Smartville is an Erasmus+ Project funded by the European Union Commission. Its goal is to foster sustainable and entrepreneurial villages in Namibia and Zambia through the establishment of Educational Living Labs. The project focuses on reforming and introducing innovative approaches to entrepreneurship education in targeted higher education institutions while creating Smart Village Living Labs in rural areas of both countries. Like other Erasmus+ initiatives, the Smartville project leverages knowledge transfer from EU partner institutions to empower local partners in creating economic and social value for their communities. This is achieved through teaching and research outcomes, particularly benefiting individuals with limited access to higher education.

However, many community capacity development programs do not achieve sustainability after implementation. They often either benefit universities by offering students community experience or solely serve the community by sharing university expertise, without fostering access to higher education for the community itself. It is thus important to align institutional objectives with local community needs to effectively integrate academic study with community-based experiences.

Effective alignment between universities and the communities they serve requires open dialogue. In the dialogue method, four critical principles are emphasized: creating an environment where participants are encouraged to;
1) speak from their heart,
2) respect each other,
3) try to understand each other’s perspective, and
4) listen to others before locking their opinions.

When dialogue is fully implemented, participants develop an understanding of one another and are more likely to co-create new ideas. In the Smartville project, we adopted this principle by conducting qualitative focus group discussions to understand community needs and perspectives on successful capacity development. This approach is grounded in the belief that communities already possess varying levels of capacity assets.

Through thematic analysis, several key insights emerged from these discussions. First, communities observed that direct provision of funds and resources is unsustainable, ending the intervention’s impact once the support ceases. Second, relying solely on technical assistance often falls short, as external experts may lack a nuanced understanding of local contexts, resulting in ineffective interventions. Third, building local expertise based on external funding policies and priorities often leaves communities dependent on outsiders and does not sufficiently address the community’s specific needs.

Our living lab approach fosters partnerships with local communities from the outset. It prioritizes identifying local needs and aligning interventions with existing community activities. This aligns with the OECD’s perspective on capacity development, enhancing communities’ abilities to:
(i) perform essential functions, solve problems, and achieve objectives, and
(ii) addressing development needs sustainably and in a broad context.

We believe this co-creation approach that recognizes the community as an equal partner empowers communities to take ownership of the process, fostering resilience and driving long-term sustainable development. At the same time, it aligns academic efforts with societal needs, thereby providing tangible benefits to the community while enriching academic research.

Keywords: Capacity development, living labs, co-creation, community needs, smartville.