Girl guiding and girls scouting movement

In 1909, a group of girls appeared at a Boy Scout Rally in the UK declaring themselves to be Girl Scouts. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, decided that there should be a Movement for girls.

Guiding was introduced that same year to respond to the specific needs of girls and young women. Groups of Girl Guides soon started in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and South Africa.

A year later, the Girl Guide Association was officially established in the UK under the leadership of Agnes Baden-Powell, Robert’s sister. By 1912 there were also groups in Ireland, Portugal, Norway and Juliette Low founded Girl Scouting in the USA in 1912.

The movement continued to grow over the years, and today there are Girl Guide or Girl Scouts Associations in 150 countries!

The First World Conference held in England, in 1920 was a historic occasion that gave representatives of the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting world the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas and experiences. This contributed to not only a heightened and strengthened international scouting and guiding experience, but it also raised the awareness and profile of the movement.

Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting became known to the International Council and, for the first time, groups began to plan trips abroad, with the First World Camp organized to coincide with the Third International Conference, in 1924, Foxlease, UK, and brought 1,100 girls and young women together from 40 countries.

As the Movement grew and expanded, country representatives began to feel that it was time to create something more solid and binding and the idea of forming a world association was proposed after the 4th World Conference in 1926.

The founder of the Movement, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, sought the opinions of all known Girl Guide and Girl Scout organizations and asked them to consider the proposition. Delegates from 26 countries met at the Ffith International Conference in Hungary in 1928, and formed the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), with a World Bureau as its secretariat to be located in London, replacing an advisory body, the International Council created in 1919.

It was decided that the newly founded World Association would hold elections to determine a World Committee, of which Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, and the Director of the World Bureau, would be ex-officio members. International Conferences (now known as World Conferences) take place once every three years and to this day remain a platform for policy and decision making for Member Organizations.

The First World Conference was instrumental in shaping the collective experience of Girl Guiding and Scouting Scouting, in bringing a number of countries together to share their vision of the movement, shape the future and direction of the Guiding and Scouting World – a legacy which continues in our global movement today.

The importance of guiding

Guiding is necessary for students at school level since this subject helps to develop the character of the students and to prepare them to be responsible citizens in the near future. Guiding is considered to promote team spirit, patriotism, social consciousness and habit of discipline in the students.

Different types of activities are conducted like guide sign, salute, badge, flag, signals, wood craft or tracking knots and their uses lashing camp gadgets compass fires for warmth and light, fires for cooking, first –aid, bandages etc.