Community Capacity Builders Program for Social Entrepreneurs has been purposefully designed to be delivered in partnership with Local Government as a Challenge Lab.
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Challenge Labs address a specific wicked problem in a geographical community. Wicked problems are complex social policy problems. This type of problem is hard to resolve as each wicked problem takes place within a unique context and has many interconnected root causes. Examples of wicked problems include: long-term unemployment, climate change, food insecurity, ageing populations and homelessness.
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Challenge Labs also build community capacity. Community capacity building involves building the networks, organisation, attitudes, leadership and skills that allow communities to manage change and sustain community-led development.
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When delivered as a Challenge Lab, each participant in the Program for Social Entrepreneurs is challenged to address a complicated problem within the target complex wicked problem. They take up this challenge by creating or strengthening an initiative that can be institutionalised as a social enterprise.
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A participatory budgeting process is incorporated into each Challenge Lab which provides participants with the opportunity to:
- develop relationships with a broad range of community stakeholders that have an interest in the Challenge Lab's target wicked problem, and
- receive funds towards the implementation of their initiative
Steps in the Challenge Lab process include:
- Form a Reference Group for the Challenge Lab that consists of stakeholders from the target community that have an interest in the Challenge Lab's target wicked problem
- Obtain prizes for the Challenge Lab
- Recruit participants for the Challenge Lab
- Participants undertake Community Capacity Builders Program for Social Entrepreneurs
- Mentors are recruited that have knowledge and/or experience in the Challenge Lab's target wicked problem
- Program participants are matched to mentors
- Participants theory of change, business model canvas and pitch deck are forwarded to their mentors
- Participant's initiatives are promoted to all stakeholders in the community that have an interest in the Challenge Lab's target wicked problem
- Prizes are awarded through a participatory budgeting process with the winners decided by members of the community that have an interest in the wicked problem
Community Capacity Builders has developed 3 programs that support communities to facilitate a Challenge Lab:
