Five opportunities to strengthen circular economy ecosystems

Through two EU-funded programmes, CirculUP! in Armenia and Roots of Circularity in Nepal, we saw where circular economy initiatives are creating meaningful change and where important gaps remain. These are areas where the field needs stronger approaches, deeper investment, and broader collaboration. We share them as an invitation to funders, practitioners, educators, businesses, and policymakers to help shape what comes next.

Impact Hub Network

Storytelling proved more effective than informational formats, yet the systems to consistently develop and distribute these stories remain largely absent.
Circular economy is now embedded across more than 11,500 institutions in Nepal and multiple universities in Armenia, but too often curriculum integration is treated as a project deliverable rather than a starting point.
In Nepal, many communities were already practising circular principles through indigenous knowledge. Too many programmes arrive with frameworks to introduce rather than knowledge to learn from, missing both the social and commercial opportunity that comes from connecting innovation to cultural heritage.
The communities most exposed to environmental degradation are often furthest from the digital infrastructure, financial systems, and institutional networks through which circular economy support is accessed. If programmes do not design for inclusion from the start, they risk reproducing the inequalities they aim to address.

1. Storytelling

Across both programmes, storytelling proved one of the most effective ways to build understanding, trust, and engagement around circular economy.

In Armenia, relatable narratives made circular economy concepts more accessible than informational formats alone. In Nepal, entrepreneurs who connected their products to environmental preservation, cultural heritage, or community livelihoods built stronger market relationships. A network of 71 trained journalists is now helping extend these stories far beyond the programme itself.

What the evidence points toward is something the field has not yet fully operationalised: communication is not a support function in circular economy work. It is a core infrastructure for growing circular markets. Yet the systems needed to consistently identify, develop, and distribute these stories remain largely absent.

We are actively looking for those partners, and for the funding frameworks that would allow that kind of communication infrastructure to be treated as a programme priority rather than an afterthought.

2. Education

More than 1.6 million students in Nepal now encounter circular economy concepts through formal education in national schools. In Armenia, circular economy is now part of the curriculum at Yerevan State University across multiple faculties, embedded in the Academy of Public Administration, and anchored in a new Master’s programme at Eurasia International University.

These achievements matter because education shapes future consumers, entrepreneurs, employees, and policymakers. At scale, curriculum integration is a long-term market-building mechanism, one that shapes the demand for circular products, the supply of circular talent, and the policy environment in which circular businesses operate.

The gap is that curriculum integration is often treated as a project output rather than the beginning of a long-term investment. If circular economy education is to fulfil its potential, stronger connections are needed between educational institutions, labour markets, and the evolving needs of the green transition.

We are looking for partners, whether educational institutions, corporate actors investing in talent pipelines, or funders with a long-term perspective on green transition, who see education as the market-building investment it is, and who are willing to co-design approaches that treat curriculum integration as a starting point rather than a deliverable.

3. Youth engagement

Both programmes revealed a gap between young people’s interest in sustainability and the opportunities available to turn that interest into action. In Armenia, engaging young adults required stronger institutional support and clearer pathways into circular economy careers. In Nepal, only 5% of surveyed students expressed interest in entrepreneurship.

What is needed is not more awareness campaigns aimed at young people. It is the infrastructure that connects interest to opportunity. It is mentorship programmes, fellowship programmes, and entrepreneurship pathways, that create genuine entry points into circular economy work rather than tokenistic internships.

We have seen glimpses of what this can look like. In Armenia, Impact Hub Yerevan’s partnership with UCOM led directly to the launch of a dedicated circular economy fellowship programme. The CirculAtia incubation programme, inspired by the participation of a GIZ project manager in CirculUP! training, created a structured pathway for circular economy innovation in the tourism sector.

These are promising models and we are looking for partners who are ready to co-invest in building that scale, and who see youth circular economy infrastructure as both a social and a commercial opportunity.

4. Indigenous knowledge

In Nepal, many communities were already practicing circular principles through traditional approaches around water use, packaging, forestry, and community resource stewardship.

Too often, circular economy programmes arrive with frameworks to introduce rather than knowledge to learn from. This overlooks existing expertise and misses opportunities to connect innovation with cultural heritage, local identity, and community-led solutions. It also risks accelerating the erosion of indigenous practice by treating it as background rather than as a resource. And it forgoes the commercial opportunity that comes from connecting circular economy innovation to cultural heritage, local identity, and the stories that make products meaningful to the people who buy them.

Bridging this gap requires programme design that starts with deep listening and understanding of what is already working. It also requires partners who work at the intersection of sustainability and cultural preservation, who understand both the commercial and the social dimensions of what is at stake, and who are willing to invest in approaches that are slower, more relational, and less standardised than conventional circular economy programming.

5. Digital divide

The communities most connected to local ecosystems are often the least connected to the infrastructure through which circular economy support is delivered. In Nepal, internet access was estimated at 54.8% in 2022, with rural communities, marginalised groups, and women most affected by the gap.

This is not a uniquely Nepali challenge. It is a structural risk in green transition programming globally. Communities that depend most on healthy ecosystems, face the greatest exposure to environmental degradation. They hold vital local knowledge yet are often furthest from the digital infrastructure, financial systems, and institutional networks through which support is accessed.

If circular economy programmes do not design for inclusion from the start, they risk reproducing the inequalities they aim to address.

In Armenia, reaching communities beyond major urban centres required a decentralised network of civil society organisations with deep regional roots. That model worked, but it required investment in the network itself, not only in the content it delivered.

We are looking for partners who understand inclusion as a design principle and are ready to invest in the infrastructure that makes circular economy accessible to communities on the margins of the green transition.

An open invitation

These five areas emerged from implementation. They are the places where our programme design met the complexity of what was actually needed, and where we reached the edge of what any single programme, or any single organisation, can address alone.

If these challenges resonate with your work, your funding priorities, or your research, we would welcome a conversation about what it will take to address them together.

Impact Hub Network operates across more than 130 cities globally. Through our Circularity programmes in Armenia and Nepal, funded by the European Union, we are contributing to the ecosystems that enable long-term circular economy transitions.

Let's build the conditions for a circular economy together

Whether you are designing a new circular economy programme, looking for an implementation partner with trusted local presence, or exploring how ecosystem building could support your green transition goals, we would like to hear from you.