Meet the delegation - South West Region

Meet the delegation - Maz Matthews

Hi, I'm Maz (or Ratty in my unit!) and I'm a Leader at 1st Boscombe Down, Stonehenge District. I'm looking forward to meeting so many volunteers and listening to all their experiences within Guiding.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

I actually have two! My first was at our Region Day at Legoland in Windsor. Everywhere we went, either another unit behaving wonderfully (hearing members of the public commenting on their behaviour was nice too) or recognising Leaders and units from either Foxlease (where I work), my County or various other Guiding adventures.
The second is being at Stonehenge at 7am for a special occasion and seeing so many Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Leaders in their uniform with their families and other members of the public. My mum asked me how I knew a lot of people at the event and the answer was simple - Guiding!

Meet the delegation - Rhi Bull

I'm Rhi from 2nd Cricklade Guides and 1st Purton Rangers. I'm looking forward to meeting so many amazing people from across the globe!

My Favourite Guiding Memory

Visiting Switzerland when I was a Guide myself and making my promise at out chalet when I was a Ranger too.

Meet the delegation - Midlands Region

Meet the delegation - Siân Adamson-Osborn

Hello, I'm Siân and I am a Leader at 1st Longdon Brownies, 1st Rugeley Rangers and Rugeley Chetwynd District Commissioner. I’m excited to be given the opportunity to develop my skills within Guiding and meet other passionate volunteers from across the world who work with Guiding and Scouting.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

My favourite Guiding memory (gosh it’s a hard choice), was helping at our County’s centenary celebration and getting to see over 7,000 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, Leaders and Trefoil having the best time at the biggest party ever and completely taking over our County Showground!

Meet the delegation - Kat Leeming

I'm Kat from 19th Shrewsbury Brownies and Shropshire Senior Section Coordinator Midlands Region. I am really looking forward to meeting other likeminded people from European Guiding and Scouting organisations and hearing all about their personal experiences. I’m also super excited to visit Hungary, to explore the numerous and very interesting sounding sessions that are being presented at The Academy and most of all bringing these ideas back to Girlguiding to aid developments in local Guiding and maybe further afield!

My Favourite Guiding Memory

I have so many fantastic Guiding memories to choose from so picking just one is a little difficult!! There is something though that absolutely stands out…. I was part of a trio of Senior Section members to organise the Midland Region camp ‘Carnival Fever’ for the Senior Section Spectacular in 2016. It was a 2 year project which I have so many happy memories from - our unforgettable and crazy silent disco, fireworks to ‘Reach’ by S Club 7, a carnival procession, watching Team GB win their women’s hockey gold medal at the Rio Olympics with the Chief Commissioner and Chief Guide, as well as gaining two life-long best friends! I'm sure that this week at The Academy will only add to my growing list of things that I can say 'I did that with Girlguiding'.

Meet the delegation - Rosie Austin

Hi, I'm Rosie and I am a leader with 147th Birmingham Brownies. I'm looking forward to meeting new people from across the world, and being able to share experiences and knowledge with each other.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

I have so many Guiding memories it is hard to pick. I love going to unit meetings each week and seeing the young people grow and develop as individuals but I think my favourite memories are from international adventures especially a trip I went on as a Senior Section member to Kandersteg.

Meet the delegation - Kat Tilley

Hi - I'm Kat and a Leader with 1st Bills Wood Brownies, 6th Shirley Rainbows and Bills Wood District Commissioner. I'm most looking forward to exploring the city and meeting new people.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

My favourite guiding memory was running the water sports experience at Girlguiding Warwickshire's International Camp, Arden 2014! It was five action packed days of activities, adventure, challenges and fun!

Meet the delegation - Ulster Region

Meet the delegation - Emma Taggart 

Hello, I'm Emma and I am a Young leader at Kilrea Rainbows and Kilrea Senior Section. This week I'm really excited to learn more about how WAGGGS operates on a global level. Also, I can't wait to participate in the extensive variety of workshops that are available during the week.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

As a Girlguiding delegate for the British Youth Council I had the opportunity to present a motion on axing the tampon tax at this years' Annual Council Meeting. Speaking out about such an important issue was not only empowering for me but also allowed me to raise awareness of the discriminatory tax which affects thousands of people throughout the UK.

Meet the delegation - Roxy Thompson

Hi, I'm Roxy and a Leader with 93rd Belfast Brownies. I'm most looking forward to meeting Guides and Scouts from other countries and learning more about their organisations.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

Best Guiding memory - very hard, there are so many!! I would have to say going to Estonia with GOLD;  I got to spend 3 weeks with some awesome ladies, exploring a new country and meeting Estonian Guide Association members! We had loads of laughs, and some great sessions discussing the Rover programme with some of the Rovers.

Meet the delegation - International Team

Meet the delegation - Emily Fisher

Hello, I'm Emily and a Leader with 6th Abingdon Guides, Anglia and the Lead Volunteer for International Events and Funds. I am also the delegation lead! I’m most looking forward to making some new international Guiding and Scouting friends, and building my skills to help me perform better in my Guiding roles!

My Favourite Guiding Memory

My favourite Guiding memory is difficult to pick as there are so many, but my favourite thing is seeing girls achieve something they didn’t think they could.

Meet the delegation - Becky Patten

Hi, I'm Becky and I am a Leader at 2nd Ashton-on-Mersey South Rainbows in Greater Manchester West County, North West Region and I am the Lead Volunteer for International Communications and Engagement. I'm really looking forward to developing my skills, especially to help me in my lead volunteer role. It will be great to meet other WAGGGS and WOSM members too and find out about how they deliver a great programme to their members.

My Favourite Guiding Memory

My favourite memory is leading a North West Region trip for Guides; the first time this has happened. We took 18 girls to Helsinki and took part in a community action project in Nuuksio National Park. It was a privilege to watch the girls gain in confidence and learn more about themselves and help them to take part in their first international adventure with Girlguiding.

Meet the delegation - North West Region

Meet the delegation - Jenny Long

Hi, I'm Jenny and I am a Leader at 206th Liverpool Senior Section, North West England. This week I am really looking forward to learning how Guiding operates internationally, what other countries and regions get up to, and what opportunities there are to get involved with Guiding globally. I want to learn everything I can!!

My Favourite Guiding Memory

My favourite memory was earlier this year when I got to visit Buckingham Palace with my unit. My girls got to meet Prince Charles and we had a great day in CHQ!

The Academy 2017, Hungary

Next week, over 200 members of WAGGGS and WOSM will join in Esztergom, Hungary for The Academy 2017!

Who's Going?

The UK we are sending a delegation of 11 lead by Emily Fisher, Lead Volunteer International Events and Funds. She will be joined by Becky Patten, Lead Volunteer for International Communication and Engagement, Marianne Matthews and Rhiannon Bull from the South West Region, Jennifer Long from the North West Region, Emma Taggart and Roxy Thompson from the Ulster Region and Siân Adamson-Osborn, Rosie Austin, Katherine Leeming and Kathryn Tilley from the Midlands Region.

Over the coming days, the delegation will introduce themselves and you can find out more about what they are most looking forward to at The Academy.

What is The Academy?

The Academy 2017 is a unique Scout and Guide event designed to enable participants to get high quality training and networking opportunities around the core priorities of the European Regions of WAGGGS and WOSM. The event is open to anyone holding a role at national level in a WAGGGS or WOSM Association, ranging from members of working groups up to Chief Commissioners.

How can you keep up to day with our experience?

Keep up to date with everything that we get up to at The Academy by followoing us on Twitter and Instagram: @ukintguides or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GirlguidingAtInternationalConferences/

Thursday - Motions, Voting and Coming Together for Her World

Thursday 

After a fantastic day at Forum workshops sharing experiences and learning's between MOs, on Thursday morning it was back to the governance side of things with voting sessions on the proposed motions and amendments. You can read more about the motions in more detail in Document 6b here: https://www.wagggs.org/en/about-us/governance/world-conference/36th-world-conference/documents/ 

During the opening business of the conference on Monday, (which seems quite a long time ago already!) we voted and passed the first set of 10 motions, including those that affect the constitution of WAGGGS. During today’s session we had a grand total of 23 proposed motions and amendments to get through. Huge thank you and acknowledgement of the Conference Chair Sandra and her team as well of the procedural team led by Helen. They did an outstanding job at explaining the governance points, allowing meaningful debate and still keeping us to time. 

This was even more impressive when you remember that conference voted in favour of allowing motions to be proposed during the conference, with a Tuesday deadline ready for vote on Thursday! 

Some of the key motions that were passed by the World Conference: 

- 🎉 the World Board will conduct an investigation into the barriers preventing young women from applying for WAGGGS governance roles and develops concrete actions to address this 🎉

- Uganda 🇺🇬will host the 37th World Conference in 2020

- WAGGGS to continue ongoing work of cooperation with WOSM through advocacy on global issues affecting Guiding and Scouting📣

- WAGGGS recognises the importance and advantages of a girl-only environment and undertakes to protect this important aspect of girl guiding and girl scouting 🙋

- World Conference fees will continue to offer discount based on under 30 delegates and wealth band💷

- Development of tools around girl guiding and girl scouting educational methods for different age groups👭👫

- Recommendation to host a Girl Guide/ Girl Scout Experienced Forum in the next triennium👭

- Arabic is now the 4th official language of WAGGGS alongside English, French and Spanish 📢

- Kusafiri is continued to be supported with a dedicated programme of events, budgets and scholarships🌍

- Agenda 2030 and Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security is integrated into the 2018-20 Global Strategic Plan ☮️

- Coordination of International Commissioner contact details on an annual basis📝

- the World Board encourages the preparation of MOs for future World Conferences✏️

We were particularly excited about the response to proposed motion 32, which Bekky had written in partnership with Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Austria and co-signed by a further 11 MOs. The motion passed with 103 in favour, one of the largest majority’s of the morning and received a standing ovation from the floor.  

The voting session finished with passionate debates around the final two motions relating to our relationship with WOSM and the importance of girls-only space. As the UK delegation we were really pleased that both motions passed and spoke to support this during the session. As a girls only organisation with a good relationship with our WOSM counterparts, UK Scouting we are strongly in support of a girls only environment but also recognise that co-education is important and other models are of equal value. It is important for each MO to chose a model that is right for their situation and we are confident that WAGGGS can continue to support the girl only environment and to work closely with WOSM on issues affecting Guiding and Scouting.  

“Coming together for Her World” was the fantastic afternoon and opportunity to hear from many of WAGGGS partners and provided us with lots to think about in our own work.  

We hear about the Sustainable Development Goals and how WAGGGS’s expertise and priorities of non formal education, leadership development and advocacy are shaping what we do. 

We also heard from U-Report, TheGoals.org, UPS Foundation, Dove, UN Women and an exciting new fundraising platform set up to support WAGGGS – the World Guide Foundation.