5 May, 2026
This week, participants of Ready to Engage: Pathways to Climate Justice came together for the first time at The Hague Humanity Hub.
The programme, organised by The Hague Humanity Hub, brings together young people who care deeply about climate justice and want to turn ideas, concerns, and ambitions into concrete action. Over the coming weeks, participants will work towards developing and pitching their own project proposals to practitioners and professionals working across climate, peace, and justice.
Through a “speed friending” session, participants got to know one another, shared the ideas that brought them to the programme, and reflected on the issues they care most about. Conversations ranged from deep-sea mining and community engagement to policy, education, and social justice. What quickly became clear was that participants arrived with different experiences, but a shared motivation to contribute meaningfully to change.
One participant reflected on a feeling many in the room recognised:
“I am too comfortable in research and theory. I would like to actually start.”
This desire to move from reflection to practice sits at the heart of the programme itself. Ready to Engage was designed to help young people bridge the gap between concern and action by offering structure, mentorship, practical tools, and space to experiment with ideas.
The session also introduced participants to systems thinking and the complexity of climate justice challenges. As facilitator Betty reflected during the discussion:
“Even though complexity has all this chaos around it, there is an architecture to it.”
Over the next weeks, participants will continue exploring that complexity together while developing initiatives rooted in justice, collaboration, and real-world engagement.
Ready to Engage is a project co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of The Hague Humanity Hub and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
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