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RLabs is opening up to the world!
RLabs is a non-profit based out of Cape Town, South Africa, with the primary goal to support communities. RLabs creates environments and systems where people are empowered and transformed through innovation, technology, training, and economic opportunities. So far, the RLabs model has expanded to 23 countries across 5 continents, impacting more than 50 million people. As we continue to grow, we want to help as many people as possible, which is where this playbook comes in.
RLabs has a strong culture that enables us to lead and develop our communities. Our culture has led us to where we are today, and this playbook aims to capture that. Throughout the playbook you’ll find our values, methodology, and operations, which all tie back to culture, as well as examples of our culture in action. In other words, it’s a one stop shop for anything you would like to know about RLabs and all that it does. We hope that you find this information useful and can incorporate the RLabs values and methodology into your own organization, projects, and life.
<aside> 📌 This is a living document! It will constantly be updated as the organization continues to grow.
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RLabs was birthed in a marginalized community known as Bridgetown in Cape Town, South Africa. Founder Marlon Parker grew up in Bridgetown and was one of the few who went on to attend university. He had a simple dream: to wear a dress shirt and tie to work. Afterwards, rather than leaving Bridgetown for other opportunities, he wanted to support his community. Without many economic opportunities in the area, he saw that people were quickly becoming discouraged about their lives, per Marlon: "I came from a poor family but still had the freedom to move around and be happy. Seeing kids of eight and nine losing hope became very painful. It's one thing to build a career for myself; there's no way I can be happy in my career if people in my community still hurt."
Marlon had an idea to use technology to innovate to solve community problems. He gathered friends, mostly ex-gang members and people recovering from drug addictions, and taught them how to use computers. Doing this resulted in a social media platform, Jamixx, that supported drug rehabilitation which gained massive traction and transformed livelihoods. Importantly, the technology was used to facilitate connection and create a sense of belonging similar to how gang membership had given people a sense of belonging earlier in their lives.
Initially collaborating with Cape Peninsula University of Technology where Marlon was a lecturer, Impact Direct Ministries, and the Bridgetown Civic Organisation, RLabs became the first Living Lab in South Africa. Marlon registered his organization as a non-profit officially in 2009 and Reconstructed Living Labs, or RLabs, was born!
Living Labs are “open innovation ecosystems in real-life environments using iterative feedback processes throughout a lifecycle approach of an innovation to create sustainable impact.” Put more simply, living labs are spaces for people to come together to innovate, co-create ideas and technologies that address local challenges. As a living lab, RLabs model is to equip people with educational resources and skills training, build new ideas and technologies through innovation, incubate and accelerate these innovations through various support methods, and scale solutions to drive sustained impact.
RLabs has grown exponentially from when we first started. As we continue to grow, we want to provide an overview of all that we do, as well as a working list of current RLabs endeavours.
Provides excluded and underserved communities access to education and training programs that ignites HOPE and unlocks an exponential mindset leading to the development of new skills and economic opportunity.