We are supporting Laura!

All of us in the UK delegation are excited to be supporting Laura West (née Ede), former lead for Girlguiding UK's Peer Education programme, in her campaign for election to the WAGGGS Europe Committee. The Committee is responsible for achieving the goals of WAGGGS within Europe and for helping Member Organisations in the region to develop and grow. Laura is one of ten volunteers from across Europe standing for office and the elections will be an important part of the conference proceedings.

Laura’s proven that she can act as an inspiring advocate for guiding and can deliver strategic projects, with specific expertise in programme development. She has served as a great role model for girls and young women in the UK and she would do a fantastic job motivating and exciting members across Europe if elected to the next WAGGGS Europe Committee.

You can find out more about Laura’s aspirations in her blog on the Girlguiding website. Below are a few facts about the breadth of experience she holds.

1. Leadership and decision making

Laura has:

• led Girlguiding UK's flagship Peer Education programme, which supports young members to explore issues which are important to them, such as healthy relationships, through sessions delivered by their peers.
  
• made decisions, following consultation with girls and young women, about the strategic development of the Peer Education programme, with the goal to extend its reach to benefit more of the 327,000 Girlguiding UK members aged 7-25.
  
• restructured the governance of the Peer Education programme to make it more effective and strategically-focused.

2. Acting as the voice of young women

Laura has:

• acted as a role model to young members of Girlguiding UK and served as an advocate for the organisation externally, engaging audiences at high-level events including the Women in the World London Summit 2015 and speaking to national media including The Independent.
  
• led consultation with 500 Girlguiding UK to seek their views on the priorities for the Peer Education programme.
  
• worked in partnership with the national Department of Health, the police and local government authorities to develop programmes to support young people and families.         
  

3. Adapting programmes

Laura adapted the WAGGGS Free Being Me programme to make it relevant for the membership of Girlguiding UK, enabling Peer Educators to deliver sessions to young members.             

4. Assuring the quality of programmes

Laura has ensured that Girlguiding UK programmes are relevant and inspiring, and that the delivery is of the highest quality. She developed peer education materials with this focus and personally trained around 500 young members to ensure they had the confidence, skills and knowledge required to lead activities.

5. Working in partnership with staff

Through changes in ways of working between volunteers and staff within Girlguiding UK, Laura developed effective relationships with staff to achieve maximum impact in the delivery of the Peer Education programme.