Resolving conflicts and achieving sustainable coexistence in divided societies requires complementary efforts across relevant fields (e.g. governance, transitional justice, development) and between grassroots organizations, local governments, regional bodies, and the international community.
A coexistence lens helps divided societies by reinforcing, or in some cases, introducing a positive perspective of intergroup relations. For example, applying a coexistence lens to transitional justice processes means that special attention is given to intergroup relations when designing, implementing, and during follow up of transitional justice processes. Without such a lens, work on justice could easily divide, rather than connect communities.  The same holds true for other fields (e.g. development, education, and human rights).
To date, CI has developed its work on complementary approaches with a focus on the following fields that contribute to social inclusion:
- Governance
- Transitional justice
- The arts
CI’s networking, research, policy, and training programs create opportunities for learning between disciplines. This informs their practice and policy with a coexistence perspective, while also increasing the knowledge coexistence and social inclusion practitioners have of other fields. CI works with local partner organizations for its regional work. For example, for much of our topical work on transitional justice and on governance in West Africa, CI has collaborated on several projects with the Ghana Center for Democratic Development.
For more information on these topics, please visit our publications and research page.
Events related to our topical focuses include:
