The Girl Guides has certain similarities to the Women’s Institute. They have both been in existance for more than 100 years and were both strongly influenced in their initial stages by equivalent male organisational structures. But most importantly the Girl Guides, like the WI, is huge with over half a million women and girls involved in this country alone and both continue to be driven primarily by a moral vision of society.
I met with the County Administrator and hope to spend more time at the headquarters in the Autumn to read some of the recent research undertaken by the Guides to help inform their development.
The County Administrator is very positive about the Scouts despite the fact that the Scouts have opened to girls, a move which might have been expected adversely to effect the Guides. In fact the Guides is the larger movement.
The Guides is very clearly structured at all levels and it is largely run by volunteers. The County Administrator sees this as being part of the reason for its ethos and I would agree. Everyone involved in Guides is doing so from a personal commitment therefore what might be called the business model of running an organisation is not particularly helpful. There is no attempt to have a figure head leader, something the Scouts have espoused. Success is not achieved through setting adult administrators targets and analysis of raw numbers is not seen as helpful in moving the organisation forward. At a regional level, the County Administrator works with an executive committee and it was clear that this operated very much through consensus, with agreement being reached by frank and open discussion. As the County Administrator pointed out, they want to make decisions together and this can take time. Developments may take longer than in business but there is a commitment to giving time for reflection and gathering information.
Central principles for running a guide group are instructive. At the heart, there is care for the individual, commitment to working in small groups, a determination to empower girls to make their own decisions, be able to lead, make choices and as a consequence of this, to create safe spaces for girls to make mistakes. As well as the traditional structures and occasions, there are forum days used to engage with the girls in consultations and focus groups to conduct research into aspects of girls’ lives.
The County Administrator told me that the Guides is more political than people realise – another echo of the WI. Doing research with girls about political issues, acting as advocates for girls and young women, including working with the UN, reaching out in those areas guides have not had a strong historic presence and to those such as ethnic minorities and teenage mothers not traditionally involved, it is all about meeting girls at the place where they have the need.
International links (145 countries have Guides) are tremendous offering individual guides wonderful opportunities to meet others from very different cultures to share all they have in common.
I have come away with a sense that the Guides is a huge force for good, continually refreshing its century year old vision, distinctive in its ethos, offering a successful model of women leading a massive organisation that is driven by the moral imperative of making the world a better place.
Sarah Evans' Blog 