Concluding Remarks by Dr. Nona Ricofort for the Global Women Leadership Exchange

Global Peace Foundation
October 10, 2016

The following remarks were given by Dr. Nona Ricofort at the close of the Global Women Leadership Exchange held from September 26 to October 1 in Korea. Women from the Philippines, Japan and Korea convened for the exchange that highlighted the strength of women in peacebuilding as well as raised awareness of the regionally significant conflict on the Korean peninsula .


(left to right) Global Peace Women Korea President Ms. Mihwa Kim, Dr. Nona Ricofort, Commissioner of Higher Education and Ms. Keiko Kobayashi, actress and star of the moving film, “Jun-Ai”

Stories may end, songs may fade. Memories may be forgotten. All things come to an end, but previous people like all of you shall be treasured forever. On behalf of the Philippines delegation, we wish to express our deep appreciation for the warm reception and hospitality extended to us, the well prepared and meaningful program of activities the past five days, the delicious food all throughout and most of all the sincere friendship and caring Korean sisters we developed will remain in our hearts forever.

To summarize briefly what we have experienced and learned from the discussions that surfaced at this gathering: women are vital players in creating innovations and proposing new ways of interventions and realizing many of today’s problems are the result of decisions in which women may not have participated at all. It is therefore recommended tomorrow’s solutions should be designed with the full participation of women, after all we own half of the sky or shall we say the women compose more than 50% of the world’s populations. This will be part of our advocacies in the GPW Philippines.

Tomorrow’s solutions should be designed with the full participation of women, after all we own half of the sky or shall we say the women compose more than 50% of the world’s populations.

Of course, we do not underestimate the pains and difficulties ahead. But together, we should be able to face the challenges ahead towards an ideal situation where we can proudly say:

  • We will now see our journey towards women’s empowerment, not merely to influence the world but to create our own niche
  • And we will also see the need to integrate men’s active involvement in all women’s national agenda and activities for better understanding and their acceptance for women as their equal partners in nation building.

Why did I have to mention all these achievements? It is because to convince all of you dynamic women here in this hall, that if we want to achieve our aspirations we can do it. If indeed the emancipation of women was a great dream, it was meant for the women of today to have great dreams and make them come true. So, let us all work together with dedication and determination to empower as many women to be the greatest multipliers of prosperity rather than the greatest victim of poverty. Let us move on to the forefront with our action agenda and manifest the courage to push humanity towards one family under God and make a difference.

If indeed the emancipation of women was a great dream, it was meant for the women of today to have great dreams and make them come true.

To our Korean and Japanese sisters, we look forward to seeing all of you in the Philippines this February 26 to March 1 for the Global Peace Convention. In this gathering we will be with the Chairwoman Dr. Jun Sook Moon and Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon and all the women members of the Global Peace Women. One again, we shall treasure in our hearts the experiences we encountered and the memories of our five-day stay.

Filipina delegates present a traditional dance at the opening ceremony of the 5-day exchange.

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