RLabs has become a global leader in community transformation, with our model being studied by thousands of individuals, researchers, and organizations worldwide. Our Knowledge Exchange programs have welcomed visitors from more than 20 countries, offering them a deep dive into our methodologies and impact. Leaders in development, technology, and education come to RLabs to learn how we use tech-driven approaches to address social challenges, foster leadership, and create sustainable development in underserved communities.
The increased demand has placed substance abuse treatment and counselling facilities under pressure to increase their coverage and provision of services.3 For many socio-economically disadvantaged communities, the health services delivery system is not coordinated, but is fragmented and difficult to access.4 Research indicates that non-governmental community-based organisations (CBOs) are envisaged to be the first point of access for help for many people, and in Cape Town in particular CBOs are the primary providers of treatment. The Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) has grown out of a collaboration between Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Impact Direct Ministries (IDM) and the Bridgetown Civic Organisation. It has identified drug abuse as a major problem and is piloting the provision of counselling services via mobile phone technology.
Stakeholders in a community project commonly include academics, businesses, and people from within the community. Community empowerment is a central motivation for community informatics; however it is debatable how the community is empowered and benefits from many community research projects. This paper presents a community-driven case study, Reconstructed Living Lab, identifying factors that aid or hinder community-driven technological innovations. The RLabs case study identifies the community as the main stakeholder and identifies the factors that aid or hinder community empowerment. The conclusion is that Living Labs is an appropriate and effective vehicle for community empowerment.
Civil society is a defining feature in development theory and practice. This article uses ethnographical methodology enabled reflective analysis of narratives from the community to aggregate qualitative factors that were important in the development of civil society via a grassroots, IT4D development project. Factors include extended time period, links to organisations, dedicated leadership, geogaphical placement, a firm belief system and flexible dynamic sociological models of flows of information and people. A key feature is compassionate capitalism as a foundation of localised economic growth.
