The Maui Nui Makai Network's Mālama I Ke Kai: Community Action Guide provides a proven, clear process for community groups interested in makai management to be organized, knowledgeable, and focused. It also provides guidance on how to effectively engage in collaborative management with partners. Movement toward co-management in Hawai'i is in-step with the global need for local action. It lays out a series of principles and sequential activities that reflect lessons learned from the seven Maui Nui groups that have gone through these steps in whole or in part, including activities to specifically incorporate native Hawaiian values, knowledge, and experiences into management practices. The Guide is an open source publication intended for communities across Maui Nui, Hawai‘i nei, and beyond.

Almost every community group in the the Maui Nui Makai Network has completed some version of a Mālama I Ke Kai Community Action Plan (CAP), a document that lays out a community's vision, values, project description, targets to mālama (care for), challenges and threats for their area, what actions to take towards management, how to measure and monitor change, and how to involve community in the management process. A CAP helps communities to plan their management strategy over the long run, setting their sights on achievable, priority goals and objectives. From the Network's CAPs, most of the following tools were developed and put into action. 

To see outputs of the Malama I Ke Kay guide, have a look at  the Community Action Plans for Maunalei Ahupua'a CMMA, Polanui Hiu, Wailuku CMMA, and Kīpahulu 'Ohana.