About
"Belonging is a fundamental human need, but it is also a core human right, and a foundational condition for social cohesion"
Human beings have a core sense of, and need for, belonging that is intrinsic and universal, and that transcends culture, religion, race, and location. This fundamental need governs our brains, immune systems, and behaviour, and remains a cornerstone of healthy individuals, communities, and societies. Belonging shapes how people understand themselves in relation to others and how they participate in shared social life.
In the present moment, belonging carries heightened significance. Belonging is increasingly threatened by polarisation, displacement, and inequality. Belonging now operates under pressure across families, communities, institutions, and nations, with implications that extend beyond individual experience to collective functioning.
A strong sense of belonging supports life satisfaction and safe communities. It also underpins cooperation, care for others, and engagement with shared responsibilities. Where belonging is strained, patterns of isolation, alienation, hopelessness, loneliness, and distrust become more prevalent. These experiences are closely associated with anxiety, depression, suicidality, and physical illness, and they also shape how people relate to difference, authority, and one another.
Belonging functions as a social stabilising force. It influences whether people invest in relationships, participate in community life, and act with concern for collective wellbeing. In a time of fragmentation and uncertainty, belonging plays a role in sustaining social cohesion and resilience.
Mission
The Global Belonging Collaborative exists to address rising social fragmentation by strengthening the conditions that support social cohesion, trust, and collective wellbeing. Its core goal is to advance belonging as an essential human need, a core human right, and a central condition for cohesive and resilient societies.
The group seeks to position belonging as a practical and ethical lever for reducing polarisation, discrimination, and social division, and for supporting communities to respond to shared challenges at local, national, and global levels.
Aims
The Collaborative works toward this goal through five linked objectives.
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Build the evidence base by advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary research that clarifies how belonging operates across individual, relational, community, and global levels, with particular attention to its role in social cohesion and fragmentation.
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Design, validate, and disseminate measures and methods that allow belonging to be assessed, tracked, and strengthened across cultures and settings, including the Global Belonging Scale and applied intervention tools.
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Embed Indigenous-led perspectives, ethical governance, and responsibilities to place and community within theory development, research practice, and knowledge translation.
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Support the application of belonging science through co-designed interventions, policy-relevant outputs, and accessible resources for education systems, communities, and public institutions.
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Build global collaboration and capacity by connecting researchers, practitioners, and communities across countries and disciplines to share knowledge, develop collective capability, and strengthen global responses to social fragmentation.