With the new year in full swing, the team at Hope for the Future are excited to deliver a range of new training and support in 2026. We have already begun the year working with our partners Parents for Future, to deliver online sessions in a brand new series, designed to support parents and carers to engage with their MPs.

As we enter the second year of our three-year strategy 'Communities for the Climate', the team are looking forward to another fantastic year of strengthening democracy and bridging the gap between communities and politicians, all to accelerate climate and nature action.

This year we aim to reach over 7,500 people:

1. Improving climate and nature leadership skills in communities

2. Improving their understanding of democracy and UK politics

3. Increasing the number and diversity of people taking political actions

4. Strenthening climate and nature campaigning across the UK

5. Strengthening the quality of democratic engagement and influencing more politicians to take action‍

Driving these goals, we have so many exciting educational projects, capacity building workshops and training events coming up in 2026. Alongside our flagship projects - many of which are now in their second year - we are excited to share a flavour of some of the exciting ways we are supporting communities to take action on climate and nature policy through meaningful engagement with local elected representatives.

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1) National Lottery Climate Action Fund - A Future for All

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Hope for the Future are entering the second exciting year of our five-year funded programme 'A Future for All' and together with our partners London School of Economics, Rowan Environmental Arts (REA), Contact and Parents For Future, we will be delivering a range of activities including:

• Six free open-access public workshops aimed at equipping communities across the UK with the skills, knowledge and confidence to influence local elected representatives on issues of climate and nature. This will include training on how to counter misinformation, understand the impact of corporate lobbyists and navigate an increasingly more polarised political environment.

• Ten free woodland workshops for parents of a disabled child and low-income families likely to be hit the hardest by climate change, but whose ideas and input are essential to make sure the disabled community is included in climate action and policy decisions - driving tangible change for their communities.

Matthew Sellar, Policy and Engagement Co-ordinator at Hope for the Future and A Future for All Project Lead said about the project:

"I'm looking forward to so many things about A Future for All this year! We've got a packed 2026 ahead, not only with online workshops imminent and an exciting programme of outdoor shows and workshops, this year we're also upping our political engagement. ‍I'm really excited about getting parents talking to their politicians and making sure that politicians listen to parents when it comes to climate policy and how we can improve people's lives."  

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2) Esme Fairbairn Foundation - Supporting Citizens' Assemblies

In the second year of this three-year project, Hope for the Future is building on the success achieved in year one. 

Evolving our approach and fuelled by feedback and shared experiences of members, we are tackling the real-life challenges of translating Citizens' Assembly recommendations into action. In 2026, the team are:

• Developing a toolkit and resources for assembly members and facilitators designed to support politician engagement during the assembly process - using our SMART ask model - and include the offer of additional and deeper support both during and after the assembly process.

• Delivering tailored support and workshops for four citizen assemblies, to test our toolkit in action and support members to translate climate assembly recommendations into post-assembly action. Including policymaking and dissemination of a free toolkit designed to build confidence and skills around engaging with local representatives.

Joe Gascoyne-Thompson, Policy and Engagement Coordinator at Hope for the Future and Citizens Assemblies Project Lead said:

"This is such an exciting year for our Citizen Assembly Work. After a year of working with some amazing partners in the world of deliberative democracy, like Shared Future, we have been able to put together our learning into a fantastic toolkit. This year, we will be testing it with a wide variety of Climate Assemblies, involving numerous different groups, to carefully refine our support. Then by 2027 we can confidently share our guidance with the whole sector!"

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Are you involved in Climate Assemblies?

We are working with climate assembly facilitators to:

1. Test and refine effective, scalable advocacy models 
2. Ensure that participants have sustained confidence, skills and support
3. Provide participants with the tools they need to influence climate and nature policies and decision-makers across the UK.

If you’re interested in finding out more, contact Joe Gascoyne-Thompson for an initial chat: https://hftf.org.uk/contact 

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3) Democratic Engagement Training for All

New for 2026, the Hope for the Future team are running a series of free training programmes including: 

• Six free open access four-part workshops for the public on engaging and influencing politicians, with thematic sessions focused on different issues such as housing, waste, clean air, transport, energy and green jobs. Stay tuned for information on our first workshop series to be released soon!

• Pro bono workshops for organisations - we have funding to provide six organisations with pro bono climate and nature advocacy training and support this year. We will focus on supporting organisations working with our target groups: young people (under 25), those most at risk from climate change (flooding), low-income families, diaspora communities, those losing jobs and opportunities and disabled people - to have their say in environmental decision-making. 

“To champion clean air and children's health is central to our mission. Working with Hope for the Future and the training they provide has given many volunteers in our movement the skills, knowledge and importantly the confidence to begin writing to and meeting their MPs. ‍As an organisation, the relationship with HFTF has given us loads of ideas and motivation to connect our community and the cohesion to take forward our environmental work.”  - Volunteer, Mums for Lungs

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4)Truro Diocese (Schools) - Empowering Young Voices

Young people will inherit the world shaped by today’s political decisions, yet they are underrepresented in decision-making. With the current government committing to lowering the voting age to 16, more young people will represent a significant proportion of the voting population at the next election - if they feel engaged.

Hoe for the Future has been supporting young people to overcome barriers to achieving their goals for over a decade. In 2026, funded by Truro Diocese, we are engaging school-aged children in Cornwall to explore local and regional issues that impact them, including climate change and nature issues, and to campaign for positive change in their communities. 

Joe Gascoyne-Thompson, Policy and Engagement Coordinator at Hope for the Future and Empowering Young Voices Project Lead said:

"I love working on projects like the one we are doing with Truro Diocese. They are bringing primary schools together from across the Truro Diocese area to get them thinking about how they can make a difference for the planet in their schools and communities. ‍

‍We are providing the training resources and support they need to maximise the political impact of the project, helping the young people think about how they can get politicians to make better choices for climate and nature in their area."

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Thank You for your Continued Support

All of this activity and much more in 2026 is only possible thanks to the generosity of our fantastic funders and supporters. 

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