24th World Conf report.doc
Version date: Oct. 10, 2005
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ISGF 24
th
World Conference 2005
Conference Report
WAGGGS Presentation
Carol Bowen
Treasurer of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
and Member of ISGF World committee
Good morning everyone.
I am Carol Bowen, Treasurer of WAGGGS and WAGGGS' representative on the ISGF World
Committee.
I bring greetings from Kirsty Gray, Chairman of the World Board, and apologies for her
absence from this Conference, due to her imminent departure for the WAGGGS World
Conference in Jordan.
As WAGGGS approaches its 32
nd
World Conference in Jordan, we look forward to new
ideas and new ways to develop and strengthen our Mission, but we also look back and
reflect on the past three years and on our achievements during that time.
If we look at our membership we can see that Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting is reaching far
across the world, and that many new countries (those shown in boxes) are working towards
membership. We are greatly excited and encouraged by a joint WAGGGS/WOSM project to
re-invigorate Guiding and Scouting in Iraq. Lithuania, after many years without Guiding and
Scouting, is regaining members and the Association is going from strength to strength. In
Jordan, we look forward to welcoming Mongolia to Associate Membership and Qatar, Benin,
Central African Republic, Romania and Togo to Full Membership of WAGGGS.
Over the last three years, our focus has been on 3 main goals: to promote Girl Guiding and
Girl Scouting across the world; to gain more respect and achieve greater recognition for our
work and also to strengthen our partnerships with other organizations.
Success came in many different ways over the last triennium: we enjoyed five regional
conferences in Ghana, Iceland, Costa Rica, Oman and Hong Kong with the highest number
of delegates and young women attending. We celebrated the key role that young women
have in the development of WAGGGS: all members elected to the Western Hemisphere
Committee are under 40 years of age. We had enormous pleasure in introducing new
awards to honour the achievements of five outstanding young women representing each of
the five regions. Our young woman of the Europe Region, Nicola Grinstead, sums up what
Guiding has done for her:
"The issues facing girls and young women across the world are numerous and complex.
There are many problems and inequalities that will not be resolved overnight. But my Guiding
experiences have shown me that it is possible to make a difference. Given the right
opportunities, young women have the potential to achieve remarkable things and to have a
positive impact on their own lives and the lives of other people".
We continue to ensure that all girls and young women in WAGGGS enjoy the best quality of
Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. In January 2004, nearly 300 Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from
15 countries attended the first International Youth gathering organised by the Western
Hemisphere Region and the Chilean Association.
This event developed participants'
leadership skills as well as providing opportunities to discuss key issues that affect today's
young people.
The Juliette Low Seminar, held this year in Pax Lodge in London, was the most popular one
so far with 50 young women from all over the world attending. They returned home to share
their knowledge with others in their communities. The Juliette Low Seminar, started in 1932,
