What role should the private sector play in peace and justice: Recap of our peace&justice café

On Thursday 14 April, professionals from The Hague’s public, private, and non-profit sectors came together in a hybrid event to highlight the role the private sector can, should, and does play in driving a more peaceful and just world.  

When it comes to the most critical issues of our time like climate change, inequity, poverty, social justice, or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, companies are increasingly being faced with calls to respond. In a world that seems to be shifting beneath us by the day, we explored how the private sector chooses to respond to these calls and how NGOs, governments, and international organisations can shape this expanded role that they are carving out. 

During the keynote, panellists John Marks, the founder of Search for Common Ground and Confluence International and Brittany Sage Brown from The Kraft Heinz Company discussed a variety of topics: 

• What disconnects are preventing the private sector from engaging more effectively with non-profits on critical issues? How can we bridge this gap? 
• Whether the active engagement of the private sector in this space is a role that benefits the non-profit ecosystem 
• The importance of finding the overlap in aligning shared values and goals of the private sector with non-profits, and of finding the right people to dialogue with
• Proposing scalable solutions for change, which are likely to be met with enthusiasm by the private sector 

All attendees also made new connections via diverse roundabout sessions run by a wide variety of organisations. Following that, roundabout hosts also had the opportunity to shared additional insights from these smaller group discussions with the wider audience during the keynote discussion.

Liked this overview? Be sure to join our next one!

On Thursday 23 June, we’ll turn our focus to the future of democracy: where it stands, where it’s going, and what can be done to preserve it. If you would like to share your experiences or have a suggestion of a great organisation you would like to see at this café, please contact programming@humanityhub.net. 

Past Editions

• First edition: touching base in a shifting world
• Second edition: where now for climate justice
• Third edition: The Hague in the world and the world in The Hague
• Fourth edition: what’s the role of the private sector?

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