No...my understanding was that you had to use it on the Villager.

I've played this game many times already, even though I really hate the fact that you MUST have a population explosion in order to get things done. I prefer going with a small community so that I can interact with each one. And I like seeing how high I can push each one's skills. Too many running around is impossible to keep track of...so I lose interest, delete it, and then start another game. I'm never going to get all of the trophies........

One other time, I had a Villager ONCE run off while doing the challenge. This time it took me a grand total of ELEVEN tries before finally someone stuck around to finish the job. It was infuriating!