The Shared Societies Project

"Either we build a common civilization with the same universal values or we shipwreck together on a common barbarism."

Amin Maalouf

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The Shared Societies Project is a Club of Madrid global initiative that provides leaders with greater understanding of the benefits of social cohesion, the incentives and means to act to advance it. The project supports democratic development through promoting leadership for dialogue, diversity and social cohesion.

The project is designed in the belief that societies are most likely to be peaceful, democratic and prosperous when leaders and citizens recognize the value of diversity and actively build a shared society.

A ‘shared society’ is a socially cohesive society. It is stable, safe. It is where all those living there feel at home. It respects everyone’s dignity and human rights while providing every individual with equal opportunity. It is tolerant. It respects diversity. A shared society is constructed and nurtured through strong political leadership.

We wish to acknowledge and thank the following organizations that make the Shared Societies Project possible:

Alan B. Slifka Foundation

The initiative has benefited greatly from the vision, commitment and support of Alan Slifka

Alan B. Slifka is a New York investment manager and philanthropist who is the Co-Chairman and founder of Halcyon Asset Management LLC.

Mr.Slifka has long been active in philanthropic affairs and is committed to a build a world safe for difference through philanthropic support for political leadership for shared society, education of coexistence practitioners and professionalizing the field of practice, and the institutionalization of policies to advance social cohesion.

Mr. Slifka is Chairman of the International Board of The Abraham Fund Initiatives, which he co-founded in 1989 as the first and only public not-for-profit organization whose sole purpose is to further coexistence between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens through support of programs and projects in Israel. It is his belief that legitimization and enhancement of coexistence and coexistence programs between majority and minority, whether ethnic, tribal or religious, is currently the most essential yet under-supported need in the world.

In 2001, Mr. Slifka established the Slifka Program on Intercommunal Coexistence at Brandeis University. The program, which includes a Master’s Degree in Coexistence and Conflict, seeks to develop greater professional expertise and creative leadership in the field of coexistence. He is also a founding board member of Coexistence International, a global network of practitioners.

Born in New York City in 1929, Mr. Slifka graduated from the Fieldston School, received his B.S. at Yale University in 1951 and his M.B.A. at Harvard in 1953 and in 2003 Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Brandeis University. In 2008 he received an Honorary Doctorate in the field of Coexistence from Haifa University.

The Global Forum on Leadership for Shared Societies was made possible thanks to the contribution of:

The support of ther institutions that have helped us to develop project activities is also much appreciated

The Shared Societies Project has received valuable input from other Club of Madrid projects supported by

Government of Norway

 Other project partners include: