis on Sam’s secured customizable NDRS platform.
The name E Kilo Pualu, meaning “Letʻs kilo together” is also a play on E Alu Pū, the network network of grassroots indigenous and local community-based natural resource management initiatives called into existence by master lawaiʻa and kilo expert Uncle Mac Poepoe of Moʻomomi, Molokaʻi in 2003.
The app provides a way for network members to monitor their own places, and make connections between their places. It is a digital tool that kuaʻāina communities can convene around for learning and group analysis and also provides a platform to sharpen our kilo, deepen understanding, fortify community knowledge and advocacy for meaʻai pono & ʻāina momona.
Some ideal features allow communities to own their own data, track their cumulative data over time and in live time with dashboard features, and to create customizable surveys specific to their place-based needs.
Some hopes and intentions of E Kilo Pualu:
- meets people where they are at in practice (educational, learn as you go, good practice for people entering space but also matches all levels) + physically where you’re at (can use right from your home, community site, uka or kai, etc.)
- useful, helpful, customizable to community orgs
- unifying practice in our respective places
- opening of dialogue, intergenerational group analysis and sensemaking opportunities
- harnesses the power of kilo to effect change, policy, and management that listens to what ʻāina is communicating
- potential to become a repository for future generations
- open to potential, listen & respond to what is revealed, predict, prepare
- continuous development, evolution and improvement with more use and partnership
Mahalo
Big and many thanks in all stages of conceptualizing, planning, development, testing, and feedback: Malia Kipapa, Uncle Mac Poepoe, Kehau Springer, Ulu Ching, Ikaika Rogerson, Luna Kekoa, Amy Markel, Kirk Deitschman, Tiana Henderson, Lopaka Aiwohi, Aunty Hannah Springer, Roxy Keliikipikaneokolohaka, Kalei Nuuhiwa, Katie Kamelamela, Hi’ilei Kawelo, Jenny Yagodich, Kawika Winter, Uncle Sol Kahoohalahala, Kinohi Pizarro, Miwa Tamanaha.
Mahalo Sam for being a great partner, listening and responding to feedback and needs. Mahalo to Natalie Kurashima at Kamehameha Schools for helping to support a workshop and capacity building series to complement this initiative. All around gratitude to all of those presence, piloting and co-creating a useful tool to practice and hone in together, in aid of one another and our ʻāina aloha.
For more info about how to use the Kumulipo as a foundational reference in application of this tool, visit the Collective Seasonal Hui Monitoring page.
Download App [Android] [Apple]
