

C3
Collaboration for Complex Challenges
Fellowship and Labs
We are a multi-partner collective led by UNDP, FAO, UNEP and Wageningen University and Research. Seed funding is provided by the Global Environment Facility. In 2025 C3 Labs is launching around the world and you are invited to get involved.
JOIN THE VISION
Our greatest global challenges are deeply interconnected, yet we often address them in silos. Our vision is to build a global community of leaders, supporting them to reshape our institutions to tackle today’s greatest challenges more effectively. C3 connects innovative and systems aligned leaders across sectors to tackle global challenges collaboratively.
Our first set of labs is focused on the climate-biodiversity-food systems nexus.
Country Labs Around the World
In 2025 we are launching the first round of C3 Labs in Kenya and Thailand. The focus of the Labs will be on strengthening collaboration for complex challenges — starting with the food-biodiversity-climate nexus. Future labs will be in other geographies and can include other critical themes.
Global Learning Lab
The Global Learning Lab runs alongside the Country Labs to serve as a learning space for wider global community of practice. This forum is interested to explore insights and approaches for deep collaborative and systemic and transformative work.
THE CHALLENGE
A world under pressure
The world faces a range of deeply interconnected challenges and shocks that cannot be adequately addressed with single-point solutions. Unsustainable economic models, climate and ecological breakdown, rising inequality, declining trust in institutions, and political polarisation are all interdependent issues.
Institutions struggling to respond
Many of today’s institutions were designed for a world of predictable problems, where change was slower, and tackling issues in isolation seemed to work reasonably well. Next gen leaders must be systemic in their approach and institutions require more flexibility, adaptation capabilities, and collaborative capacities in terms of how they work.
THE C3 APPROACH
During 2025 we are developing a Fellowship and Collaboration Labs initiative R+D prototype designed to:
Build systems leadership
Each country lab is composed of a cohort of C3 fellows who are adept at navigating complexity and have the ambition to facilitate more collaborative, inclusive approaches to change.
Strengthen collaboration
During the Lab, we identify opportunities for collaboration between existing programmes, facilitate cross-sector partnerships, and incubate new initiatives that tackle complex challenges.
Cultivate community
Building trust and community is a key part of the C3 ethos. The C3 Community is the foundation for effective collaboration between Fellows in the future. Our aim is to build lasting relationships that continue long after the Labs end.
Transform institutions
Fellows are equipped to accelerate change within their organisation's culture, operating systems, and funding practices. The aim is to build institutional capacity to tackle complex challenges more effectively and sustain impact in the longer term.
GET INVOLVED
We are building a coalition of partners to convene and facilitate Collaboration Labs and to expand the C3 Fellowship and Platform.
There are many ways to get involved: from participation at the individual level, to partnership and collaboration at the organizational and institutional level.
Our collaboration methodology can be adapted to addresss diverse issues and contexts.
We welcome conversations with governments, development organisations, academic and research institutions, civil society organisations, the private sector, and funders.
Get in touch if you want to explore collaboration opportunities. Reach out to the core team coleads Charles O'Malley, Courtney Savie Lawrence, Nicolas Petit.
The founding coalition of partners for C3 includes UNDP (led by the UNDP Food and Agricultural Commodity Systems team of the UNDP Nature Hub), Wageningen Social & Economic Research, FAO and UNEP. Seed funding provided by the GEF. This visual presentation is for learning and information purposes only.