This month, we gathered for our fifth Global Symposium – a week devoted to connection, reflection, and shared action. This year’s theme, “Bridges to Belonging,” invited us to explore how people and communities around the world are building the pathways that make belonging real.

From Peru to Kenya, the UK to Australia, South Africa and beyond, participants came together with open hearts and powerful ideas. Over the course of the week, we listened, learned, and collaborated across disciplines – researchers, policymakers, artists, advocates, and community leaders – all united by a common purpose: to create a world where everyone belongs.

Building on a Global Movement

Each Symposium marks a milestone in the growth of the belonging movement, and this year’s gathering was no exception. Together, we explored the four core dimensions of belonging – People, Place, Power, and Purpose – and how they interact to shape human dignity and social cohesion.

Through roundtables, keynotes, and creative sessions, participants examined what it means to measure belonging, strengthen it through policy and practice, and overcome the barriers that still divide us. The conversations were dynamic and deeply personal, grounded in evidence, but powered by empathy and lived experience.

Inspiring Voices

We were honoured to be joined by an extraordinary group of leaders and thinkers, including the Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow; Former Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson; and renowned Canadian author and poet, Margaret Atwood. Each shared deeply personal reflections on what belonging means to them, from the power of empathy in public life, to the stories that connect us across generations, to the shared responsibility we hold to care for one another and for the planet we call home.

Their words reminded us that belonging is both universal and unique: experienced differently by each of us, yet essential to all of us.

The Charter for Belonging

A defining moment of the Symposium was sharing with participants the world’s first Charter for Belonging — a set of principles designed to help governments, institutions, and civil society embed belonging across every sector of life.

The Charter recognises a simple but profound truth:

“Every person, by simple virtue of being born, has the right to belong.”

It calls on all sectors – from schools to businesses to governments – to understand and measure their impact on belonging, and to intentionally advance it through their actions. It reaffirms belonging as a birthright, a foundation of democracy, dignity, and human flourishing.

Introducing Belonging Press

The Symposium also marked the announcement of Belonging Press, a new publishing initiative dedicated to amplifying the wisdom, creativity, and lived experiences of people across the global belonging movement. This platform will bring stories of connection to wider audiences — bridging research, practice, and personal narrative.

Belonging Jams: Research in Action

On Friday, the Belonging Research Lab brought the week to a joyful close with a session called Belonging Jams, a lively experiment in collaborative research and collective creativity. Designed to break research out of the “ivory towers” and root it in lived experience, the session invited participants to become co-creators of knowledge.

Groups from around the world shared their projects, tested new ideas, and found common threads across disciplines and contexts. The energy in the room was infectious – laughter mixed with deep listening. At one point, one group spontaneously burst into song – and drew the whole room into a moment of shared joy.

A Week of Connection and Commitment

Panels and workshops highlighted belonging in action, from faith and security to inclusive design, youth empowerment, and civic renewal. Contributors – including our research partners, Opinium – shared new insights from the Belonging Barometer studies in the UK and Canada, while practitioners from around the world offered examples of how communities are creating “safe havens” and building solidarity across difference.

Throughout the week, participants reflected on belonging not just as an ideal, but as a practice — something we build together through listening, care, and shared purpose.

As Kim Samuel, our Founder and Chief Architect of the Belonging Forum, reflected:

“I am feeling so much appreciation — for the work we’ve accomplished so far, for the extraordinary work underway right now, and for the promise of what comes next.”

Looking Ahead

The Symposium closed with a renewed sense of gratitude and commitment. The conversations begun in these rooms will ripple outward – through communities, classrooms, boardrooms, and policy spaces – as we continue to build bridges to belonging together.

In the months ahead, the Belonging Forum will share more outcomes and next steps, including opportunities for partners, policymakers, and individuals to pledge support for the Charter for Belonging and join us in creating a world where everyone feels seen, valued, and connected.

For now, we extend heartfelt thanks to all who participated, travelled, and contributed to this milestone moment in the movement for belonging.