The Rwanda Dragonfly Biotic Index (RDBI) was developed to monitor the integrity and restoration of freshwater habitats and to red-flag priority sites for conservation (Uyizeye et al. 2021). The RDBI consists of distribution, threat, and sensitivity sub-indices. RDBI has supported the development of baseline ecological conditions and identification of hotspot habitats, which are defined based on species richness, the presence of unique species, and RDBI scores. RDBI was also utilized to underscore benchmark sites for restoration. These are habitats with the highest RDBI in each of the six ecological zones of the country. The presentation will introduce the RDBI to the audience and facilitate an interactive discussion about the potential use of RDBI in advancing citizen science and community engagement in monitoring freshwater ecosystems in Rwanda and the rest of Africa. In addition to the ecological characteristics of RDBI, important for monitoring and conservation of ecosystems, the discussion will also explore other critical values including the charismatic feature of adults of dragonflies. To this end, the question will be around how the attractive traits of adults of dragonflies can serve in drawing attention to other aquatic organisms that are predominantly present at hard-to-see developmental stages (such as nymphs and larvae), hence overlooked in education and conservation. The discussion will expand to possible approaches to develop and implement citizen science programs, focusing on dragonflies and RDBI as a tool. Reference: Uyizeye, E., Clausnitzer, V., Kipping, J., Dijkstra, K. D. B., Willey, L., & Kaplin, B. A. (2021). Developing an odonate-based index for prioritizing conservation sites and monitoring restoration of freshwater ecosystems in Rwanda. Ecological Indicators, 125, 107586.