For Shamil Idriss — the head of Search for Common Ground — there’s perhaps just one thing more dangerous than polarization.
Ignoring it.
“People who are from the communities that are affected by conflict — and especially when there is violence — are not neutral or impartial, and they shouldn’t be asked to be,” said Idriss, just before speaking at Devex World 2024 last week. “It takes a while to build trust across those networks and those teams, but once you do, it’s really powerful. And it’s a lot harder to undercut.”