Belonging Beyond Borders (BBB) is a unique transnational intervention to help us seed the future we long for: bringing together organizers, funders, civic and cultural leaders from around the world to develop strategies that move us toward a regenerative future of shared power, dignity and belonging.

Among our particular tasks: help radically reclaim migration’s place in our collective story, and develop infrastructure that can support collaboration across movements and geographies.

FIRST PRINCIPLES

We all inherently belong to earth.

The right to move and the right to stay are fundamental to building a world of belonging.

Migration is a natural and essential characteristic of living systems. Yet our political structures treat migration as a threat, weaponizing it to sow fear and division.

Across the globe, authoritarian movements are rising—sharing their playbook, and using anti-immigrant politics as their most powerful wedge. While migrants and racialized people are the first to be targeted, these attacks lay the groundwork for broader democratic erosion. Moreover, authoritarian regimes undermine all gains for a more just and pluralistic society, from gender to climate.

Our societies are toxically polarized. Our movements and responses are siloed, fragmented, antiquated, and often fall into patterns of othering.

All the while, the climate breakdown is accelerating displacement, disrupting ecosystems of care. 

As the liberal world order teeters, we must and rise to the occasion with bold, coordinated transnational responses rooted in first principles of belonging and interdependence. Developing narratives, strategies, and structures based on the inherent belonging must be done transnationally - beyond the legal architectures and limited imaginations that construct rights as bound to the nation-state. By rooting in belonging, we link anti-migrant politics to all other forms of othering–whether that be around class, race, gender identity, disability, etc.–as well as offer a vision of what we are working towards, not only against.

The network will host its first convening in Fall of 2025 in Cyprus with a compact group of international leaders who will co-design the network and in preparation for a public launch in 2026.  Our theory of change is rooted in the belief that transformation is actualized by deep trust, shared vision, and relationships across lines of difference.

This network will plant the seeds of new thinking and then provide the conditions for them to germinate and disseminate globally, as well as to build enduring relationships that can nourish leaders in their long-horizon work despite increasingly dangerous political contexts. 

Anchor Partners

Direct Impact:

1. Transnational Vision of Belonging and Global Migration: Articulate a clear vision of belonging for the field of global migration.

2. Narratives and Imagination: Develop bold shared narratives and radical imagination for more liberatory futures in strategic relationship with current political realities and opportunities.
   

3. Support for Leaders: Provide essential resources, learning, and community support to leaders in harsh and sometimes dangerous political landscapes.

4. Long-term Relationships: Build lasting relationships among participants that transcend electoral cycles, disciplines, and national borders, supporting long-term transformation.

Ripple Impact:

1. Narrative and Strategy Sharing: Create and share narrative, organizing, and impact strategies through a wider network.

2. Strengthen Field Actors: Embolden and strengthen actors in the field through exchange and transnational collaboration.

3. Bridge to Broader Movements: Break the silo around the migrant justice ecosystem and connect it to broader social justice movements (e.g., democracy, climate, racial and gender justice, economic justice).

4. Resource Mobilization: Attract greater resources towards immigrant dignity, democracy, and belonging by engaging with funders, journalists, and other actors in the ecosystem.

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for news and partnerships reach out to Christina Antonakos-Wallace, Project Lead to explore collaboration: christina@buildingbelonging.us