Language: English

The era of guaranteed international aid is rapidly fading. For many fragile and transition countries, this reality has exposed both the limitations of an aid-centric development model and the urgency of finding new, more resilient pathways to growth. This thought piece explores how countries can adjust to the new normal by mobilising underutilised resources and strengthening national ownership.

Focusing on three key pillars – domestic taxation strategies, diaspora and entrepreneurial investment, and alternative financing models – the paper highlights practical ways to unlock capital, foster innovation, and build more inclusive development systems. Drawing on examples from Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond, it shows how strategic reform and alternative partnership models can move countries away from transactional donor relationships toward more sustainable and locally anchored transitions.

The DOI registration ID for this publication is: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17119180

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Dr. Thania Paffenholz is an award-winning international peacemaker, mediator, and renowned thought leader, author and public speaker.

She has helped armed groups, governments, international, national and local organisations, and civil society–including women’s organisations–in over 20 peace processes, including in Colombia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, or Sudan to find ways out of violence. She also advises governments and international bodies such as the UN, EU, World Bank, and African Union.

Paffenholz is the Founder of Inclusive Peace, a Geneva-based global think-and-do tank that provides evidence-based support for peace and political change processes.

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Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali is the Executive Director of Arigatou International – Nairobi and Secretary General of the Global Network of Religions for Children. Deeply committed to building peaceful, just, safe, and secure communities, Dr. Ali has founded, developed, and led many innovative programs and initiatives to prevent, transform, and end conflicts and wars in several communities and countries worldwide.

Dr. Ali serves as Co-Chair of the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities (IAFSC), at the United Nations Multi Faith Advisory Council (UNMFAC), and on the boards of several global and grassroots development and peacebuilding organisations. He has received the Community Service Award (Government of the United Arab Emirates), the Jasiri Award (Award of Bravery), and the Coexist International Peace Prize, among numerous other awards.A PhD, MA, and BSc. degrees holder in International Relations, Sociology, Diplomacy, and Information Sciences; Dr. Ali is a scholar, an author, and a thought leader, regularly appearing on leading global television channels as a commentator and expert on peace and conflicts, safety, and security.

He is the author of the “Globalization of Terrorism: From Sicariis, Assassins to ISIS”; “Globalization and the Media”; and “Alone and Frightened: Experiential Stories of Former Child Soldiers in Uganda” books.

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Ambassador Thomas Greminger is the Director of the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) since 1 May 2021.

Previously, he served as Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from July 2017 until July 2020. In this capacity he acted as an effective crisis manager supporting successive Chairmanships in an increasingly polarized environment and promoted dialogue among the 57 OSCE participating States as one of his key priorities.

Ambassador Greminger served as Deputy Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2017 and as the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, the United Nations and the International Organizations in Vienna from 2010 to 2015. He was instrumental in devising the consecutive chairmanships and joint work plan of Switzerland (2014) and Serbia (2015); in 2014 he chaired the Permanent Council of the OSCE and was strongly involved in managing the crisis in and around Ukraine.

From 2004 to 2010, he served as Head of the Human Security Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. During his tenure, the division offered and supported facilitation and mediation services to more than half a dozen peace processes worldwide and launched a number of important diplomatic initiatives, including those which led to the creation of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN International Tracing Instrument for SALW, and the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.

Ambassador Greminger also served as Deputy Head of the Human Security Division from 2002 to 2004, and from 1999 to 2001 as Country Director at the Swiss Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. From 1994 to 1998, he served in different posts in the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, including Head of the Policy and Research Unit.

Ambassador Greminger holds a PhD in history from the University of Zurich. He is Lieutenant Colonel GS (company and battalion commander of infantry unit of the Swiss Armed Forces; G6 and Deputy Chief of Staff of Infantry Brigade). He has authored numerous publications on military history, conflict management, peacekeeping, development and human rights.

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Emilio Arturo Barbosa Meillon is an Intern at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), working at the project in Mexico.

Emilio is currently studying a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and a bachelor of laws at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His areas of specialization and research are criminal violence in the Mexican context, and international peace and security.

His areas of interest are peacebuilding, access to justice, judicial independence, international humanitarian law, and strategic studies. 

Working languages: English and Spanish.

[email protected] LinkedIn Profile

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The Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) is pleased to announce the launch of the Depolarization Community of Practice (DCP): a distinguished cross-disciplinary group of more than 40 global experts coming from sectors as diverse as journalism, technology, diplomacy, religion, science, academia and politics.

IFIT created the DCP out of deep concern at the global rise of polarization and the multiple threats it presents to societies and political systems. It is a phenomenon we describe as a ‘hyper-problem’: the type of problem that makes the solution to every other problem harder. With this concern in mind, the DCP is meant to serve as a catalytic global platform to incubate new research agendas and practice collaborations on depolarization; develop training materials and peer support programs; and facilitate the promotion of field-relevant lessons through online exchanges and presentations.

The DCP is also directly connected to the IFIT Global Forum on Depolarization. This new annual flagship event is a first of its kind and uses a combined knowledge-sharing and problem-solving format, seeking to function as a ‘conveyor belt’ for innovative new practice and research. The first edition of the Global Forum on Depolarization is being held at IFIT HQ in Barcelona later this month.

Together, the DCP and the Global Forum on Depolarization represent the newest phase of the Global Initiative on Polarization: a multiyear collaboration launched in 2022 by IFIT and the Ford Foundation and now expanding to include additional funding partners, such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Templeton World Charity Foundation and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.

Meet the DCP members

“Polarization is arguably one of the defining challenges of our time, cutting across regions, sectors, and political systems. Yet, the depth and gravity of the challenge are often misunderstood or underestimated, and the solution set remains underdeveloped,” says IFIT founder and executive director Mark Freeman. “Through the Depolarization Community of Practice and accompanying Global Forum, we hope to make important strides in changing the situation, since we know from our global work that unchecked polarization can come to threaten everything – from the ideal of a tolerant society, to the practice of ordinary politics and law-making, to the prospects for peaceful coexistence and basic liberties.”

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Yphtach Lelkes is Associate Professor of Communication; Co-Director, Polarization Research Lab; and Co-Director, Center for Information Networks and Democracy at the Anneberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Lelkes is an expert in political communication and political psychology whose research examines affective polarization, political information processing, and the dynamics of political ideology and identities. His work explores how information environments shape political attitudes and behaviors, using survey, field, and natural experiments alongside survey and geospatial data. 

Previously a faculty member at the Amsterdam School of Communication, Professor Lelkes earned a Ph.D. in Communication with a minor in Psychology from Stanford University. 

His research has been published in leading journals across Communication, Political Science, and Psychology, including American Political Science Review, PNAS, Journal of Politics, Nature Human Behavior, and Political Psychology.

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Thomas B. Edsall writes for The New York Times. His column on strategic and demographic trends in American politics appears every Tuesday and he has been a weekly contributor to the Opinion section of The New York Times since 2011. 

Edsall covered politics for The Washington Post from 1981 to 2006 and, before that, for The Baltimore Sun and The Providence Journal. In addition, he was the political editor of the Huffington Post from 2007 to 2009, and a correspondent for the National Journal from 2006 to 2007.

Edsall has written five books: “The Age of Austerity,” “Building Red America,” “Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics,” “Power and Money: Writing About Politics” and “The New Politics of Inequality.” 

Edsall lives in Washington, D.C. He holds the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professorship in Public Affairs at The George Washington University’s School of Media & Public Affairs.

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Thierry Cruvellier is the Editor-in-Chief of Justice Info, the leading news website on international justice created in 2015 by Fondation Hirondelle. 

For about thirty years, he has reported on trials for crimes against humanity and genocide, from Rwanda to Sierra Leone, from the former Yugoslavia to Cambodia and Colombia. He has been an Op-ed contributor to The New York Times, a 2003 recipient of the prestigious Nieman Foundation Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University. 

He has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA), and is the author of three books: Court of Remorse (Le Tribunal des vaincus, Calmann-Lévy, 2006) on Rwanda’s genocide trials; The Master of Confessions (Le Maître des aveux, Gallimard, 2011) on the Khmer Rouge trials in Cambodia; and Promised Land (Terre promise, Gallimard, 2018), a tale on the extraordinary resilience of the Sierra Leonean people over the past forty years.

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Shamil Idriss is CEO of Search for Common Ground (Search), an international non-profit organisation committed to transforming the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches toward cooperative solutions. With 500+ staff working in 30 countries, Search is the largest dedicated peacebuilding organisation and was nominated by the Quakers for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

During his tenure at Search for Common Ground, Idriss has presided over the organisation’s growth in reach, impact, and influence, including leading merger processes with Soliya and Preemptive Love Coalition and strategic partnerships with global public and private sector entities, including the Office of the UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Meta.

Prior to his current role, Idriss was the CEO of Soliya where he led a public-private sector coalition to establish the field of virtual exchanges. In 2005, he was appointed by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Deputy Director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. He served on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and recipient of the 2015 Open Society Foundation New Executive Award. He serves on the Boards of Giving Tuesday, Ploughshares Fund, and Soliya.

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