The Africa Knowledge Platform Team attended the IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) in Kigali, Rwanda, during July. This meeting was the first post-pandemic opportunity to meet with African partners, so participants made use of every moment. In addition to taking part in the congress – which resulted in the APAC Kigali Call for Action – JRC scientists stayed on after the meeting to deliver training on the Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) at  Akagera National Park, one of Rwanda’s best managed protected areas. IMET is a great example of how JRC have developed tools to provide evidence to support decision making around a policy priority in Africa – helping to understand what works in protected areas and how they can be supported to achieve biodiversity and socio-economic goals. IMET has now been implemented across several hundred protected areas in Africa.