David Fairman is Managing Director at the Consensus Building Institute and Associate Director of the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program. For 28 years, he has built consensus and enhanced collaboration capacity on complex public and organizational issues internationally and in the U.S. His primary focus is building effective multi-stakeholder partnerships, organizational strategies, and dispute resolution systems to meet the challenges of sustainable development.
Areas of Focus
Leading CBI’s Global Development and Peacebuilding practice, David builds consensus and collaboration capacity on a wide range of issues, from implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, to rights-based development, integrating peace, humanitarian and development operations, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and addressing the impacts of extractive sector operations. Conveners and stakeholders in this work include national governments, multilateral agencies, global and national NGOs, and multinational corporations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. He is deeply engaged in strengthening leadership collaboration capacity and dispute resolution systems in multilateral organizations, including the UN Development System, the World Bank Group, and the Asian Development Bank. He has catalyzed and supported national initiatives to promote collaborative governance in Brazil, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Korea, Tanzania, and more than 20 other countries.
David’s Economic and Social Policy work in the U.S. includes national- and state-level consensus building on economic opportunity and mobility, the future of education, public housing policy, and re-integration of incarcerated citizens. He has also facilitated consensus building and partnerships on many other issues in the U.S., including national energy policy, regional transportation, and economic development plans, and local affordable housing initiatives.