Australian Guide Program

The Australian Guide Program helps you learn life-skills and leadership while having fun, making friends and enjoying the outdoors.

• SELF- Being a Guide is all about challenging yourself
• PEOPLE- Making friends, sharing, caring and understanding others
• PRACTICAL- Learning some skills that will help you through life
• PHYSICAL- Being active, healthy and strong

Everything that Guides do is related to these four elements of the Program. Activities are based on the fundamentals of Guiding:

• Keeping the Promise and Law is our underlying code of living
• Enjoying the Outdoors offers active adventure and awareness of the environment
• Giving Service encourages a sense of community
• Exploring World Guiding builds peace and understanding
• Sharing in Guiding Traditions give a sense of belonging and history
• Experiencing Leadership Development improves skills for life
• Participating in the Patrol System develops teamwork skills

What is a Challenge?

Some people think climbing Mt Everest is a challenge. For others learning to ride a bike is a challenge, especially if it is a unicycle or playing a musical instrument.

As a Guide, a challenge is a goal or aim you set yourself and carry out to the best of your ability. Perhaps your unicycle wobbled a bit, or your tune didn't sound quite as you had hoped, but you DID YOUR BEST.

Challenges encourage you to try something new and different, meet new people, increase your confidence in a variety of skills, extend your knowledge and skills and make you feel proud of yourself.

Planning your own program

Use the process of the Australian Guide Program to:

You can do this in a Unit that meets weekly during school term for 1-2 hours with the assistance of your trained adult volunteer Leader or, if you unable to attend a regular meeting time, you can join a Lone Unit.

Recognition

Badges, certificates and Awards are just one way you can choose to reward yourself.

Badges are only a small part of being a Guide - there are lots of activities in Guides that you will take part in and enjoy.

You can reward yourself in other ways too - stickers, or a treat!

So, you made it up onto the unicycle - why not go to the circus and see the clowns messing about on unicycles? Why was it so hard? Sometimes a smile, pat on the back, a "well done" is all it takes to feel you have achieved a challenge.

Global Action Theme

WAGGGS’ new Global Action Theme(GAT) is girls worldwide say “together we can change our world” was announced at the 33rd WAGGGS World Conference in 2008 and focuses on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The new theme follows on from Our Rights, Our Responsibilities which addressed our rights and responsibilities as global citizens, GAT addresses the most compelling global agenda of the moment: the Millennium Development Goals.

Ending poverty was the historic promise made by 189 world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. It has eight areas of focus and through these interlinked areas, the aim is to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world as well as raise awareness in everyone about the situation. All UN member states signed up to measurable targets with clear deadlines, the ultimate deadline being 2015, by which all goals should be achieved.

Ending poverty can only be achieved through addressing the issues of: hunger, education, empowerment of women, child mortality, maternal health, epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, and environmental sustainability.

MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education

MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

MDG 4: Reduce child mortality

MDG 5: Improve maternal health

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

As a global movement, WAGGGS is stepping up to the challenge to build a better world. The MDGs represent the most compelling world agenda for young people right now. By aligning our work with the MDGs, WAGGGS is enabling girls and young women to influence issues that affect them. WAGGGS has strong, established links with the United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals address global issues. Australian Guides can explore the MDGs, partner with other organisations and make a difference. The MDGs are connected to Girl Guides Australia's vision and core values.

Girl Guides Australia held an Advocacy and Leadership training - Taking the Lead which focused on the MDGs in January 2009. Seven young women attended from each State Guide Organisation and two from New Zealand. All particapants received a copy of WAGGGS Advocacy Toolkit, an excellent resource produced by WAGGGS European Region.

During 2009, WAGGGS and Girl Guides Australia will introduce further resources and ideas to help encourage Guide members in advocacy work. The GAT will be a thread in all WAGGGS events including leadership seminars, projects, events and advocacy. World Thinking Day will adopt an MDG as its theme each year. This topic will become WAGGGS’ yearly focus until 2015. The World Centres will run programs, activities and seminars connected to the MDGs, and the 34th World Conference will be an occasion to showcase WAGGGS’ contribution to the achievement of the MDGs.

The WAGGGS GAT badge(will be available later in 2009) curriculum will have information and activities on each of the eight MDGs. There will be three levels to choose from: basic, advanced and specialist. The specialist level will give girls the opportunity to focus on one particular MDG topic of interest. Watch this space for further information.

WAGGGS encourages everyone to take action and change the world around them. Action can happen at many levels. It starts with action on a local level and extends through state, national projects and campaigns to the international level as WAGGGS mounts an international advocacy campaign on MDG topics. ‘Our world’ starts at a personal level, and expands to include our local community, national and international levels. WAGGGS sees the initiative as an important method of educated the young people who are the leaders of tomorrow and raising the awareness of the wider public.

WAGGGS Messages

girls worldwide say “ together we can end extreme poverty and hunger”

girls worldwide say “education opens doors for all girls and boys”

girls worldwide say “empowering girls will change our world”

girls worldwide say “together we can save children’s lives”

girls worldwide say “every mother’s life and health is precious”

 

girls worldwide say “we can stop the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases”

girls worldwide say “we can save our planet”

girls worldwide say “we can create peace through partnerships”

Imagine these young girls. Let’s call them Jenny, Priya and Mary. They’re all eleven years old and they could well be Girl Guides or Girls Scouts. By 2015, they will be eighteen. What will life be like for them in seven years’ time? They are the faces of the future. Achieving the MDGs matters because it will affect all of us, including them.

"It is not in the United Nations that the Millennium Development Goals will be achieved. They have to be achieved in each of its Member States, by the joint efforts of their governments and people."
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

Girl Guides Australia is one of WAGGGS ‘GAT Champion’ Member Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region, along with Girlguiding New Zealand, Pakistan Girl Guide Association and The Girl Guides Association of Thailand.

Australian Guide Program Review 2008

Review of the Australian Guide Program in 2008

Thank you to everyone who participated in this review – Leaders, parents and Guides in the review carried out by DDR Strategic Research, and Leaders who participated in the written survey available on-line or hardcopy. We had a great response to both parts of the review. A very brief summary of the key findings are:

Guides, Leaders and parents are very positive about Girl Guides.

The parents see the positive effect of Guiding on their daughter(s).

Comparatively the Elements appear to be the weaker component of the AGP.

Leaders are seeking more ideas on how to find fun and engaging ways of incorporating World Guiding, Guiding Traditions and Promise & Law into their Unit programs.

Smaller Units tend struggle to incorporate an effective Patrol System into their program.

Training on recognising the five developmental stages and how to best manage the developmental stages in Units is required.

Often parents, Leaders and girls are unclear on how the badge system works and Guides’ expectations.

A general request that there is a nationwide pool of resources, rather than only being able to access their own State resources.

Age appropriate Guide handbooks are wanted.

More detailed summary is available here.

Taking Action:

A number of actions have been developed in response to the Review. Some of the key actions are:

Development of age appropriate handbooks for girls and a handbook for Leaders. (All due to be released in 2010.)

Development of key milestones/characteristics for each developmental stage based on the four Elements. (Due to be available by the end of 2009.)

Development of a national skills-based challenge focussing on the four Elements. (Due to be released in 2010.)

Mapping of the Leadership Focus (youth badge) to the Australian Adult Leadership Program, so that when a member turns 18 years and has completed the Leadership Focus she can automatically be accredited with a number of modules and clauses contributing towards a Leader Qualification. (Completed)

More information in Look Wide to explain the badges, how to develop a challenge and peer assessment. (Completed)

The great news is that the last two action items have already been completed, and we’re well on our way with the other actions. So watch this space for more information and the latest improvements to the Australian Guide Program.

Copyright Girl Guides Australia 2010