Letter from the Chief Commissioner

"There just weren't the same opportunities available when I was a Guide"! If you are a 'Baby Boomer' Guide as I am, I am sure you can relate to these words and I am even more certain that you've been known to say them yourself on occasion.

Thirty years ago, international travel was very expensive and not readily available. The international opportunities that were offered were generally camping experiences in a foreign country and mostly, only girls and young women with parental financial support were able to attend.

Amazing opportunities have certainly been offered to our young women over the past 18 months or so. However, sometimes GGA is not given a great deal of notice about these opportunities and events, and as such, notices calling for applications have been short.  In some cases our International Manager has been provided only 24 hours notice and so advertising has been impossible.

On the home front, the events that GGA has held in the past 18 months (Taking the Lead, Power Up and Be the Change) have identified a host of amazing young women across Australia - older Guides and young Leaders who are passionate about making a difference at a local, national and global level.
 
 		  

Letter from the Chief Commissioner
Young women who are changing our world together

WAGGGS Leadership Development Program
54th Annual Commission into the Status of Women: Susanna Matters
Rebecca Clark at Pax Lodge

Our team for the 63rd UN Conference on Public Information and NGOs
G(IRLS) 20 Summit in Toronto
National Water Week
 

Since WAGGGS launched the Global Action Theme (GAT) in 2008 and GGA was selected to be a GAT Champion, the interest in advocacy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has reached almost fever pitch. Guides and young women from around the country are learning about the eight MDGs - how they can change their lives and those of others and how they can help others to understand and contribute to the goal to end extreme poverty by 2015. Guides as young as seven years are singing the MDG song that the young women at Taking the Lead created.

And as a result of this, many young women have attended exciting, relevant and significant events such as:

  • Juliette Lowe Seminar in Kenya in 2009 (1)
  • Bejing +15 in the Philippines n 2009 (1)
  • COP 15 in Denmark in 2009 (4)
  • Commission on the Status of Women in New York in 2010 (1)
  • A WAGGGS Leadership Development Program (WLDP) Workshop at Pax Lodge, London in 2010 (1)
  • G(irls) 20 Summit in Canada in 2010 (1)
  • The Helen Storrow Seminar at Our Chalet, Switzerland in 2010 (1)
  • The Asia Pacific Region Conference in the Maldives in 2010 (1)

A further 11 young women and a few slightly older Leaders attended the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) Conference in Melbourne in August. And in September another young woman is attending the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations Training Course in Spain.

Most of the above events have been made possible because GGA is a Member Organisation of WAGGGS.  In many cases, the young women have attended (and are attending) as part of a WAGGGS delegation. The reason GGA has been able to identify so many appropriate young women is due to their enthusiasm, passion and commitment to advocacy and the MDG’s. These young women want to be a part of this change and GGA is extremely proud of all of them. 

WAGGGS continues to notify us regularly of other relevant events – including those which are conducted by WAGGGS and those made possible because of the influence and respect that WAGGGS has at a global level.

Each of us has a responsibility to continue to identify young women who want to help to ‘change our world together’. We need to provide these young women with every assistance to ensure they can attend events where they can ‘do, educate and speak out’ and to encourage them to share these experiences with the wider Guiding community on their return.

As a ‘Baby Boomer’ Guide, I do wish I was 30 (or so) years younger!!
Lynne Price
Chief Commissioner

WAGGGS Leadership Development Program - Facilitators Workshop

I was selected by the Asia Pacific Region to attend a Facilitators Workshop for the WAGGGS Leadership Development Program (WLDP). I had no idea what the workshop would entail, but had heard enough about the WLDP to know it was something I wanted to be involved in.

I was one of 36 people from around the world to gather at Pax Lodge mid-May for a week to learn, and as it turned out, to share all the fantastic things that Guides in Australia is doing in relation to advocacy and the MDGs. WLDP, Pax Lodge, Guides in an international setting, Linden Edgell leading an amazing team of facilitators – what more could any Guide want?

We covered topics such as advocacy and community leadership, learning styles, facilitation versus training, coaching and mentoring. We were led through the week by many of the World Bureau staff and Board members and by other highly skilled facilitators from around the world.

To run a WLDP workshop not only do we need trained WAGGGS Facilitators, we also need to have three World Regions involved. So running sessions in Australia just for Australians is not going to work. However there are definitely lots of opportunities that we can follow up on!

Along with the personal learning, the Facilitators Group also spoke to a woman called Eva from Londiani, a small community in Kenya. Eva spoke to us about the different community-based projects that were helping to improve the lives of the community members. One of the issues she spoke about was that girls often miss one week a month of school because of their menstrual cycle. They are unable to access sanitary products, so have to stay at home. Missing one quarter of your schooling just because of your natural body cycle blew us away.

We all know the difference that a woman can make if she has an education. As such, we stepped up and developed a project then and there. ‘Girls for Girls’ was born, developed and launched in a matter of 48 hours. Each participant agreed to find 10 people who would find another 10 people each – all of whom would donate $US2/month ($US24/year). $US24 would enable one girl to access sanitary products for one year which would enable one girl to go to school for the entire school year! Although this doesn’t solve the problem long-term, it will make a difference for the next 12 months. In the meantime other solutions can be identified. Talk about advocacy in action!

But back to WLDP. Although I might not get to help facilitate a WLDP session in some exotic (or even just overseas) location soon, I’m already putting my skills and knowledge into practice by running an advocacy session at Western Australia’s Be the Change workshop. I also helped train the GGA Delegation to the UN DPI-NGO Conference which was held late August in Melbourne.
Karen Chatto.

Back to Top

54th Annual Commission into the Status of Women

The 54th annual Commission into the Status of Women (CSW) was held over two weeks in March at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Over 4,000 government and non government organisation (NGO) delegates from around the world attended CSW to review the Beijing Platform for Action and a delegation of women from WAGGGS was right there among them, advocating for governments to place the girl-child at the centre of efforts to implement the Beijing Platform for Action.

The Beijing Platform for Action is a women’s rights declaration which was signed by the member states of the United Nations in 1995 at the 4th World Conference on Women. The declaration aims to address 12 key areas in terms of the advancement of women:

  • Women and Poverty
  • Women and Education
  • Women and Health
  • Violence against Women
  • Women and Armed Conflict
  • Women and the Economy
  • Women in Power and Decision Making
  • Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women
  • Human Rights of Women
  • Women and the Media
  • Women and the Environment
  • The Girl Child.

So why are declarations like the Beijing Platform for Action important?
Around the world, girls and women have proved to be the best investment in local economies and education programs. There is a saying that “if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. But if you educate a girl, you educate the future of a nation”.

Research and statistics show that women and girls who have access to education pass on their knowledge directly to their families and communities. Therefore, the International Guiding movement plays a significant role in building a stronger global community by equipping girls with the confidence to discover their full potential as responsible and self-respecting citizens. You can learn more about this from http://www.girleffect.org/video  and from the UNICEF Report on the Progress of Children (September 2009).

The Guiding movement has the ability to be an integral and informed player in global debates on gender advancement and I would strongly encourage members of Girl Guides Australia to continue to teach our youth members to advocate and take action on behalf of our sisters around the world.  I ask all who read this E-news to consider both implementing WAGGGS’ Global Action Themes in their unit programs and applying to represent Girl Guides Australia overseas. Together we can change our world.
Susanna Matters

Susanna Matters at the Commission into the Status of Women

Back to Top
An Australian at Pax Lodge

Rebecca Clark from Victoria is currently volunteering at Pax Lodge. Below is an extract from a report on her wonderful experience there.
Hi everyone!! My name is Bec Clark, and I'm 21 years old, from Melbourne Australia. I am currently working for five months at Pax Lodge in London as a Resident Volunteer. To be accepted into any World Centre is an amazing opportunity and a great honour. However for me personally, Pax Lodge has been the World Centre I’ve always wanted to visit the most, so to be actually working and living here and being able to call it home is like a dream come true.

Working and living at Pax Lodge has been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I've ever done and it’s given me so much more than I originally thought it would. It seemed like a safe way to travel to the UK, visit the country where Girl Guides originated from and where our founders Lord and Lady B-P are from, and also a way to meet new people and make new friends - which is exactly what being at Pax Lodge has given me - but it has also taught me so many different important life skills.

I work as a Resident Volunteer, which is an ever-changing role and holds a wide variety of responsibilities and tasks. My main role entails house duties (cleaning guest rooms, making beds, bathrooms, laundry, washing, drying, folding and ironing, preparing and serving meals and doing dishes and general cleaning and tidying). However, I also do tasks such as providing guided tours around Pax Lodge and taking event groups out around London) which includes many famous London landmarks and popular tourist attractions such as the London Eye, the Theatre, the Changing of the Guards, Crystal Palace Park, and Tower of London. I also run evening programs for guests and visitors such as international nights, Centenary celebrations, games nights, campfire nights or Pax Lodge nights. Many of these tasks are things I have done as a Guide Leader, but it is a new experience to lead activities for lots people I don’t know, some of whom cannot speak English very well or at all.

As Pax Lodge is located right next door to the World Bureau, the WAGGGS Head Office, there have been other special opportunities to work closely with the Bureau and to help promote and take part in WAGGGS projects and events. These include being filmed for the WAGGGS Centenary video and working at Pax Lodge on April 10 for Centenary Day

.

Another amazing thing about Pax Lodge is I’ve had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. As we volunteers live at Pax Lodge, I’ve also lived with girls from various countries and now I have friends for life that live all over the world which makes me feel lucky and special. Again this comes with both challenges and rewards. For many volunteers, English is not their first language so there are times when communicating with each other can be difficult and take a long time. But learning how to communicate, live and work with girls who all have different languages, cultures and ways of life is also a big reward, as is the chance to learn a lot about a variety of cultures and countries, not just the United Kingdom.

I’ve become a lot more self-sufficient and independent and learnt how to manage my time very well as at Pax Lodge we are completely responsible for looking after ourselves. This includes keeping our rooms clean and tidy, doing our own laundry and washing, being organised and on time for work, planning our weekends and trips away, talking with family and friends at home and spending time with our Pax Lodge friends.

Overall working and living at Pax Lodge has changed my life. It’s given me a chance to live overseas in London (a dream come true) and it has given me friends from all over the world, along with teaching me life skills and making me realise what I am actually capable of. I’ve been able to prove to myself I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

So in conclusion, Pax Lodge really is an amazing place filled with fantastic experiences. It has been a home away from home and I would definitely recommend it to anybody interested in applying as it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Back to Top

 

 

 

 

 
Volunteering Opportunities

Volunteering at a WAGGGS World Centre provides many challenges, new experiences and lifelong friendships. Would you like to be part of an international staff team and develop your leadership skills in an outdoor environment? Applications for three to six month seasonal volunteer positions close six months prior to the start of the season.

For further information, contact our Chalet via e-mail at  info@ourchalet.ch or see this link: http://www.ourchalet.ch/en/people/volunteering_opportunities.

For Pax Lodge:  http://www.paxlodge.org/en/people/volunteeropportunities

For Sangam  http://www.sangamworldcentre.org

For Our Cabana  www.ourcabana.org

Back to Top

  
Our team for the 63rd UN Conference on Public Information and NGOs

The 63rd UN Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisation Conference was held in Melbourne from 30 August to 1 September 2010.

This was the first time Australia has hosted a UN event of this size and only the third time this Conference has been held outside of the UN Headquarters in New York.

The Conference brought together hundreds of Non-Government Organisation (NGO) representatives from around the world to discuss global health as it relates to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Health issues are central to the MDGs, the internationally agreed targets for reducing poverty. Goals discussed at this event included reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other preventable diseases.

Not only is Australia lucky enough to be hosting this event but Girl Guides Australia had a strong team of young women at this event with a group of 16 Girl Guides from around Australia attending. These young women attended workshops, talked to people and worked with other organisations to ensure that Girl Guides continue to be part of the solution.

The team included:
Susanna Matters (NSW)
Jane Harris (NSW)
Keryn McDonald (Qld)
Aby McGuire (Tas)
Kit Mitchell (SA)
Jacqui Siebel (Vic)
Erin Wicking (Vic)
Allison Bennett (Vic)
SJ Collum (Vic)
Rebecca Dawson (ACT)
Kate Jenkin (NSW)
Amy Campbell (Vic)
Anna Garsia (NSW)

Also attending were Linden Edgell (WAGGGS Deputy Chair World Board), Lynne Price (Chief Commissioner) and Petina Blackwell (Olave Program Manager GGA).

Back to Top

  

G(IRLS) 20 SUMMIT - TORONTO 2010

Jane Harris represented Australia at the inaugural G(irls)20 Summit, held prior to the G20 summit in June in Toronto, Canada. The summit drew together 21 delegates aged 18 to 20, including one young woman from each G20 country and one from the African Union.

The young women met to discuss and promote tangible, scalable solutions to help meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals and to put girls and young women front and centre with the G20 leaders. Delegates produced a communiqué which was distributed to all G20 leaders before the Summit which outlined over 50 recommendations focussed on education, women’s health and economic development. The full text can be found at www.girlsandwomen.com.  Applications will open early next year for the 2011 summit in Paris and young women aged 18 to 20 are encouraged to apply.

Note: While Jane Harris is a Guide Leader, she was selected to attend this event by the Belinda Stronach Foundation.

Back to Top

  

National Water Week 2010 – Ambassador Initiative

The Australian Water Association (AWA) is offering Girl Guides across Australia the opportunity to learn more about water issues in Australia, thanks to a new initiative launched as part of National Water Week (NWW) 2010.

The National Water Week Ambassador Initiative aims to improve understanding of water issues amongst communities and in particular, young people across Australia. AWA is recruiting a team of NWW ambassadors who will volunteer their time to visit schools and community groups, including Girl Guide groups, to present on a range of water topics, such as - an introduction to water, what happens to our wastewater and water at work.

Groups are invited to sign up now to request an ambassador visit during National Water Week between 17-23 October. Visit the National Water Week website - www.nationalwaterweek.org.au  for further information and to find an ambassador in your area.

Back to Top