The Global Initiative on Polarization is a multiyear collaboration led by IFIT and the Ford Foundation and in the process of expanding to include other philanthropic partners. Its principal aim is to foster deeper global and local understandings of the diverse causes, consequences and solutions to growing polarization worldwide. 

Over the past few years, we have carried out interdisciplinary research, structured convenings, and applied work in a globally diverse range of countries, along the way publishing a foundational paper as well as partnering with Economist Impact to produce a customized webpage of additional material following a high-level May 2024 convening, “Worlds Apart: Lessons on Polarization from Global Leaders”. 

We are now launching an important new phase of work through the establishment of the Depolarization Community of Practice (DCP): a diverse global group of 40 depolarization scholars and practitioners with the aim of incubating new research agendas and practice collaborations; providing training and peer support; and facilitating the promotion of field-relevant lessons through periodic online exchanges and presentations. 

The DCP will be directly connected to another major IFIT initiative: the Global Forum on Depolarization. This annual flagship IFIT event is a first of its kind and will have a combined knowledge-sharing and problem-solving format, seeking to function, among other things, as a “conveyor belt” for innovative new practice and research. The first edition of the Global Forum on Depolarization will take place at IFIT HQ in Barcelona this fall.

• Read more about our Global Initiative on Polarization here.

• Watch the video “The path to depolarization”.