Coronavirus took Philia to a whole new level of motivation. We saw the magnificent importance of the Philia Peer Coaching Method for the future we want to see in the world.
CORONA times were a blessing and a curse for Philia. First, all the plans made over months of hard work, brainstorming after brainstorming, meeting after meeting, were all put on hold for an indefinite amount of time. Suddenly the question of what to do and how to move further arose.
But as with any powerful transitional moments, help comes from unexpected places. Suddenly, as the lockdown came in, more and more people, experts in their fields, found themselves with loads of time on their hands. And they wanted to do something useful with their time. And what is more useful than to volunteer for an emerging women empowering organisation which is as open and as motivated as Philia? Suddenly, we found ourselves with the right people pulled together by the power of caring for the same values: consent, empowerment, the future of female leadership and, not the least, love for the human kind.
By the end of May, we were pumped with enthusiasm and full of new knowledge. Amazing women from all continents joined. We extended our branches to New York and Sydney, established long-lasting partnerships around the globe and our postponed plans got back on the table with the full force of having even more resources and motivation to come to life.
Another interesting aspect is that people become more open to peer to peer coaching as opposed to traditional coaching and we found ourselves with an unexpected amount of new Philias joining the e-course. We are looking forward to our academic research on how the e-course positively shapes the life of Philia E-course participants and to our new Philia app. Women empowering each over through our peer to peer coaching method not only works, it makes the transition to a better world into a true adventure.