C3 Labs

About C3 Labs

C3 brings leaders together to strengthen collaboration across institutions working on complex global challenges. At a time of growing geopolitical tensions, institutional fragmentation and ecological crises, many challenges now exceed the capacity of any single organisation. Strengthening collaboration across boundaries is increasingly essential for navigating complexity and building resilience. C3 creates trusted spaces where leaders from diverse institutions can connect across boundaries. Through these spaces, C3 helps participants build deeper relationships, surface barriers and blind spots that limit collective impact, and strengthen collaboration across institutions. The first national Labs will launch in 2026 in Kenya and Thailand, focusing on the food–biodiversity–climate nexus. Each Lab convenes a cohort of Fellows from across government, international organisations, research institutions, philanthropy, civil society, and the private sector to explore new approaches to collaboration and systemic change. C3 is also convening dialogues in key global cities to connect insights from national Labs with global institutions and strengthen collaboration across the wider ecosystem. These city dialogues are intended to help seed new Labs in additional countries and expand the global C3 network. The founding institutions include UNDP, FAO, UNEP and Wageningen University & Research, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Over time, C3 aims to grow into a broader global network through a coalition of partners and collaborators.