The meetings in Bucharest, ‘Paris of the East’, were most inspiring and elevating, given it’s rich architectural and cultural history. Meeting people from cross-sections of society also gave us an insight into the current context especially around the need to restore civil society engagement and uplift energy through community and kinship.
Dr. Martin propose launching of a petition in Romania to introduce the word for ‘Sisterhood’ in the dictionary of the Romanian language academy. Words create realities. If we can say it, we can see it. The She-for-She bonds are integral to our vision of women empowerment, gender equality and co-creating an better world for all.
We also spoke about the crisis of self-confidence and self-belief especially among women as we have internalised societal stereotypes and expectations leading to mental barriers, which we too need to overcome. We discussed the importance of performing arts, new writing, theater and conversations to enable breakthroughs for all.
Especially in the meet and greet, women and men shared in different ways about the same concern – the community gap, and how by just bridging this gap we can strengthen one another, and bring hope and happiness with even the smallest gestures of support, kinship and kindness. By bridging the community and connection gap, we can also bridge other gaps, viz. gender gap, generation gap, empathy gap, effort gap, workforce gap, pay gap, respect gap, recognition gap, opportunity gap, access gap, networking gap, among others. Alone we strive, Together we thrive.
Belief in the power of the Collective however needed a balancing – the spirit of creativity and community in collectivity needed to be honored as much in order to foster a thriving self-nourishing community that can sustain our common human values with self-awareness and integration. When we become bolder and better as people and communities, our worlds will naturally become better.
Courage expressed in Action will help us realise our common values in concrete ways. Dr. Martin thus proposed to launch at her wing 100 meetings with 100 universities worldwide for mentoring circles with young people to harness the power of youth for community and co-creation, and foster sustainability in our global efforts.
Given the meetings with leaders from Greece who joined us in Bucharest, we also discussed organising G100 meetings in Greece.
Convenor & Navigator: We extend our deepest gratitude to our Convenor of the Bucharest meetings,Dr. Aurora Martin, G100 Global Chair – Inter-Cultural Dialogue. We are most grateful for her tireless efforts and support.
Program
Preparatory meeting (on 30 April) : with Anca Dragu, first woman President of the Romanian Senate and former Minister of Public Finance (online)
8am : Meeting with Convenor and G100 Romania meetings, Dr. Aurora Martin, Global Chair, Inter-Cultural Dialogue
9am : Meeting with Catherine SOFIANOU is the President of the SofMedica group of companies, an acknowledged high-end healthcare technologies & services provider in South Eastern Europe with major head offices in Athens – Greece and Bucharest – Romania.
Along with Ioannis Chrysoulakis, Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
10am: Meeting with Liviu Lucaci, Rector of the National Film and Theater University, along with his daughter, graduating in political science graduating, and a strong feminist.
11am: Meeting with Krisztina Konya, Romania Country Chair for G100 wing of Oneness & Wisdom
1:30pm Luncheon meeting with all above along with H.E. Sofia Grammata, the Ambassador of Greece in Bucharest and Prof. Marja-Liisa Tenhunen,
Rector of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University in Romania, and Founder of CENTIA University of Applied Sciences, Finland
4pm: Meet & Greet at Palace of Parliament