About the Ford Institute

Our mission is to promote effective responses to the severe threats faced by individuals and communities affected by conflict and deprivation. The institute supports research on the causes and consequences of economic underdevelopment and political violence, and works to advance the idea that governments have a sovereign responsibility to protect their people.

Cathedral of Learning

Our Research 

We believe that the work conducted by the Ford Institute is critical to protecting and supporting the world's most vulnerable populations while simultaneously engaging our alumni, faculty, staff, the community, and corporate and governmental partners.

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...to protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfilment. ...[human security] means protecting people from critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations. It means using processes that build on people’s strengths and aspirations. It means creating political, social, environmental, economic, military and cultural systems that together give people the building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity.

The United Nations Commission on Human Security