IFIT / WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE ON POLARIZATION

The Global Initiative on Polarization

The Global Initiative on Polarization is an ambitious collaboration initiated by IFIT and the Ford Foundation, which has since expanded to include additional philanthropic partners such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Templeton World Charity Foundation and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. The underlying aim of the work is to foster deeper global (and local) understandings of the diverse causes, consequences and solutions to growing polarization – in democratic and non-democratic settings alike.

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Through interdisciplinary research, structured convenings, and applied work in a wide range of countries – including the fragile and conflict-affected contexts where IFIT works – the Global Initiative on Polarization examines cross-cutting and practice-relevant challenges at the nexus of polarization, peace and democracy, seeking to strengthen existing tools and networks for enhanced dialogue, structural reform, civic engagement and pluralism.

A foundational paper containing findings from the first major phase of work was published in 2023 and has been translated into twelve languages (Arabic, Bahasa, Chinese, French, Hausa, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Urdu). The paper has served as the basis for language-diverse convenings organized around the world.

Current activities of the Global Initiative on Polarization include: 1) strategic engagements with and by our globally unique Depolarization Community of Practice, 2) the organization of an annual in-person Global Forum on Depolarization, which aims to deepen connections within and beyond the Community of Practice and serve as a ‘conveyor belt’ for important depolarization insights and innovations; 3) the production of a globally informed depolarization strategy framework, broadly based on the original three-part solutions spectrum IFIT developed; and 4) the generation of practice-oriented policy papers and short videos that focus on promising innovations in the area of depolarization.