How to build cultures of belonging – with Michelle Barsa

How can we build inclusive belonging in conditions of acute polarisation – for example when members of a historically privileged group feel that more power and status for a historically marginalised group means less power and status for them? What do the recent US mid-terms mean for American democratic health, and what lessons do they offer for other countries?

Michelle Barsa runs the Omidyar Network‘s programme on Building Cultures of Belonging, and is a former program director at Beyond Conflict where she was lead author for their report on Renewing American Democracy. She has also worked at Inclusive Security, where she trained hundreds of women across Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya and Nigeria, and at the US Department of Homeland Security on countering violent extremism.