How the World Thinking Day Fund will be used

Poverty exists in all areas of the world – even the wealthiest nations are still struggling to eradicate poverty within their own borders. In some of the poorest nations in the world the vast majority live with poverty everyday.

Through the non-formal education programme and activities such as the GAT badge curriculum young people learn about development issues. Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting offers girls and young women skills and confidence to help them overcome poverty. In some countries this involves girls learning income generating skills, such as craft skills in Honduras, or sewing and baking skills in South Africa. Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have also always served others in their communities – offering help and support to those less fortunate than them.

This year we have identified five countries across our five regions who are eligible for support in their efforts to address poverty and hunger: Haiti (Western Hemisphere), Sudan (Arab Region), Zimbabwe (Africa Region), Maldives (Asia Pacific) and Georgia (Europe Region). The money raised for World Thinking Day over the year will go towards the development of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting across the world as well as offer support to projects in these five countries.

Through World Thinking Day you can learn about these countries and how Girl Guiding /Girl Scouting makes a difference for girls and young women. World Thinking Day money is used around the world and benefits all our Member Organizations. Each of the five countries in 2010 will receive a small grant from the World Thinking Day Fund for a project along the theme of ‘Poverty’ in order to offer more to girls.

The money spent in these five countries is just one example of how the World Thinking Day Fund bring more opportunities to girls and young women around the world. As in previous years, the Fund also supports other work that the World Association does to grow the Movement, develop leaders and make the voice of girls heard.

The World Association delivers a huge range of activities worldwide; here are just a few examples:

 

Developing the leaders of the future

Our WAGGGS Leadership Development Programme (WLDP) provides young women from around the world the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, acquire a better awareness of their leadership roles within their association, and also identify their own leadership path using the methodology of the Programme with its specific gender, inter-generational and inter-cultural perspectives.

 

The voice of girls and young women on key development issues

Representatives from WAGGGS attend many important global gatherings to ensure that the voice of girls and young women are heard. Recent examples include the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security in Liberia, meeting the World Bank in Washington DC and launching the WAGGGS training toolkit on HIV an AIDS at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City.

 

Strengthening the Movement so more girls can benefit worldwide

Ten millions girls and young women are already benefiting from being a Girl Guide/Girl Scout. Learning through non-formal education girls and young women are developing leadership and life skills. Individual girls, units, and associations are tackling the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals as part of our Vision for 2011; “We are a growing worldwide Movement – the voice of girls and young women who influence issues they care about and build a better world”.

WAGGGS strengthens our 145 Member Organizations through work in the field, resources and events, which World Thinking Day funds in part make possible.

* World Thinking Day donations will be allocated to the World Thinking Day Fund and used where they are most needed. It is not possible to restrict World Thinking Day gifts for a particular country.