Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to address both individual and collective resilience, which is threatened by unwanted loneliness—an increasingly widespread phenomenon—in a world marked by growing uncertainty, economic instability, and complex social dynamics and environmental pressures. In our work, we have found that resilience is not a fixed trait but a dynamic process that operates across individual, relational, and structural levels—and is deeply connected to well-being.
A key foundation of resilience is the ability to feel connected, to belong. When social ties are weakened or absent, people's capacity to adapt, recover, and respond to adversity is significantly diminished. Unwanted loneliness, in this sense, is not just a personal or emotional experience—it is a public health concern. It has been associated with heightened risks of cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and increased mortality, prompting some experts to label it a modern epidemic that requires both prevention and systemic support.
This phenomenon affects people of all ages and is driven by a complex web of factors: work-life imbalance, the absence of shared purpose or meaningful relationships, disconnection from nature, and a lack of fulfilling activities. These drivers are further compounded by technological overdependence, population aging, the long-term social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—especially among younger populations—precarious labor conditions, shifting family dynamics, substance abuse, social pressure, and ageist narratives.
One thing is clear: we need to build community and think locally. Our challenge is to design policies that strengthen social connection and enhance both individual and collective capacities for resilience.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Building resilience through solidarity and shared purpose has emerged as a key strategy in a global context defined by uncertainty. Communities possess valuable knowledge about their environments and the opportunities they offer in times of crisis (UNDP, 2022a). Collective intelligence —through the open and structured exchange of ideas— presents a powerful opportunity to recover, amplify, and apply this knowledge. This collaborative approach can foster enabling conditions for resilience. That’s why our AccLab is exploring how people directly affected by challenges respond to them, aiming to understand the adaptive strategies they use and the conditions that either support or constrain their ability to respond effectively.
Since 2023, the AccLab has been working on resilience in different ways, addressing a range of interconnected challenges through three qualitative research projects and one collective intelligence initiative.
The first began as a research collaboration with the Human Development and Policy Programme, focused on understanding what drives certain young people in Argentina to engage in activism for sustainable development. This work, based on 33 interviews, revealed clear links between activism and resilience: for many, activism serves not only as a response to adversity but also as a pathway to building personal and collective strength.
The second initiative was part of a regional research effort led by the UNDP Latin America and Caribbean Bureau (RBLAC), aimed at analyzing the relationship between risk, individual resilience, and human development. The goal was to explore how people’s experiences and coping strategies shape their ability to adapt to the economic, social, environmental, and governance challenges present in the region. From Argentina, we contributed 18 in-depth interviews in 2024, and the findings will be published and shared in 2025.
The findings highlight that, although not always named explicitly, resilience is closely tied to the pursuit of well-being and is expressed through adaptive strategies across individual, relational, and structural levels. Core themes include the importance of mental health, fulfilling activities, and social and family support, as well as skepticism toward institutions and the need for effective state responses. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified feelings of disconnection and uncertainty, accelerating digitization while also revealing new vulnerabilities. Despite this, participants shared hopeful views of risk as an opportunity for transformation, linking resilience to creativity, autonomy, and future aspirations. The study identifies four key dimensions shaping resilience: mental health, the ambivalence of digitization, the value of community-based responses, and the demand for meaningful institutional action. At the heart of these findings lies a call to address disconnection—within oneself, with others, with nature, and with political leadership—making unwanted loneliness a relevant and timely area for further exploration and policy innovation.
The third initiative involved a solutions mapping exercise on access to justice for persons with disabilities, as part of a UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund initiative in collaboration with UNDP Argentina’s Democratic Governance cluster, UNICEF, WHO/PAHO, OHCHR, UNFPA, and UNHCR. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities and their families in the City and Province of Buenos Aires.
Our findings show that individuals with disabilities and their families face a persistent web of interrelated barriers—ranging from socioeconomic challenges and limited access to clear information, to complex and often dehumanizing bureaucratic procedures, social stigma, and exclusion from education, employment, and community life. In response, they engage in a gradual and dynamic process of specialization, often beginning with solitary, self-directed efforts that evolve into deeper knowledge and more effective advocacy for their rights. This journey blends individual and collective learning, demanding significant emotional investment, strategic adjustments, and mutual support—ultimately fostering resilience across multiple levels. Networks of people with disabilities, civil society organizations, and informal groups play a vital role in this ecosystem, providing not only practical tools and guidance but also emotional support, solidarity, and safe spaces for empowerment that enable individuals and families to navigate systems and assert their rights more confidently.
Additionally, in partnership with the Uruguay River Binational Project and local authorities in Concepción (Province of Entre Ríos), we launched a collective intelligence initiative to co-develop action plans for protecting native plant species and eradicating invasive ones. This experience highlighted the importance of citizen participation and local knowledge in building environmental resilience and strengthening community engagement.
Our main R&D focus for 2025 emerged from conversations with a local government with whom the AccLab is likely to collaborate. Together, we identified unwanted loneliness as a shared area of concern. Increasingly recognized as a public health issue, unwanted loneliness is often referred to as a modern epidemic—one that demands not only targeted interventions but also preventive and community-based responses. In this context, the involvement of local communities is essential to designing effective and contextually relevant solutions.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The complex interplay of various insecurity factors is becoming more evident.
These acute crises are giving way to chronic, interconnected uncertainties on a global scale, creating a sense of unsettled lives and an uncertain future (2022a) [Figure 1]. Consequently, feelings of insecurity are rising across the globe [Figure 2].
In this uncertain context, where many people are experiencing distress, the focus on unwanted loneliness emerges as a timely and relevant issue—one with the potential to grow in importance and impact. Unwanted loneliness is a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship, which happens when we have a mismatch between the quantity and quality of social relationships that we have, and those that we want. It is often associated with social isolation, but people can and do feel lonely even when in a relationship or when surrounded by others.
Loneliness affects people of all ages and from all backgrounds – from the school child who struggles to make friends, to the new parent coping alone, to the older person who has outlived her friends and immediate family. Feelings of loneliness affect us all at some point, but being lonely can become a serious problem when it becomes chronic – a day to-day reality which, over time, can grind us down, affecting our health and wellbeing and damaging our ability to connect with others.
Over the years, studies on loneliness have reached different conclusions about the levels and overall distribution of loneliness across the UK and among different groups. Studies have found relatively consistent levels of chronic loneliness among older people – with between five and 15 per cent reporting that they are often or always lonely. However, we have much less robust data on loneliness among children, young people and adults of working age.
Some recent surveys have uncovered levels of loneliness across all ages that are worryingly high. What we don’t yet know is if this is a sign of a growing problem, or because efforts to breakdown the stigma of loneliness are working, making people more willing to acknowledge their loneliness. Whichever it is, there is much to do (European Commission, 2018).
The most relevant factors associated with a higher likelihood of experiencing loneliness include, having a low level of education, living in incomplete nuclear or single-person households, perceiving financial hardship (feeling their income is insufficient), facing functional health limitations, lacking social support networks, not participating in formal or informal activities, not working, and not using the internet (GCBA, 2019)
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
We mapped 69 international initiatives addressing unwanted loneliness. Several key patterns emerged:
• They adopt a community-centered approach, fostering social connection through networks, cultural activities, and the use of public spaces.
• They promote intergenerational exchange, strengthening learning and solidarity across age groups.
• They integrate urban planning strategies, designing public spaces that encourage interaction, ensure accessibility, and include green areas that promote well-being and a sense of belonging.
• They leverage digital tools to support learning, civic engagement, and inclusion—tailored to the sociodemographic profile and specific needs of the target population. While digital solutions cannot replace physical contact, they can be especially relevant in low-density areas or for individuals with limited mobility. Some initiatives also focus on reducing excessive screen time and mitigating the negative effects of overdependence on technology.
• While a few countries have developed national action plans, many of the most impactful responses are local. Municipalities often lead the way, as the core resource for addressing unwanted loneliness lies in creating—and strengthening—community networks.
Strong collaboration across governments, civil society, and the private sector is critical to scaling these efforts and amplifying their impact. At its core, this line of work is about creating the conditions for people to feel connected, supported, and empowered—laying the groundwork for more resilient communities.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The AccLab brings a unique value proposition grounded in its extensive experience developing collaborative strategies with governments and civil society organizations, engaging local communities, and prioritizing community participation. The AccLab has also demonstrated a strong ability to identify and elevate underexplored topics—such as citizen science—supporting their growth into areas of broader relevance. We believe that unwanted loneliness, which we aim to address in partnership with a local government recognized for its innovation efforts, holds similar potential.
Unwanted loneliness is becoming an increasingly relevant phenomenon, offering fertile ground for identifying emerging signals of change, mapping diverse types of solutions, and experimenting with new approaches. However, at this initial stage, the AccLab will focus on raising awareness of the issue, providing technical assistance, and generating evidence-based insights to inform public management. The AccLab’s approach—focused on user-center design, collective intelligence, etc.—positions it uniquely within the UNDP ecosystem to explore this challenge and generate valuable learnings that can be scaled or adapted in other contexts.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
Unwanted loneliness is more than a personal issue—it’s a key lens for understanding how we build resilience in uncertain times. We’re starting with evidence, co-design, and partnerships. Resilience starts with connection #AcceleratorLabs #CoLabAR @UNDPAccLabs
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
How can public policy address unwanted loneliness not only as a wicked problem, but as a systemic challenge that threatens resilience and well-being in rapidly changing and uncertain environments?
To work on this challenge —and building on the research lines we’ve already developed— we need to understand how unwanted loneliness manifests among the two key populations our R&D line will focus on: youth and older adults. We are particularly interested in identifying early signals, mapping existing solutions, and exploring how local governments can play a catalytic role in fostering social connection and collective resilience.
Our Lab is exploring how people who are directly affected by challenges deal with them, seeking to understand the adaptive strategies they deploy and the conditions that support or hinder their capacity to respond.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The first phase of our research on unwanted loneliness focused on solutions mapping, with the aim of identifying and systematizing various initiatives implemented around the world to address this issue. This process allowed us to recognize common patterns—such as community-based approaches, intergenerational exchange, urban planning, digital inclusion, municipal-level interventions, and cross-sector partnerships—as well as to identify the groups most affected. As a result, we now have a portfolio of solutions that could potentially be adapted, replicated or scaled.
As we move forward in formalizing our partnership with the local government, we plan to develop a sensemaking strategy as part of our approach. This strategy will help build a systemic understanding of unwanted loneliness, surface shared narratives, and identify the social, cultural, and institutional factors influencing the phenomenon. It will also foster a common understanding of how loneliness manifests locally. To this end, we will organize high-level workshops with public officials to place the issue on the policy agenda and explore how various lines of government work—such as state modernization, urban planning, and public health—can impact unwanted loneliness. We also aim to triangulate qualitative and quantitative methods, involving diverse stakeholders to enrich and validate our understanding of the phenomenon.
In parallel, through participatory design, we aim to promote the evaluation, co-creation, and/or testing of solutions with a variety of stakeholders. The goal is to ensure that proposed interventions effectively respond to people’s real needs, can be adapted to specific contexts, and are sustainable over time.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The AccLab has been working across multiple dimensions of resilience, recognizing that the feeling of being connected to others is a key component of people’s ability to adapt and thrive. Building on this line of work, unwanted loneliness remains a largely underexplored issue at the different national levels in Argentina. The data generated through this R&D initiative will shed light on a challenge that has received limited attention from policymakers, offering both evidence and possibly momentum to elevate it on the public agenda.
The goal is not only to understand the scope of the problem in a specific local context—which could serve as a starting point to expand the research more broadly—but also to explore how people experience unwanted loneliness and what helps them navigate it. By centering their voices through in-depth, semi-structured interviews—some of which may adopt a life history approach—as well as through on-the-ground observations, we will gather insights.
In parallel, a solutions mapping exercise will help address a critical knowledge gap around practical, context-sensitive responses to this wicked problem. Analyzing these data sources will generate valuable insights that can inform future initiatives, which must be tailored to the local reality. This evidence will be crucial for designing culturally relevant, technically sound, and people-centered interventions.
Together, these methods will contribute to a more comprehensive and multidimensional understanding of resilience—one that highlights not only the challenges individuals and communities face, but also their agency—. Also, they will surface innovative practices that can inform future experimentation and policy design, bridging the gap between lived experience and systemic response.
3Good health and well-being
11Sustainable cities and communities
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