During this year's Loneliness Awareness Week, the Belonging Forum hosted its annual breakfast reception, bringing together a group of friends, colleagues and partners from many walks of life. The aim was to give everyone the opportunity to find out more about the Belonging Forum and to share ideas on how we can build a nation of belonging — where everyone experiences connection to community, rootedness in nature, agency in civic life, and a sense of shared purpose with others.

Fresh from the launch of the UK's largest survey on belonging by the Belonging Forum, these insights were invaluable as we now work to create the Charter for Belonging—a first-of-its-kind compendium of practical ideas that can bring people together to solve shared problems and heal isolation.  

In our discussion we explored how to build belonging across key groups, including students, younger women, renters, older people, and those with disabilities. We delved into the four dimensions of belonging (people, power, place, and purpose) to discuss impactful initiatives to include in this new Charter. Find out more about the conversation in the video below.

We are committed to convening our friends, partners, and the public to generate simple, practical solutions to end social isolation and build belonging and it was wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces getting involved. You can get a snapshot of some of the many topics we covered in the pictures below. Stay tuned for more as we continue to co-create the Charter for Belonging.