On Saturday 29 January – the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec) and WAGGGS will launch the next five-year phase of the Youth Exchange South to South (YESS) Girls’ Movement, the international exchange programme for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
The launch event for the new phase will take place virtually on zoom and will continue for a week on social media. It will be attended by all relevant stakeholders including representatives from the 13 WAGGGS Member Organisations involved including their Chief Commissioners and WAGGGS staff.
In what is projected to be an exciting five years, the programme’s overall mission is to create an empowering environment where young women can confidently lead change on issues that are important to them at a local, national, regional and global level.
Specifically, the programme will focus on:
- Strengthening the resilience and agility of the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting organisations involved
- Raising the visibility of the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement as a leading national and global voice for positive change on issues that are important to girls and young women
- Improving the ability of girls and young women to identify, speak out, and take action on issues affecting them and to influence community members and decision makers to do the same
- Increasing the number and retention of girls and young women (especially from marginalised communities) who are joining the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Movement
- Improving the ability and confidence of girls and young women to adapt to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Strengthening the network of YESS Alumnae that are motivated to sustain and support the programme
These goals are ambitious, but everything is set to achieve them. WAGGGS has already put in place a core team of 174 people from both WAGGGS, and the 13 WAGGGS Member Organisations involved.
The team comprises of 78 Task Force Members (young women responsible for carrying out the activities); 91 Members of the YESS National Teams - popularly known as the YESS Bus (including the Chief Commissioners & YESS Country Cordinators); and five Programme Cordination Team Members from WAGGGS.
To find out more about the YESS Girls’ Movement, including the names of the WAGGGS Member Organisations involved, please visit The YESS Girls’ Movement.
To find out more our our funding partner, Norec, please visit: www.norec.no