WAGGGS Goals, Triennial Theme and Centenary Celebrations

The theme for the conference is: girls worldwide say “join in, reach out, change lives.” WAGGGS recognizes itself as a global organization and therefore has a global agenda – the challenge is remaining relevant in our changing world. To do this, three goals have been identified. They include:

Leadership Development ~ Capacity Building
Strong and Growing Member Organizations ~ Revitalizing the Movement
The Voice of Girls and Young Women ~ Building a Better World

Efforts that have been made in these three areas over the last triennium were shared with us.

More importantly though it was revealed that we are now moving on from Our Rights Our Responsibilities as our triennial theme to a Global Action Theme. In this it is intended that we focus on acting locally and thinking globally and doing our part to address the implementation of the UN’s Millenium Development Goals.

The centenary (the 100th anniversary of the Girl Guide and Girl Scout movement) is to be celebrated worldwide from 2010 to 2012. The theme for these celebrations is:

girls worldwide say: “100 years of changing lives”

The centenary celebration days will be on April 8th (the 100 day) of each of 2010, 2011 and 2012. Then Young Women’s World Forums will be held annually beginning in the UK in 2010, then continue to the World Centers in 2011, and terminate in the US in 2012. Elements include doing good deeds, celebrating/partying, the 100 theme and being internationally minded. In 2010 it is intended that the celebration be “planted” or introduced, then in 2011 “grown” or expanded and then in 2012 “shared” or passed on.

There is a call for two Centenary Ambassadors per country to represent their Member Organization and promote the centenary celebrations.

I am very excited about all of these events and am anxious to see what is planned and maybe have the opportunity to take part in one or more of the celebrations.