Why International?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that international opportunities in Guiding are a key reason for girls and young women staying in Guiding. International is a great retainer. If a girl has an international opportunity in Guiding, she is more likely to stay involved in Guiding, for longer.  International Guiding opportunities open minds, present totally unique experiences and enable girls to learn about themselves and the broader world.

 

As a member of Girlguiding, one is part of a giant family, which exists in 146 countries across the world.  Not only is a Girlguiding member in a unit, she is also in a District, a Division (depending on the size of the area – some areas don’t have Districts), a County, a Region, a Member Organisation, WAGGGS (the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts).  How many members does WAGGGS have? 10 million! Guess what percentage of the eligible worldwide population are involved in WAGGGS – less than 1% globally.  That said, Girlguiding has about 500,000 members in the UK, representing a significant chunk of the 1 million.  

Why am I telling you this? Because there is always scope for growth.  Leaders in Girlguiding have a responsibility to grow Guiding, in line with the national agenda.  The Chief Guide launched a #MakeARainbow campaign recently, to encourage Leaders to open up Rainbow units to address that need.  Increasingly, girls are sitting on waiting-to-join lists for Rainbows and not actually getting in!

Have you ever thought about running a Rainbow unit? We really need more, across the UK.  Maybe you don’t know anything about Rainbows – read more about the programme here.  Rainbows is where the journey through Girlguiding begins.  I would have been a Rainbow, but they had not been invented at that time.  

Part of the national Growing Guiding agenda is about flexibility, about fitting around the time commitments of the leaders.  There are all sorts of ways of doing things in an alternative way, to accommodate this.  Some units meet on Saturday mornings.  Some units have enlarged, then split into two and meet on alternate weeks.  If you’re not already in Guiding and want to do something really useful for the future of girls and young women, get involved! You will be welcomed with open arms! Have a look here and read about the amazing things Girlguiding does – opportunities, advocacy, international, residentials, growth, development, learning, independence.  Watch this to see a recent Channel 4 piece about what Girlguiding does for girls and young women.

I hope that those that are coming on this Iceland trip will be inspired to stay involved in Guiding, as Guides, Senior Section, then hopefully volunteers, in whatever capacity suits them.

But to now.  In 24 hours, we will be en route to the airport.  The months of preparation will be over and we will be embarking on the trip of a lifetime.  The itinerary is complete, everything is in place.  We now just need it to happen!

You’ll be pleased to hear that the patrols (small groups of Guides) are going to write sections of the blog as the trip progresses.

More soon.  Why not tell a friend about this blog? Use it as a tool to grow Guiding!