Together for 2026

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At the start of every year, the Business Fights Poverty community comes together to explore how we can collectively navigate the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead. This online forum is a unique opportunity to connect, share insights, and collaborate on key trends and strategies to deepen partnerships for impact. Together we discussed:

  • What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for you personally in driving meaningful social impact in the year ahead?
  • As terms like ESG and DEI become increasingly politicised, what is working for you when communicating social impact in ways that build shared understanding and bridge political divides?
  • In this shifting and contested context, what advice would you offer on leading and managing change while also supporting the personal resilience of those driving social impact?

See what insights members of our community took away from the discussion in this LinkedIn post. Please re-share these insights to help us reach others who might benefit.

Opening speakers during the video meeting:

Rachel Cowburn-Walden, Strategic Business and Human Rights Adviser

Meshack Kawinzi, Social Sustainability and Gender Equality Specialist

Katie Hyson, Director of Thought Leadership

During the opening of the Forum, Katie presented the insights corporates and NGOs shared recently in one-on-one interviews with us. Access the full paper here: https://bit.ly/49Oxkmu

Named Contributors in the Written Forum

We thank these members of our community for their insights. Everyone in our community is welcome to participate in the discussions and add their thoughts.

Paul Ellingstad, Managing Partner, PTI Advisors
Stef Engels, Consultant, Camzai Ltd
Ilze Melngailis, Consultant, Independent
Maya Middlemiss, Consultant, Remote Work Europe
Jennifer Owens, President, Jennwork
Maggie Rarieya, Consultant, Independent
Hamish Taylor, Director, Shinergise Partners Ltd.

How to add your comments

This discussion will remain open. To post a comment, you will need to sign up / log in to the Business Fights Poverty Discussion Forum:

If you are not already a member of the Business Fights Poverty online community, you will need to sign up here. If you are a member, we have recently updated our community platform so you will need to reset your password when you log in. Once you are logged in correctly, return to this page and click ā€œLog Inā€ - the blue button at the top right of this page - you will not need to enter your details again.

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We look forward to hosting our live Community Forum on Wednesday, 28 January, 15:00 - 16:30 (GMT), in the meantime, please do introduce yourself below.

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Looking forward to an engaging discussion on Wednesday!

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Busy day tomorrow but hoping to tune in for some of the session - but if I can’t will be interested in seeing what everyone has to say about the discussion questions!

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Hello everyone -this is me (16) Rachel Cowburn-Walden | LinkedIn

Looking forward to seeing everyone later, discussing and learning as we embark on what will be a challenging and critical year for social impact. I am ready for it though! Honest, frank and practical reflections very welcome.

Rachel

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Hope to see you later Marc!

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Togetherness is what will make the difference, in 2026.
Looking forward to this event very much, see you later

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Hi everyone, for the first time in days here in Dollar, Scotland it seems like the sun is shining - and just disappointed that my new outdoor WiFi router has not yet arrived… look forward to sharing the sunshine on-line later today!

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Hi. This is Maggie. I work at the intersection of global health, social impact, and purpose-driven organisations, mostly focused on how we move from good intentions to impact that actually lasts. I’m really looking forward to learning from others in this thread and exchanging practical perspectives on what’s working (and what’s tough) in the current climate.

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This 2026 Social Impact Landscape paper by the Business Fights Poverty team is a powerful playbook for navigating this year and the near future. The insights collectively, support making the ā€˜business case’. Smart storytelling and communications is important. But history has shown the P&L impact of any issue is what drives critical mass and action (HIV, reproductive health, climate, DEI…you name it). Looking forward to unpacking this further with the committed experts joining today’s call. See you all soon.

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Nice to hear from you Hamish. Hope all good.

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couldn’t agree more!

Nice to meet you Maggie.

Looking forward to seeing you all in a bit :-1:

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All good. Not quite as busy as I used to be but momentum is rebuilding!

Welcome to our written discussion today

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On Rachel’s point about competition AND collaboration - Yes! this is about fomenting a race to the top…

Our first question today

  1. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for you personally in driving meaningful social impact in the year ahead?

Companies seem to be particularly struggling in this geo-political chaos to COMMIT to sustainable environmental and social justice programmes; there is a general sense of shared anxiety and of course pressure on budgets - they know that they should ā€œdo somethingā€ but appear reluctant to pull the trigger on the required resource and investment commitments. They need help, continuous support and every now and then, a gentle prod!

Challenge: lack of sustainability of the sustainability movement.