Case study: Catalysing regenerative capabilities in place

A core strategy of the Regenerate Australia road map was the Innovate to Regenerate Challenge, WWF-Australia’s 3-year program to identify and support community-led ventures, driving the shift from an extractive to a regenerative economy.  The Local Learning Labs  was part of the multi-layered approach.

The Local Learning Labs were a response to a four-month listening campaign that was done to understand what was needed to really support regeneration in place, led by communities of a bio-region.

The 2-day experience of the Labs brings together individuals, small-to-medium-sized enterprises, local partners, community activators, and industry experts to support early-stage regenerative ideas, projects and businesses. The program nurtures connections between place, entrepreneurs and supportive partners, passionate about regeneration in regional Australia, and provides the environment for creating a network capable of collaborating and supporting one-another’s regenerative initiatives in their community.

WWF-A’s original hypothesis for the Local Learning Labs was that they would ‘play a role in building agency and relationships, and begin creating regenerative solutions for their place, in communities, throughout Australia’. It was believed that:

• Communities will be inspired by the Regenerating Australia film and will want to create their own regenerative solutions in place

• Communities will benefit from a structured program that kick starts their (regenerative) solution design

• Access to subject matter experts and other community groups will support collective learning and smart design

As a core element of the overall Regenerate Australia program, the Local Learning Labs would support people and communities once they had attended a screening of the Regenerating Australia film, which included a  2030 Community Vision Workshop.

Early Stage Communities were highlighted as a place where the Local Learning Labs could have a greater impact with a short presence than more mature places or bio-regions; the aims being  increasing knowledge and awareness, improving confidence,  ideating  possibilities for regeneration, and building on what was already in train.  

In parallel, WWF-A’s Innovate to Regenerate Challenge was in train, which was primarily interested in supporting ideas which broadly fitted into themes of:

• Climate and Energy

• Conservation, nature and oceans

• Food and Agriculture

The approach the team of collaborators took was as close to  co-design as was possible. TACSI evolved the Local Learning Lab concept and format with the WWF-A Innovate to Regenerate Team, and local host partners, including First Nations Elders and cultural advisers, over three stages and with three different communities who expressed interest in increasing regenerative design and development awareness, knowledge and collective action in, and with, place.

The Local Learning Lab was piloted on Brinja-Yuin country, also known as Eurobodalla Shire. The Eurobodalla region has a focus on regeneration, particularly after the 2020 bushfires, and those efforts included , a number of supporting community organisations (ZeroSE, South Coast Health And Sustainability Alliance (SHASA) and more) and an emerging council-led  Climate Action plan. 

The pilot aimed to;

• create a deeper understanding of people’s work,

• seeing and seeking relations in place,

• harnessing the wisdom of the group for individual and collective momentum,

• exploring available pathways for support and resources, and

• surfacing community ‘asks’ which WWF-A could explore outside of the Local Learning Lab’s scope.

Following the first pilot in Eurobodalla  learning labs were iterated and tested in Peramangk country, also known as Mount Barker District, and on the lands of the Brayakuloong clan of the Kurnai people. The objectives were to: 

1. Enable communities to identify and develop local regenerative initiatives that are embedded in a community and placed-based 

2. Engage communities in surfacing and considering how to address barriers and opportunities for these initiatives. 

3. Support ongoing capacity for communities to connect with one another, their unique place, and for cross-sector innovation 

4. Encourage community members to connect, collaborate and participate in local regenerative initiatives 

5. Develop community capability to establish, lead and participate in local regenerative initiatives. 

6. Amplify the Innovate to Regenerate program, and raise awareness of the importance of innovation and community-led regeneration. 

7. Engage diverse audiences (particularly First Nations leaders, young adults, across socio-economic, cultural backgrounds) in inclusive spaces 

8. Learn from First Nations People about how we care for country and regenerate our environment and our communities

WWF-A also had an aim to contribute and enable local community organisers and Local Learning Lab attendees to self-organise, potentially form a local (regeneration) network and continue to act in regenerative ways, and/or progress regenerative initiatives in place.

The long-term opportunity for the Local Learning Labs is to contribute to the maturation of regenerative innovation ecosystems in regional Australia and grow a national network of communities, businesses and experts working together. For now, this looks like:

• In Gippsland, the Local Learning Labs catalysed a level of collective cohesion and momentum, growing place-based regenerative ecosystems. Our local host partner, Gippsland Social Enterprise Collective, launched Regen Gippsland alongside the Gippsland Local Learning Lab, which has now contributed to connecting interested entrepreneurs, auspice organisations, and communities, as well as supported new enterprises to evolve their business models and seek funding from government.

• Connecting up different “regen places” - lots going on Regen Brisbane, Regen Melbourne, Regen Sydney and then all the ones that WWF-A catalysed in the 3 locations, etc.. An impact network to be run potentially, maybe Reece//Dimity and so on will run this? Or Coalition of everyone, etc.

• Local Learning Lab experience in more regional, rural and remote Australian places by partnering with corporate sector partners like Bendigo Bank, Australian Ethical and others, to bring the 

• Seek regional economic development granting opportunities in response to reviving productivity growth, reducing inequity and improving quality of life

• Co-create a version of the Local Learning Lab with the corporate sector that could be mutually beneficial to communities they serve