Working with the Scouts to grow together
We joined forces with the Scouts to grow our movements and make them more diverse
Girlguiding and Scouts were given funding from the Pears #iWill Fund to reach new areas and give even more young people the chance to learn new skills, have fun and make new friends. And we achieved so much!
The Space to Grow Together project ran over three years and was focused on reaching deprived communities across the country. Girlguiding opened more than 80 new units, created more than 1600 new spaces and recruited more than 350 new volunteers. The Scouts opened 68 new sections, created 1554 spaces and recruited 204 new volunteers.
Over half of the new sections opened by the Scouts were in the 25% most deprived areas of the UK, providing 868 spaces. And at Girlguiding, a third of the new units we opened were in the 25% most deprived areas of the UK and more than half in the 50% most deprived areas.
Collaboration was an important part of the project. It let ground level volunteers and staff share ideas, learnings, and experiences in areas such as approaches to opening new units. From units trialling the Scouts' four-week-challenge, a new way to open a unit, to staff and volunteers coming together at meetings to learn from each other.
At the start of 2020, Guides and Scouts were working on bringing to life their partnerships through things like joint activity days and taster sessions. Even though Covid-19 meant many of the great things planned were unable to happen, the Space to Grow Together project meant that we were ready to come together to face the new challenges we were both facing.
One person who attended an event during the pandemic said: 'I thought the day was a brilliant format, it certainly gave me some thought on how we should move forward post-Covid and how we can work together to develop our offerings for young people.'
The Space to Grow Together project worked so well that we we have now been successful in a bid with Scouts for Generation Green, connecting young people to nature, and the Volunteer Welcome project, which will see us both transform how we support new volunteers – we're so excited to be working with the Scouts again!
Have you thought about connecting with your local Scouting group?
With young people at the heart of everything we both organisations do, it’s a great idea to work together. Why not share ideas and experiences?
