About us
We are the largest voluntary movement dedicated to empowering girls and young women in the world.
WAGGGS’s role is to support the delivery and development of the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement internationally; to provide inspiration, knowledge and direction to protect and enhance the rich legacy of the Movement and to amplify our collective reach and impact.
As an organisation, we have been through a significant journey over the last four years. Since 2021, our membership has grown from 8.2m to 10.8m – the largest it has ever been. However, we have seen increased costs and pressure on our income, a changing volunteer landscape and a more complex, more challenging world for girls and young women.
WAGGGS is at a key juncture in its history, with 2028 marking our 100th anniversary. To fulfil our mission, we need to build on our proud heritage whilst striving to be a more dynamic, agile and relevant global organisation.
Compass 2032 , outlines the vision statement for Movement – an equal world where all girls can thrive.
The golden thread running through this thinking is the desire for Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement to become a girl-led Movement. WAGGGS, alongside our Member Organisations, is working towards this goal, ensuring that girls and young women have a greater voice in governance, leadership, and decision-making processes. They are at the centre of everything we do.
Our Strategy
Our vision is
An equal world where all girls can thrive.
Our mission is
To enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world.
In 2023, WAGGGS launched its new Global Strategy 2024-29 , setting a broad roadmap around three key outcomes:
- A united and connected girl and young women-led Movement
- Member Organisations are supported to be thriving, inclusive and deliver a high-quality Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting experience
- A sustainable WAGGGS
WAGGGS provides a package of support to the Movement on all areas of delivering Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting – covering everything from organisational administration and management, to our unique non-formal education methodology, to creating safe and enabling spaces. Each year, our capacity-building efforts reach nearly 100 Member Organisations. We offer online spaces for networking and sharing, provide direct training, and work with members on a wide range of development needs.
WAGGGS programmes are an important strand of our offer – to girls and young women, and our Member Organisations. These programmes are both foundational to high quality Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting practice, and thematic in their content. Annually, WAGGGS reaches about one million girls and young women, enabling them to act as leaders and advocates on critical global and local challenges that matter to them, including climate change, gender-based violence, body confidence, menstrual hygiene and health and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education.
The organisation has begun pivoting elements of its delivery to meet the agreed principles and objectives outlined in our Global Strategy . Alongside rethinking our delivery, we are transforming the organisation – from reviewing our governance arrangements to strengthening how we work as a globally dispersed organisation to streamlining our finance and operations.
While there is still more to do, we have made significant progress. WAGGGS is enabled by a Global Team of highly skilled, dedicated, professional volunteers and staff. The organisation is supported by over 900 globally dispersed volunteers and about 120 staff based in over 25 countries. We have offices in the UK and Belgium, and World Centres in India, Mexico, Switzerland, and the UK, with a roving centre in Africa.
WAGGGS has an annual turnover of approximately £9 million, sourced from commercial income (25%), membership fees (20%), and fundraising and other income (55%).
Learn
Across the world, Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting organisations offer safe spaces for powerful non-formal education opportunities to every and any girl.
Through our innovative programmes and experiences, WAGGGS offers not just hands-on learning opportunities but also moments of joy and pathways to leadership.
As the largest voluntary Movement dedicated to girls and young women, over a million committed volunteers make this happen; giving girls space to be themselves, develop resilience, discover their passions and take the lead in their lives.
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Through our unique values based non-formal educational approach, Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting creates empowering youth learning experiences. Whether it’s a programme, activity or event, the experiences a Girl Guide or Girl Scout take part in enable them to realise their full potential; whether that’s through learning about climate change, peace building, STEM, or body confidence.
WAGGGS works with 153 Member Organisations, and every Member Organisation has its own national programme tailored to girls and young women. Our aim is to support Member Organisations to create the best Girl Guide and Girl Scout experience by:
- Offering a range of learning opportunities
- Developing leaders with the help of tools and resources
- Ensuring every girl, regardless of background, has the opportunity to thrive
Lead
Leadership is foundational to the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement.
The Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement has been empowering girls and women as leaders for over 100 years. From the moment a child promises to “do their best”, they step into a values based leadership development journey. This nurtures and celebrates who they are and what they can bring to the world around them.
Yet we know that it is harder for girls to reach their full potential than it should be, and we want to prepare girls and young women to take the lead in their lives and be changemakers in their societies.
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So we have created the WAGGGS leadership offer for the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement, built on a leadership model designed for girls and women, and using innovative delivery mechanism to reach our ten million members. Our leadership offer aims to:
INSPIRE Girl Guides and Girl Scouts with the values, attitudes, behaviours, skills and knowledge they need to be leaders, changemakers, entrepreneurs and advocates.
EMPOWER volunteer leaders as inspiring, empowering role models who create safe spaces for girls to be themselves, take the lead in their lives and develop resilience and confidence.
UNITE the leaders of our Member Organisations to thrive and girl-focused, so they can offer the most relevant, exciting and accessible leadership development experiences to their members.
SUPPORT the leaders of our Movement to raise the voices of girls and young women in the global arena, and to champion a diverse and sustainable Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement.
Our aim is for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to feel empowered to practise leadership in all aspects of their lives. Reaching their personal goals, inspire others to do the same, caring for the world around them and challenging gender barriers to make a positive change in their lives, their communities and the world around them.
Here are some of leadership opportunities for the GG/GS Movement:
Speak Out
We support girls and young women to influence people to make decisions that will bring about an equal world where all girls can thrive.
Advocacy has been an integral part of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting since the beginning. The Movement began in 1910 after a group of girls spoke out about what they wanted at the 1909 Crystal Palace Boy Scout rally. They demanded a Movement for girls, and they achieved it! This was the first advocacy activity in Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, which laid the foundation for decades of advocacy actions by girls and young women all over the world.
Advocacy plays a crucial role in achieving our Vision of “an equal world where all girls can thrive” and our Mission “that by 2032 we will be a girl-led Movement where every and any girl feels confident to lead and empowered to create a better world together.”
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How we empower girls and young women to advocate for change
We not only speak out on behalf of girls and young women everywhere, but also empower young women to advocate for themselves, and support our national Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting associations to help girls speak out too.
We provide them with their first powerful experiences of speaking out to shape their future and that of their community.
Since 2021, we have trained over 400 Advocacy Champions to drive change on issues from gender-based violence to cybersecurity, climate change, youth rights and non-formal education. Of these 400, 50 of them have attended key global forums such as the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the largest global event promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. Here they spoke side-by-side with Heads of States and key UN officials, and lobbied decision-makers on issues that they cared about.
Across the world, our Movement is a powerhouse of skills, commitment and energy. Decision-makers in the UN, youth organisations and other partners reach out to us because they see the influence, exposure and unique contribution that Girl Guides and Girl Scouts can offer.
Together we send a strong message to society that there is a worldwide Movement of 10.8 million that stand behind and speaks out for ALL girls and young women around the world.
Volunteer
Volunteering and the commitment to support young people is at the heart of the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement.
Diverse volunteer and staff teams who lead authentically and are open to different perspectives will create empowering environments for those around them. Girls and young women deeply value these adults in their lives —as role models of female leadership and mentors who guide them as they explore the world.
Intergenerational partnerships have a critical role to play in quality girl-led Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. By providing professional and personal development opportunities for both volunteers and staff, we equip them to model leadership behaviours that foster empowering environments.
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Volunteers with diverse backgrounds and experiences will help challenge societal stereotypes and promote a more diverse membership in each organisation. To support this, we need innovative approaches to volunteer engagement and inclusive, collaborative workspaces for both volunteers and staff.
As a global network of 153 Member Organisations, WAGGGS is volunteer-led and volunteer-driven. Staff and volunteers at WAGGGS share leadership responsibilities and are jointly accountable for delivering our value proposition to Member Organisations. Today, our WAGGGS Volunteer Pool includes 950 dedicated volunteers from all five regions, representing 118 Member Organisations.