Here's what's next for programme

When we launched the programme over 5 years ago, we promised to review it.  

We’ve been listening to what you have to say about the programme. And earlier this month, we shared what you told us in Girlguiding news and our all-member call. 

Read what you told us about the programme. 

Here’s what we’ve done so far  

We’ve already made some small changes to the programme to make your experience running the programme as a volunteer easier. Early on in the programme review you told us: 

• You want the programme to cost less - so we made our unit meeting activities and skills builders available for free. 
• You wanted more support with the planning and delivery of programme - so we made unit meetings activities and skills builders available to download as PDFs. 

We hope this makes them more accessible to people across Girlguiding and easier to share the admin load with other volunteers.  

Browse all our free and downloadable programme resources from the online shop. 

What we’re doing next 

No big changes will be made to programme this year, but we’ll be making small improvements so it can support more volunteers and give more girls a fun guiding experience. 

There’s lots of feedback, so we've chosen 3 things to look at in 2024 and into 2025.

1. More support for leaders

As a volunteer, you told us: 

• You want the programme to be more accessible and easier to plan, deliver and record.  
• You want to feel confident in involving girls in your planning and running the programme. 

We’re excited to explore the feedback you’ve told us and work with you further to find a range of ways to better support leaders in the planning and delivery of programme. 

We’ll start by looking at sharing ways units involve girls in different ways and how we can improve planning and recording tools that aim to make it easier for all and not take up so much time.  

  2. More of what girls love

Did you know interest badges are girls’ most enjoyed part of the programme?  

We want to do more of what they love so we’re going to work with members to create even more interest badges across all sections! 

We’re planning to launch them in 2025. If you’re keen to get involved, be sure to sign up to the programme testing pool. And we’ll be calling out to girls to share their badge ideas with us soon! 

We also know that girls want Girlguiding to feel different to school. Girlguiding is a place for fun and adventure that has the chance to complement what girls learn in all aspects of life – whether it’s in the classroom or on a Brownie holiday.

We've already been working to inject more new and exciting activities into recent UMAs like animals and music which members have told us they love.  

We’ll continue to make sure we’re creating new activities and badges that feel exciting to girls. They will involve social and active elements which is what girls told us they enjoy. As always, we’ll continue to test all our activities with our members and find new ways for girls to help co-create the programme with us. 

 3. More flexibility for everyone

After speaking to members about the programme, we found... 

• Girls said they enjoy completing interest badges more when they can choose to do them with others if they want. 
• 95% of leaders told us they adapt activities for their unit. 
• Girls enjoy the programme more when they’ve been a part of the planning. 

We love to hear so many of you are adapting programme activities to work for you and your unit, because they were designed to be flexible and adapted based on your style as a leader or what your unit prefers. 

We want the programme to be more flexible for both girls and you as a volunteer. So, we’ll be encouraging ways to do that.  

This means there's 3 things you can start trying:

1. Encourage girls to complete interest badges with others if they want to. Girls can choose to complete them at home, on holiday, in unit meetings and with whoever they choose – including friends and family outside of Girlguiding. 
2. Continue to adapt activities for your unit. Take a look at the aim and outcomes on the activities cards and if needed make any adaptations you feel you need for your unit. Whether it’s skipping some steps or creating something slightly different, you know your unit best, so do what they enjoy!
3. Have a go at inviting girls to get involved in their programme planning. We know this can be tricky – so we’ll share some advice and examples of what other leaders are doing this year. 

How you can get involved

Look out for more updates about our programme via our all-volunteer newsletter, Girlguiding news. We’ll let you know how you can get involved.