Work
GOAL NextGen 2025 - Building Connection in a Divided World
Young people are more connected than ever, yet many feel increasingly isolated, polarised and unheard. For GOAL NextGen, the challenge wasn’t simply to raise awareness of global justice issues, but to create meaningful, human connection, between individuals, communities and the wider world, in a way that felt accessible, hopeful and genuinely youth-led.
Working in partnership with GOAL for a number of years, THINKHOUSE was tasked with evolving its NextGen communications in 2025: building on previous themes of creativity and belonging, and moving towards a more participatory model that would empower young people to actively shape conversations about the future.
The Insight
If storytelling had helped young people articulate what belonging felt like (in 2024), then shared storytelling and play could help them practise meaningful connection.
Rather than delivering a single campaign, the opportunity lay in creating an ecosystem of ideas, tools and moments that young people could take ownership of: spaces where conversation, reflection and debate could happen naturally, whether between friends, strangers or entire communities.
The Idea
In 2025, GOAL NextGen became less about broadcasting messages and more about creating platforms for connection. The work spanned co-creation, live experiences, participatory storytelling and physical products - each designed to meet young people (and people of all ages) where they are: at festivals, around tables, online, and in conversation with one another.
Cards for Humanity
At the heart of the year was Cards for Humanity, a party game for people who care about the future. Inspired by familiar party game formats, it invited players to move from light, personal prompts to deeper questions about community, identity, global citizenship and the world we want to build.
The game was deliberately designed to be:
- Playable anywhere - from dinner tables to festivals
- Inclusive and non-preachy - encouraging curiosity over certainty
- Scalable - with physical and digital versions enabling long-term use
Launched through live play sessions, events and social content, the game quickly became both a cultural object and a conversation starter, something people wanted to share, gift and play again.
The Connection Council
Rather than creating Cards For Humanity in isolation, THINKHOUSE and GOAL NextGen formed the Connection Council: a collaborative working group that helped shape the game’s mechanics, tone and content.
Bringing together musicians, storytellers, artists and activists ensured the game was designed to spark empathy, critical thinking and dialogue. The process itself became part of the outcome: modelling the very principles of listening, empathy and shared imagination that the game sought to promote.
This co-creation approach added credibility, depth and diversity to the final product, while reinforcing GOAL NextGen’s commitment to platforming diverse voices.
Letters to the Future
Where Cards for Humanity created shared conversation, Letters to the Future created space for personal reflection.
Members of GOAL NextGen’s youth programme were invited to write letters to the Future Generations Commissioner of their chosen country - letters that will be held by GOAL until such a role is appointed. In them, young people articulated their hopes, fears and expectations for the future they will inherit and help shape.
Participants also filmed themselves reading their letters. THINKHOUSE brought these individual moments together into a single narrative film, cutting between voices to create a collective vision of the future - intimate, urgent and hopeful in equal measure.
The result was a powerful reminder that youth perspectives are not abstract or idealistic, but grounded, thoughtful and deeply informed by lived experience.
Stories for Humanity
To further deepen the theme of connection through storytelling, GOAL NextGen hosted Stories for Humanity - a live storytelling event that brought young people together to listen, reflect and share real human experiences.
Featuring storytellers from the GOAL NextGen youth programme and members of The Connection Council, the event centred on personal stories of identity, migration, hope and resilience. Stripped back and intimate, Stories for Humanity created a rare offline space for vulnerability and empathy. More than a one-night event, it reinforced storytelling as a powerful catalyst for belonging - proving that when people are given the space to speak and be heard, connection follows naturally.
The Impact
Overall reach for the year’s activity topped 1 million with 59 earned media and social pieces
The Connection Council model demonstrated a credible approach to co-creation.
Cards for Humanity became a tangible tool for dialogue - with over 125 decks shared and more planned for production - extending the campaign’s life far beyond launch.
33 Letters to the Future captured a powerful archive of youth voices and hopes for the future.
Stories for Humanity demonstrated the power of live storytelling to create empathy and belonging, transforming individual experiences into shared moments of human connection.
Engagement levels across events, PR and social reflected a strong appetite for connection-led experiences over traditional campaigning. Most importantly, the work gave young people agency - not just to engage with global issues, but to explore them together in a meaningful way.