They’ve empowered Sri Lankan women extraordinarily for over a century, while being an element in the larger effort to empower women and make women responsible citizens of the world. The Sri Lanka Girl Guide Association (SLGGA) was paid a visit recently by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for an assessment of their efforts.
Bringing together Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Associations in 145 countries across the globe WAGGGS, describes itself as “An organisation with 10 million girls and 1 voice." The governing body carries out assessements of the work done by all the associations over 145 countries, which as you can imagine is a large process that requires much time. The assesment therefore takes three years to go full circle, and this saw WAGGGS memebers of the Asia Pacific region visit Sri Lanka for the triennial review.
“Operationally we are divided in to 5 regions. We’re from Asia Pacific region which has 2.5 million members. We have global goals- voice of girls world wide, every three years we revise this plan and it is left to the organisations to achieve these goals” says Asia Pacific Committee member, Febe Marl Gamiao-Paat.
“Coming over here is what we call the partnership visit. Apart from the assessment we have three main objectives. To show our support, to provide the local organisation with up to date information on what’s happening in the world of girl guiding and scouting and inform them of what they can participate in or share, and to plan the priorites for the next few years that they have to undertake”, elaborates Febe.
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| Febe Marl Gamiao-Paat |
Grace Tam |
Speaking about how they assessed SLGGA, Febe says “We have seen a lot of their strengths, the type of things they have to do. So we’ve seen that they have more strenghts than things they have to improve on. Having more stenghts to be proud of, they’re a good example for others. However, there are concerns that we had. It’s up to them to decided whether they want to take these things into the implimentatuions of their strategic plan”.
The other WGGGSA member, Grace Tam, Development Executive of the Asia Pacific Region, added, “they need a more systematic way of doing things, which will help them do more. She went on to say, “Besides that there is the steady increase of membership. We would like to invite as many young girls as we can because we know this organisatuions stands out from the rest in a way that it will give them (the guides) a wholesome learning experience”.
The WGGGSA was thrilled with the efforts of the SLGGA that they hope to see an increase in member to increase to ten thousand in the next 2 years. Mentioning what they would hope for SLGGA, Grace says, “With the increase of members we hope the SLGG will also increase in the number of adults and trainers.
Hopefully, more young women will volunteer their time and give opportunities for these girls to grow to their full potential.” |
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