At the Sixth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska presented the Global Vocabulary of Resilience – a publication that, for the first time, brought together the experiences of 38 countries and became a practical outcome of this year’s Summit.

The Global Vocabulary of Resilience addresses questions that many societies have been asking themselves in recent years. How can people preserve their ability to act when the familiar order breaks down? What helps individuals withstand prolonged pressure, communities maintain connections, institutions continue functioning, and cultures make sense of loss and find points of reference for the future?

The publication includes 38 concepts, social practices, institutional models, and cultural frameworks that demonstrate concrete mechanisms of resilience. Among them are the Australian concept of mateship, which reveals the strength of practical mutual support; the Norwegian dugnad – a community’s ability to organize collective work; Estonia’s Tiigrihüpe – an example of building digital capacity; Germany’s Erinnerungskultur – the role of responsible remembrance in protecting democracy; South Africa’s Ubuntu, which reflects the connection between human dignity, mutual responsibility, and collective action; and others.

All the concepts are organized around four dimensions of resilience: survive, stand together, act, and make meaning. Each page explains the meaning of the concept, its historical, cultural, or institutional origins, how it works during a crisis, lessons that may be useful to other societies, as well as the limitations and sensitivities associated with its use.

The work on the Vocabulary combined research analysis, international expert review, and diplomatic support. With the participation of Ukrainian embassies, offices of first ladies and gentlemen, and experts from the respective countries, the validity of each selection, its cultural context, the accuracy of its interpretation, and the appropriateness of its wording were reviewed.

More than 45 experts from different countries worked on the publication in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and diplomatic missions abroad, with expert and analytical support from the Coordination Center for Mental Health of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Institute for National Resilience and Security, as well as with support from the WHO Country Office in Ukraine and UNICEF.

“It was important to learn that the resilience of many peoples lies in collective action and in the desire to help others. I thank all the countries that shared this invaluable knowledge, which comes from the very heart and soul of your peoples,” Olena Zelenska said.

The First Lady of Ukraine presented Ukraine’s page in the Vocabulary – the term “Sofiynist,” proposed by Ukrainian scholars as a concept combining the will to live, the strength to fight, and the wisdom to learn. Sofiynist is symbolically linked to Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the venue of the Sixth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.

“The first element it consists of is the ability to see reality as a whole, with both the mind and the heart. The second is the ability to see meaning beyond the surface of an event. Not simply to endure a difficult experience and move on, leaving it behind, but to truly live through it – to understand what it has changed in us and take from it what will make our next step more precise. The third is faithfulness to one’s values. The fourth, and most important, is action. To me, Sofiynist today is how people come together even after yet another Russian attack; how neighbors, without being told or called upon, go out to help first responders and those affected; how energy workers and utility crews restore electricity and water to bombed-out homes; how teachers continue teaching, children continue learning, and adults continue working so that the country can live,” the First Lady emphasized.

According to Olena Zelenska, in this publication Ukraine appears not only as a country sharing its own experience of living through war, but also as the initiator of a broader international conversation about how societies can learn from one another.

“We have truly launched an entirely new and unique practice: we are building a shared global language of resilience so that together we can act in conditions of uncertainty while enduring and preserving who we are. And this is only the beginning. I invite scholars, universities, academic communities, and international institutions to join in building a major scientific cluster on resilience. Together, we can create knowledge that will help all our societies and people,” the First Lady said.

The digital version of the Global Vocabulary of Resilience is already available on the Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen Global Platform via the link.