The Olave Award

This award is given to groups for the work they do in communities. This year there were sixteen applications that underwent an evaluation process – there were four winners and nine received special recognition.

Luckily we had the chance to go through each of those that received some sort of recognition and I think it is valuable to share with you what kind of work our counterparts are doing in other parts of the world.

Briefly:

Special Recognition

A group in New Zealand united with mobility dogs and raised funds for this program.

A group in Japan worked with a welfare facility for people with disabilities.

A group in Mexico raised awareness against teen pregnancy through workshops in various areas. The goal was to help girls realize being a mother isn’t easy. WAGGGS commended them on linking to one of their key messages namely “girls world wide say: prevent teen pregnancy.”

A group in Korea worked with a center for the elderly and provided them with laundry services as well as companionship.

A group of young leaders in the Maldives visit a center with special needs an involved the residents in a series of activities.

A group of students in Thailand did a project where they grew pesticide free food on campus. They then used the food in their lunches at school and those involved in the project were able to take any surplus home with them or it was sold to raise funds to continue their work. (This is the kind of work I am very interested in doing – I am majoring in food security.)

A group in Brazil did a recycling project where they used old cooking oil to make soap. The soap would be picked up by another NGO, and the benefit to the area is that the cooking oil did not get into the local watershed and pollute the water supply.

A group in India promoted safety and hygiene awareness at a center and provided free medical treatment.

An overseas group in Saudi Arabia from the USA did a million steps to literacy project (if I understood correctly for Thailand.) They also worked on an environmental recycling project outside of their school.

The Winners

A group in the Philippines did a service project in a community where they helped develop systems to sell solid waste, grow food, use vermiculture (worms) and more. They planted an ornamental and herb garden through working with the department of agriculture. Though the project has terminated for the girl guides, 55 of the 188 houses have continued to improve their gardens and many other benefits resulted from the experience.

A group in Sri Lanka made text books available to students at a blind center. The resources to transform the texts into brail was not available, so the group recorded all the books on tape.

A group from Malaysia developed a waste management system with the goal of households have a greater sense of responsibility to the environment. It was an environmental cleanliness campaign.