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Meet PAX sapiens

PAX sapienswork currently focuses on three specific preventable catastrophic risks. These are preventing global pandemicspreventing armed conflicts between the US and China, and preventing the use of nuclear weapons. We operate with a long-term perspective, an empirical approach, and through [P^3] partnerships that bring non-state actors to the table alongside governments to collectively solve problems.

We act as the host to the Our Secure Future program, advancing its Women, Peace, and Security agenda that cuts across all core issue areas.

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P^3 Partnerships

The strength and the weakness of philanthropy is that it’s free from external pressures and feedback loops. Donors are entitled to maximum flexibility. Very few other sectors have that same degree of freedom. However, these freedoms may also contribute to the danger of donors becoming removed from reality and as a result focusing on things that don’t actually work.

Partnership with international governmental organizations and the private sectors [P^3] provides non-profit organizations the mechanism of accountability through clear well-defined, measurable KPIs, to allow non-profit organizations, private donors and investors to maximize measurable impact.

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The Mission of PAX sapiens

The mission of PAX sapiens is the prevention of predictable, preventable global catastrophes through the creation of new systems of collective coordination that build a more peaceful world. We work with partners to understand why governance systems fail to prevent predictable risks and to collaboratively develop projects that address these failures.

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Family of Foundations

Marcel Arsenault and his wife Cynda Collins Arsenault are co-founders of the PAX sapiens Foundation (PAX), the One Earth Future Foundation (OEF), and the Secure World Foundation (SWF).

Marcel is an investor, serial entrepreneur, and CEO of Real Capital Solutions (RCS) which oversees a portfolio of real estate. Marcel brings an an impact-focused drive to philanthropy based on his expertise in building successful businesses and navigating complex geopolitical dynamics and economic cycles.

Marcel and Cynda’s operating foundations (OEF and SWF) partner with governments, civil society and other donors to help solve complex problems by addressing root causes of armed conflict. Through its unique culture of iterative learning and improvement, OEF designs, tests, and partners to scale economic development and peacebuilding programs in fragile regions including Somalia and rural Columbia. SWF works with governments and key stakeholders to develop more effective peaceful governance systems for outer space.

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Global Coordination

One main theme of Marcel and Cynda’s work is an emphasis on coordination and improving the ability of global systems to make good decisions on the basis of the best available evidence.  Collaboration explicitly focuses on bringing together other philanthropic organizations and key stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions built on points of agreement about long-term goals in different issue areas.

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