The Western Hemisphere Region at the World Conference

The Girl Guides Association of Dominica became the newest full member of the World Association of Guides and Girl Scouts at the 33^rd World Conference.

The association has been working hard towards the expansion of Girl Guiding.  They have had a very successful partnership with Girl Guides of Canada.

Two new World Board members from the Western Hemisphere Region

While saying goodbye to Marilyn Myers from USA after finishing her successful period of service as a vice-Chairman of the World Board, we welcomed Sapreet Saluja from USA (second from left) and Gabriela Derosa from Argentina (second from right). We wish them great success in their new roles.

Three Associations from the Western Hemisphere Region were awarded a Certificate of Recognition:

 Girl Guides of USA: The USA Girl Scouts Overseas- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia carried out two service projects for an elementary school in Thailand. The first type of service was a book drive called “A million steps to literacy”. The aim was to collect and send elementary level books for the schools’ new library in Thailand.

The second project was an environmental recycling project that allowed students to learn about their environment and how recycling at the school can be improved. The school continues to recycle products and collects recycled products from the community.

Guias de México: 10 patrol members from the Patrulla Guías Mayores Capacitación focused on raising awareness to avoid adolescent pregnancy. The aim of the project was to make young girls realize that being a mother is not easy and to raising awareness of teenage pregnancies. 

Patrol members organized various workshops in different areas of Mexico. Many of the girls met the aims of the workshops and were keen to know more about the Movement.

Federação de Bandeirantes do Brasil. The Núcleo Santos group wanted to raise awareness on recycling used cooking oil. The Bandeirantes encouraged the local community to prevent disposing of used cooking oil into the water supply as this would have damaging effects on the environment. The community is now separating the used oil into containers and delivering it to the Bandeirantes Headquarters where the oil is picked up by Non-Government Organizations that manufacture soap.

The Western Hemisphere Region gathering

WH (WAGGGS) presidency of the Latin American Youth Forum (FLAJ) and the Alliance with Central American Water Resources Committee (CRRH) in Latin America were also highlighted. 

Looking forward, Western Hemisphere members were briefed on the newly launched Ambassador programme and participated in a spirited brainstorming session on ways to make the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Centenary a major success globally and in the region.