Challenge Bank

Do you have a Challenge in your area that you think could be solved through Design Thinking? Take the next step in your Challenger journey by adding it to the bank!

Courses will be based on the Challenges that people like you, across the region, feel need fresh and innovative thinking. To do this, we’re asking everyone to submit the Challenges that they’d like to tackle collaboratively.

Like and comment on other people's Challenges to show support and increase its chance of being included in a Course. You can filter Challenges by county or category.

Roll over a Challenge for more details. Click to go to the Challenge and like it or leave a comment.

Click to go to the Challenge and like it or leave a comment.

add new challenge

Creation of pocket forests in the border areas area

Creation of pocket forests in the border areas ...

Work with https://www.pocketforests.ie/ to RECONNECT PEOPLE WITH NATURE in border communities. They reconnect people with nature through education workshops to rejuvenate soil and grow native trees, shrubs and woodland flowers to bring a forest ecosystem to your community. WHAT IS A POCKET FORESTS. forests in small spaces. special method of growing small biodiverse forests.

Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth

Drogheda Community Fridge

A Community Fridge in Drogheda Town where people can help themselves for free. Indivuduals and businesses can donate surplus food to the fridge to tackle the huge issue of food waste. Volunteers help run the scheme with the help of Co Louth council.

Louth

Ensuring sewage treatment for Dunfanaghy appropriate to present and to future needs.

Ensuring sewage treatment for Dunfanaghy approp...

As above.

Donegal

Securing a safe Footpath/cycle track between Dunfanaghy and Portnablagh - or better still - to Ards

Securing a safe Footpath/cycle track between Du...

As above - plans exist

Donegal

A Community Based Landscape Vision for the Protection and Renewal of the Pettigoe Plateau.

A Community Based Landscape Vision for the Prot...

This large upland area in south Donegal contains some of the best natural, cultural and heritage landscapes in the country. The course would aim to bring people together to learn about this unique landscape, what the threats and opportunities are, and to then establish a vision for this unique area, much of it still in a semi-wilderness state in the year 2021. The challenge would be to involve local landowners including farmers and forestry companies; local comunities and people living on or bordering the plateau such as the villages of Pettigo, Laghey and Ballintra, and all local groups/national agencies who collectively have an interest in taking environmental/economic issues effecting the area seriously - while exploring the opportunities such a plan could create in enhancing and restoring these uplands over the coming decades.

Donegal

Food Growers Network & Strategy in Monaghan

Connecting consumers with the county's growers, and connecting growers with one another. Expand on the existing (?) Monaghan Food Network between restaurants and food producers in the North Monaghan area https://localprevention.ie/monaghan-county-council-supports-monaghan-food-network/ and make it a county wide effort. Create a new strategy? - the last one was 2017-2020. A community supported approach to agriculture is required as many farmers do not have the time for the admin side of things. Food poverty needs to be addressed too. Could we introduce food subsidies similar to medical subsidies for those on social welfare? Offer social food credit, can only be spent on locally grown or produced food? Ensure balanced focus on veg growing alongside meat production; there's a lot of emphasis on meat and dairy. Promote seasonal consumption.

Monaghan

Using the Masterplan to Develop the Sliabh Beagh Area

Using the Masterplan to Develop the Sliabh Beag...

Funding is needed to develop the area. The Sliabh Beagh area is a beautiful amenity in North Monaghan that has been underdeveloped and underfunded. The Sliabh Beagh Masterplan has been created with ideas to develop and enhance the area. These ideas need funding to be progressed.

Monaghan

Local Museums

Every village in Ireland has a rich history. A history that American tourists, among many others come to find. Why don't we give them somewhere to experience this history. I wanted to open a museum in Drumkeeran, but..... With co-operation from other areas, and with the whole community pulling together, every village could have a little museum. Filled with pictures from the past. Stories from some of the families that have lived here forever. Something in every town or village for the tourists and new residents to learn about the locality, and of Ireland in general and it's place in the world. Most villages have an empty building that could be utilised. Every village have people who could man it. Volunteers to begin with, but in time, they could be paid from the income from the museum entrance fee. Local children could help build the exhibits, and then future generations could visit as part of history lessons. Depending on the ambition of the local community it could go prehistoric

Leitrim

Keeping the West open

Find a way to keep more of Irelands tourist things open longer. The local hotel closes for six months and with it one of our swimming pools. More people moved West during the pandemic, so these people and those already living here need to be recognised. When the tourists go, there is still a population who want to live, to experience things, to enjoy their weekends. It is more important now with the people from the East moving here. If there is nothing for them to do here, what stops them moving back East. It may mean opening shorter hours, or operating differently, but there us still money among the populace, we have to travel to Dublin for music events, don't make u have to travel for everything we want to do.

Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan

Tackling Plastic Waste Locally Via a "Precious Plastic" Project

Tackling Plastic Waste Locally Via a "Precious ...

The Precious Plastic project (https://preciousplastic.com/universe/how-does-it-work.html) is a global programme to tackle plastic waste on a local level by setting up local volunteer led workshops and social enterprises to turn plastic waste back into usable products. The programme has developed in the last few years to focus on creating an ecosystem of training and supports that can give people a wide range of new skills and bring economic and environmental advantages to local communities.

Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo

Communities Working Together for Everyone's Benefit

Communities Working Together for Everyone's Ben...

To gather community groups together to garner support for each other community's project in a positive and procative way

Leitrim

Retail

"That's lovely! Will I click 'buy'? Don't [think] it's available in town." It's a crucial moment. 'Convenience now vs searching town' Bigtech's unfair advantage is scale and 'frictionless' user experience (UXUI) Indigenous retailers by nature will always struggle, is there alternatives to connect that user, that item, with our bricks & mortar reseller? Local gov, if you're listening, help me, help town. We at Glofend Technologies are working on a possible solution to connect offline retailers with online buyers.

Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth

Town Vitality, How to increase population & visitors

Town Vitality, How to increase population & vis...

Increase town residents = more evening-trade, activity, life, vibrancy, save retail! Your ideas..? Imagine walking through the Savoy Cinema doors (shut 30+ years) into a #CultureQuarter, a hidden village of ...? Craft making, Arts, Studios, 3Dprinting resident’s waste plastic. Affordable indigenous commercial units like 'Donegal Village'. Older generations; could we see a return of reLearning-old-trades before they're lost forever? Mixed-income, multi-generational community-led housing is a norm in many countries. Until more learn Cohousing is not CoLiving, we'll never catch up with other UK/EU towns/cities. or does Sligo continue w 'flats' where nobody needs know their neighbour, or community. Sligo's Courthouse Block ..still ignored, Dereliction has compounded vacancy. #NormalPeople want to live in warmer communities. Down-sizers deserve better options than retirement or nursing village. We can build better stuff in better places!

Sligo

News, Gossip, Rumour - items for Our National Chronicle

News, Gossip, Rumour - items for Our National C...

Ticked all 6 x county boxes as we reckon News & its cousin Gossip is relevant to all. We are revitalising the 1200 year long tradition across Ireland; Annal or Chronicle writing. We invite districts to send us NEWS items most proximate and pertinent to their parish pump and with luck your wee gems and tall tales might get inked into our parchment. https://www.brumoytura.org/annals

Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth

Service exchanges between small businesses

Create a " bank" of professionals willing to exchange services in the form of lending skills and expertise to each other ie. a digital marketing professional could work on website optimisation for an electrician in exchange for equivalent hours of work ) . This could help create synergies and lead to more creative solutions and allow for growth through innovation in a " cash-poor" environment .

N/A

Local Climate Dialogue

Bringing climate action down to local (county or regional) level, empowering community and individual ownership of the problem.

Leitrim

Exclusive Design thinking community

The challenge is to bring together government agencies, social groups,business and individuals within our communities of all levels of understanding in relation to design thinking in an exclusive environment to recognise the value each has to offer in the development of our communities. To share and learn from each other, together.

Monaghan

Sligo Communities Action Planning

Bringing Sligo Community groups together to identify priorities and actions for the area

Sligo