Your questions answered

Why has Girlguiding changed its programme?

Girlguiding has always changed as the lives of girls have changed. Over the years we’ve updated different parts of the programme to make sure it reflects their needs, concerns, and interests to support them and help them thrive in today’s world.

We did a lot of research with our current members, their parents, our volunteers and the wider youth sector, as well checking every single element of our existing programme, before making the decision to overhaul our programme so it can keep giving girls the challenges and opportunities they want and need.

How will the new programme support girls and young women to discover their potential?

All the new activities and badges support girls and young women to discover their potential by having adventures and developing skills, promoting their wellbeing, exploring their creativity, taking social action and developing their identity. By doing a wide variety of new and relevant activities girls will be supported to have fun and thrive.

Who did you consult and how many people did you consult?

A lot of people have had their say on what goes into the new programme. Over 50,000 girls and young women have been involved in the process to develop it.

This included 44,533 girls who were involved in testing the activities and a further 6,169 who took part in additional discussions about topics and design. Over 600 leaders and more than 200 non-members were also consulted.

Do the changes mean the badges and activities girls have been doing until now have been irrelevant and out of date?

We’ve always changed as the lives of girls change and updated our activities over the years. But this is our biggest ever transformation and makes sure everything girls do in guiding is relevant to their lives.

Girls and young women in Girlguiding have always had the opportunity to enjoy fun and adventure, develop skills and have new experiences. So the badges and activities they’ve done from any old programme are still valuable. But now it’s time for something new.

When will girls be doing the new badges and activities?

The year between 2018 and 2019 autumn terms will be a changeover year for Girlguiding. The new activities and badges will be phased in and the old ones phased out. During this time members are welcome to mix and match from both the old and new programmes as they try out activities and badges with their girls. Then from the 2019 autumn term we’ll all move over to the new programme.

How much work will volunteers have to do? Does this mean leaders giving up even more time?

Leaders told us they want to spend less time planning activities and more time enjoying delivering the programme to girls. So we’ve created pick-up-and-go resources and easy to use activity cards so all our volunteers can spend less time on planning and more time on leading activities with girls. 

Will it cost more to be part of Girlguiding now?

We've thought carefully about making sure that the cost of the new materials is not a barrier to membership of Girlguiding. The cost to units making the switch to the new programme will depend on how individual units choose to approach it. Some will have made provision from their unit funds to cover these costs and others might pass them on to members. This will be a decision for individual units about what's right for them.

When was the programme last overhauled?

The activities have been reworked on different occasions over the years. But this is the first time the activities and badges have been transformed across all sections at the same time.

How will the badges and activities be updated going forward so they stay relevant to girls?

One of aspects of the new programme’s design is that it’ll be easier to continually update it in the future. We plan to create new packs of unit meeting activities each year so units can build up a large bank of exciting and varied activities for their programme. We’ll also be monitoring and evaluating the 800 new activities and badges we’ve created so far, to make sure they remain relevant and popular with leaders and girls in the future.