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What is the Pond-Deshpande Centre?
How does it address a cultural, economic, social, or environmental challenge?
The Pond-Deshpande Centre is an organization that operates on the understanding that, "an inclusive workforce, invigorated civic innovation and a just economy puts social innovation to work in three key pillars," (https://ponddeshpande.ca/what-we-do/). Through a focus on, "an ecosystem of creativity, entrepreneurship, and system thinking," the PDC seeks to address rampant societal, systemic, and intersectional injustices.
One of the platforms that the Pond-Deshpande Center has created to facilitate socioeconomic change and systemic justice is NouLAB, showcased in the interview below between Amanda Hachey, NouLAB Executive Director, and The Dennis Report. In this interview, Hachey discusses her travels abroad and a variety of cultural knowledges she encountered that could translate to New Brunswick, such as community land and machinery sharing between Vietnamese farmers, and an ecosystem approach to farming and land management that both better served the land and reduced labour costs/ time investment.
Hachey goes on to discuss cultural approaches to childhood and education through the metaphor of original LEGO vs modern LEGO models or kits, cultural approaches to exercise and transportation through comparisons between bike culture in NB versus Sweden, and NB's cultural approach to elders, aging, and inter-generational learning.
Dennis Atchison, interviewer, rephrases Hachey and says that the economy is, "something we've created from the get-go, and we can keep on creating it and morphing it and changing it, so its laws are not rigid or stuck. It's dependent on our activity," (7:11-7:49). Essentially, both Dennis and Amanda agree that intentionality behind our individual and collective actions has the power to inform our economy, and not the other way around.
This feels like an incredibly hopeful and optimistic approach to a system that is struggling to grow and to adapt to diversity across all intersectionalities and immigration.
NouLAB and Early Childhood Education
One of the ways the PDC has pushed for change and inclusive innovation is by facilitating Atlantic Canada ECE and All In Research and innovation in the PDC NouLAB, funded by Future Skills Centre, to focus on the challenges faced by educators, employers, professional associations, and other stakeholders, and to create actionable items to counteract these challenges.
Children are our future, collectively, and for all of us. This means that the individuals who teach them and nurture them in a class environment should be the best among us, should have the widest range of resources at their disposal, and should have access to the newest research on best practice standards. This is far from the reality of most educators.
Key Challenges to Early Childhood Education
Aging workforce
Unsupported or unstructured inclusion of students with exceptionalities.
Work-life balance and work demands beyond working hours.
Burnout and high employee turnover.
Community Involvement
The Pond-Deshpande Centre, and specifically the PDC NouLAB in conjunction with the ECE do not work in a vacuum. Along with everyday contributors, the PDC's work with Early Childhood Education across Atlantic Canada includes a host of stakeholders and collaborators, such as: Government of Canada, Government of Prince Edward Island, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Government of Nova Scotia, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation, MaRS Discovery District, Holon Leadership.
An important consideration is that, beyond these specific governments and organizations, the PDC NuLAB worked with four different lab teams from across the Atlantic provinces, lending a variety of regional perspectives and intersectional representation to the voices behind this study. Not only were the individual team members involved and included, but they were given, "an honorarium and [the PDC] paid for a substitute for early childhood educators and director to take the time to participate in the lab workshops," (P.14. https://ponddeshpande.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ECE_TrainingLab_Report_NouLAB_EN.pdf)
"[T]heir everyday situation, which some educators described as 'survival mode,' prevents some educators from accessing the training they need. The lack of resources for training compounds the stress of the work because educators are aware that there are ways that they could be improving their professional practice, but they are unable to access them, " (ECE TrainingLab Report).
Outcomes
"Social Innovation labs are considered successful when we see evidence of strong relationships developed between previously siloed stakeholders, new perspectives and insights on the problem are uncovered and shared widely, and potential new solutions emerge," (P.8. https://ponddeshpande.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ECE_TrainingLab_Report_NouLAB_EN.pdf)
The solutions that have evolved from the Ideation and Prototype stages of this inter-provincial lab indicate that prioritizing five areas of growth and innovation hold the key to future sustainability of ECE.
Provide pathways to professional accreditation and career growth, including the creation of communities of practice.
The creation of synchronous study and work pathways for ECE professionals that advantages the working learner.
Investing in mentorship to benefit both the mentor and early-career educator.
Better incorporate experience recognition in hiring practices and wage allocation.
Connect educators in inter-provincial communities of learning (Atlantic Francophone Educators).
Looking Forward
Additional Media
Pond-Deshpande Centre's NouLAB Challenges (Current Projects)
Cardiovascular & Diabetes Health Challenge
Focus on improving the health of NB women and under-represented demographics.
Funding from Shoppers Drug Mart
Collaborators: McKenna Institute, NB-IRDT, Research NB
https://ponddeshpande.ca/rapid-innovation-challenges/cardiohealthchallenge/
Green Horizons
Support and resources for small and medium NB businesses to engage with climate-safe and sustainable practices and innovation and, thereby, improve their operations.
Green Horizons is currently seeking small and medium businesses to engage in their 2025-2026 lab. Registration form: https://pdc.typeform.com/to/GpLeDNY9
Collaborators: Opportunities New Brunswick, Government of Canada, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Health and Housing Resilience
A collaborative focus to target the long-term sustainability of housing and wellness for NB's at risk populations.
Collaborators: UNB Faculty of Nursing, City of Moncton, Northpine Foundation
Immigration Pathways into Construction
Immigrant-based solutions to construction labour shortages in NB and PEI.
Collaborators: All In, Government of Prince Edward Island, Construction Association of New Brunswick
https://ponddeshpande.ca/immigration-pathways-into-construction-challenge/
Resources
Atchison, D. (Interviewer), & Hachey, A. (Interviewee). (2017, June 27). Amanda Hachey: Executive Director NouLAB New Brunswick (Business) [Video]. The Dennis Report. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJwfQvbi0B4
Retrieved December 6, 2025.
Hachey, A., & Davey, K. (2023, July 5). Our childcare workforce can’t thrive without better support. Huddle.Today. https://huddle.today/2023/07/05/our-childcare-workforce-cant-thrive-without-better-support/
Retrieved December 4, 2025.
McLaughlin, K. (2023, June 21). Social innovation lab helps connect early childcare educators. UNB News. https://blogs.unb.ca/newsroom/2023/06/early-childcare-educators.php
Retrieved December 5, 2025.
Pond‑Deshpande Centre. (n.d.). ECE TrainingLab report: NouLAB [PDF]. https://ponddeshpande.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ECE_TrainingLab_Report_NouLAB_EN.pdf
Retrieved December 4, 2025.
Pond‑Deshpande Centre. (n.d.). NB AngloPrototype snippet 2023 [PDF]. https://ponddeshpande.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NB-AngloPrototype-Snippet-2023.pdf
Retrieved December 5, 2025.
Pond‑Deshpande Centre. (2025, November 10). Immigration Pathways into Construction Showcase - Pond-Deshpande Centre (PDC) at the UNB [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On4PyiVD5us
Retrieved December 6, 2025.
Pond‑Deshpande Centre. (2025, November 18). The Atlantic Canada ECE Lab: the future / Le Labo EPE du Canada Atlantique: l’avenir [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwr-X6B32GE
Retrieved December 5, 2025.
Pond‑Deshpande Centre. (2025, December 4). Building Healthy Futures: Collaborative Solutions for Health and Housing Resilience [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La5UDzTRmtE
Retrieved December 6, 2025.
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