The beginning of 2026 has made one thing clear: The conversation about the economy is shifting — and NENA is helping lead that shift.
Across the first month of the year, our community has gathered in workshops, webinars, film screenings, and live discussions to reflect on where we are — and where we need to go. Together, we’ve explored new economic thinking, challenged dominant narratives, and strengthened relationships across movements.
All of this forms part of NENA’s 2026 campaign, led by the Strategic Directions Group, under the theme: Telling New Stories. Because if we want a different economy, we must first be willing to tell a different story about what the economy is for.
Beginning the Year with Intention + A Conversation with Ted Trainer
We opened 2026 with our New Year’s Day workshop — not with urgency, but with intention. Rather than rushing into “more”, we paused to ask deeper questions:
- What kind of economy do we want to build?
- What values do we want shaping our decisions?
- How do we align our personal work with broader systemic change?
The tone for the year was set early: reflective, relational, and grounded in purpose rather than productivity.
Shortly after, NENA's Economic Literacy Hub and Systems Change Hub hosted a thought-provoking webinar with Ted Trainer, long-time advocate for simpler, ecologically grounded ways of living.
Ted’s work continues to challenge the assumption that endless economic growth is either inevitable or desirable. The conversation unpacked what it truly means to live within ecological limits — and why confronting the mythology of growth is central to building a just and sustainable society.
It was a reminder that telling new stories requires intellectual honesty as well as imagination.
🎙 Launching Voices of the New Economy
One of the most exciting developments this year has been the launch of NENA’s new podcast: Voices of the New Economy
Created in partnership with the Humanitarian Changemakers Network, the podcast is designed to make new economy thinking accessible, grounded, and human.
Rather than abstract theory, Voices of the New Economy features conversations with practitioners, thinkers, activists, and community leaders exploring questions such as:
- What does a wellbeing economy look like in practice?
- How does the economy shape our everyday lives?
- What stories need to change for systems to shift?
The podcast is an important part of our 2026 campaign. It expands the conversation beyond webinars and events, reaching new audiences and making economic transformation less intimidating and more relatable.
If storytelling shapes what we believe is possible, then this podcast is a tool for cultural change.
Reclaim the Economy Week: Storytelling in Action
Reclaim the Economy Week, a global initiative of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, provided another powerful platform for collaboration.
As part of this international effort, the NENA Storytelling Hub hosted two events in partnership with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.
🗣 Storytelling Workshop
In our interactive workshop, participants explored how dominant economic narratives influence how we define success, productivity, and value.
Together, we examined how narrative change is itself a form of systems change. Policy follows culture. And culture is shaped by the stories we repeat.
Participants left with tools to challenge inherited economic assumptions — and to articulate alternative visions grounded in wellbeing, care, and collective flourishing.
🎬 Purpose Film Screening and Panel Discussion
We also hosted an online screening of the documentary Purpose, followed by a live panel discussion featuring Katherine Trebeck (co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance) and David Hood (sustainability leader and NENA Board Director).
The discussion ranged widely:
- Beyond GDP and the limits of growth
- The “Lego wins” of the wellbeing economy movement
- The challenges of political capture and misinformation
- The role of education, business, and culture in shifting systems
- What sustains hope in difficult times
A recurring insight was this: there is no shortage of alternatives already emerging. Across governments, communities, enterprises, and grassroots initiatives, new pieces are being assembled.
The work now is to connect them — and to normalise them.
More Than Events: A Cultural Shift
These early 2026 activities are not isolated moments. They are part of a broader strategy.
The Strategic Directions Group’s campaign, Telling New Stories, recognises that economic transformation is not only technical — it is cultural.
We need new policies, new institutions, and new indicators of progress.
But we also need new narratives about:
- What the economy is for
- What growth really means
- What constitutes success
- Who the economy should serve
When the story changes, the political horizon shifts with it.
What has stood out most in these first weeks of 2026 is the depth of engagement. Participants aren’t just attending events — they’re sharing ideas, challenging assumptions, forming collaborations, and building momentum. There is a growing appetite for an economy that serves people and planet. And there is a growing confidence that such an economy is possible.