The UPS Foundation and WAGGGS partnership has been going strong since 2003. Each phase has supported Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world, from building membership and capacity in our Member Organisations to enabling girls and young women to make their voices heard at international events such as the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP). The partnership has also aimed at encouraging UPS employee engagement utilising UPS's global reach to encourage cooperation and direct involvement by its employees in the programmes delivered.
“I had the honour of participating in one of many great WAGGGS activities and the chance to witness the importance of UPS and WAGGGS partnership, empowering women and encouraging them to lead and change their communities for the better. As a UPS employee, I was moved by the impact the partnership has on girls and women all over the Middle-East.”
The 2017-2019 phase of the partnership had a focus on Diversity, Inclusion and Leadership Development. We worked with 10 Member organisations around the world including Mexico (Guías de México – GdM); Nigeria (Nigerian Girl Guiding Association - NGGA); The Netherlands (Scouting Nederland - SN); The UK (Girlguiding UK - GGUK); and selected Member organisations across WAGGGS’ Arab Region: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Palestine.
Each Member Organisation established diversity and inclusion frameworks, engaging harder to reach communities, and improving the Guiding experience for them.
In the latest phase of our partnership, we have joined forces with Generation Unlimited and UNICEF's U-Report to empower girls and young women from diverse backgrounds and spur new thinking on youth engagement.
The ‘Her World, Her Voice’ programme is currently running across five countries – Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico and India. By bringing together insights from young people through U-Report youth consultations, and working with Generation Unlimited to advocate for positive change on a global scale, we aim to make great strides towards a more gender equal and inclusive world.
“We are excited to join forces with WAGGGS and U-Report to set a generation of girls on the path to empowerment and leadership in their communities and beyond. This is particularly critical now to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and ensure that girls continue to have access to the right tools and support to thrive.”
In Rwanda, the Rwanda Girl Guides Association are establishing new Guide groups in primary and secondary schools where there are a high percentage of girls with disabilities. They are also developing a monitoring and evaluation framework to better understand girls’ and young women’s expectations from Guiding.
In India, the Bharat Scouts and Guides are recruiting thousands of young people into Guiding and Scouting as Rangers, i.e. those aged between 17 to 25 year-olds, a currently very under-represented group . Their members will also be given access to a new ‘My Rights and Me’ empowerment training programme, giving girls and young women an understanding of their rights and how to assert them.
In Mexico, the Guias de Mexico, are focusing on improving the advocacy skills of young women and their group leaders, building their organisation’s capacity to deliver advocacy projects. They are also working to ensure that girl guides who are unable to meet due to COVID-19 restrictions, continue to be included and involved remotely. To help with this, they are developing a digital platform and are training their leaders to use it with their girls.
In South Africa, the Girl Guides of South Africa, are working on improving monitoring and evaluation processes so they can identify opportunities and places areas where they can involve new girls in Guiding and better retain current members. New group leaders will be trained, and new, relevant programmes will be introduced.
In Nigeria, the Girl Guides Association of Nigeria are strengthening their governance and monitoring and evaluation processes, building the skills of those in leadership. They will also be using project funds to help roll out an exciting new national curriculum, to help strengthen their members’ capacity to speak out and take action, and to grow their membership.