Professional Affiliation

Israel Country Director, Search for Common Ground

Expert Bio

Maya Savir serves as Search For Common Ground’s Country Director for Israel, focusing on innovative, inclusive peacebuilding. Maya is a professional in development work, humanitarian relief, and in the human rights and peace community. She is a published author, writing fiction for adults, young adults and children, as well as narrative non-fiction. Maya has extensive experience in development work and humanitarian relief, serving for a decade as Executive Director of JustSpirulina, an NGO working with malnourished children in disadvantaged communities, primarily in Africa; in the Israeli civil society heading the Knowledge Center at JFN- Israel, a funders network focusing on strategic, impactful philanthropy; and in the human rights and peace community in Israel as an entrepreneur, a writer and a lecturer. Her most recent book, On Reconciliation, delves into the conflicts and reconciliation processes of South Africa and Rwanda and then returns to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering insights about what it means to live in conflict and what reconciliation demands.