New including all training
Our new e-learning is here to help with practical ways to make your unit more inclusive
Our whole community of girls, volunteers, staff, parents and carers, have told us that you want Girlguiding to be more inclusive and welcoming to all.
It was so important to everyone, it became one of our strategic shared goals - being an inclusive and impactful organisation. Our ambition for diversity and inclusion is to be a place where everyone is welcome, is free to be themselves, and has an equal sense of belonging.
Watch the video to hear our chief guide Amanda Medler explain why being inclusive is one of Girlguiding’s core values.
Last year, we launched our diversity and inclusion strategic plan, which set out the things we’re going to change to make sure everyone has a positive, fair experience with Girlguiding. We made this plan after carrying out research with the wider Girlguiding community. We talked to people from all areas of guiding to hear their experiences of feeling included and excluded or discriminated against in guiding. This included young members, volunteers, parents and carers, staff and trustees.
In our research , you told us that our training and advice didn’t do enough to help all of us create a truly inclusive culture. And so one promise we made was to launch a new diversity and inclusion e-learning for volunteers. which is now available on our new learning platform. We also host regular webinars. They're called Celebrating every member and you can find out when the next ones are on the learning platform.
Why should I do this training?
Although we’re all agreed that we want Girlguiding to be an inclusive place, figuring out what we can actually do on a practical level can be difficult. That’s why this 30-minute training is rooted in practical examples that volunteers deal with every day.
The training will help you to:
- understand why inclusion is important at Girlguiding
- recognise instances of discrimination
- learn ways to deal with discrimination, and how to report it
- identify practical ways to make your unit more inclusive.
We made this training in collaboration with our team of organisation-level inclusion advisers, who used their expertise and lived experience to help us make it as relevant to volunteers as possible. Here’s what Josie, our lead volunteer for inclusion, had to say:
I’m really excited that we are able to share this training with you. Our inclusion advisers have worked really hard to make sure it’s useful and fits in as many practical tips as possible. We hope it will support volunteers to make units across the organisation as inclusive and welcoming as they can be.
With a mix of helpful definitions, example scenarios, and practical tips, the training can act as a general introduction, or as a tool for you to reflect on your unit’s current approach to inclusion and discrimination. So, whatever stage of your inclusion journey your unit, district, division or county is on, there’s something for everyone to learn.
If you made a pledge for diversity and inclusion last year, this training is also a great way to take action, and keep your commitment to making Girlguiding more inclusive going. Our shared commitment to inclusion is something we’re all continuously working on together, which is why we talk about a diversity and inclusion ‘journey’. It’s not something we can ever ‘complete’ or ‘tick off’, and this training is just one thing that we can all do to reflect and learn.
We’ll continue to work with volunteers and experts to make resources that can support all of us to keep going on this journey together. Look out for new inclusion-themed unit meeting activities coming soon, so that you can get girls involved too.