Established in 1927, the World Board, originally World Committee, is a governing board for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Today, it is made up of seventeen active members of WAGGGS, all of whom are elected democratically by all member organizations at the World Conference. Of the seventeen, five are representatives of each of the five regions of WAGGGS - the Arab Region, the Western Hemisphere Region, the European Region, the Africa Region, and the Asia Pacific Region. These regional representatives are elected at the Regional Conferences.
The World Committee of nine was increased to twelve in 1963 and the period of service nine years. World Board members may serve for as many as two three-year terms. There is also a World Board Chairman, who is elected by the World Board members. The chairman is assisted in that capacity by the deputy chairman and WAGGGS's chief executive, all three of whom may sit on any committee of the World Board.
The purpose of the World Board is to oversee the execution of WAGGGS's goals and make sure the organization is fulfilling its mission statement: "To enable girls to girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world." [1] Each member of the World Board sits on a committee (or group). The regular committees include the Chairman's Coordinating Group, the Development of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (which includes the five regional committees and the World Centers Committee), the Communications and Coordinating Committee, and the Finance and Management Committee.
This group is typically made up of the chairman, the deputy chairman, the WAGGGS Chief Executive, and representatives from several regions. They monitor the activities of all committees, task forces, and members of the World Board, and give help or report successes as they are needed.
Although there is an overall coordinator for this committee, it is really made up of several smaller subcommittees, each committed to the five regions and the four World Centres. It works with the organizations in each member country to create and offer programs for the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts internationally. They also address the development of organizations, recruitment of girl members and adult volunteers, and retention of all members. Primarily, this committee gathers, uses, and shares information from each of the chairmen of the five regions and the directors of the four World Centres.
This committee includes a chairman and three to four members. Their responsibilities include coordinating the annual World Conference, following the messages about WAGGGS in marketing and media, directing the re-positioning of the organization, creating the triennial theme (2005-2008 is Adolescent Health), maintaining the relationship created between WAGGGS and the United Nations, and some fund-raising.
A chairman and one or two members oversee all the responsibilities of this committee. Not only do they monitor the finances of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, they also oversee WAGGGS's governance and constitution, as well as all the constitutions of WAGGGS's member organizations. The committee also addresses facilities and operations, risk assessment and management, and human resources.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she had met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organizations in 153 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, and it has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It is the counterpart of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). WAGGGS is organized into five regions and operates five international Guiding centers. It holds full member status in the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which operates within the Council of Europe and European Union areas, and works closely with these bodies.
Junák – český skaut, is the internationally recognized organization of Scouts and Guides of the Czech Republic. Founded in 1911, Junák – český skaut is the largest organisation of children and youth in the nation, with a membership of 73,315.
The European Scout Region is one of five geographical subdivisions of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with a satellite office in Brussels, Belgium.
The WAGGGS Europe Region is the regional office of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which supports Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting in Europe, including the former Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as Cyprus and Israel.
The Scout and Guide movement in Denmark consists of about ten different associations. Most of them are members of two large federations, but there are also some independent organizations. Affiliated to Danish Scouting and Guiding are the organizations in Greenland, on the Faroe Islands and in Southern Schleswig.
The National Union of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts of Armenia is the national Guiding Union of Armenia. Guiding came to Armenia in 1988; the union was founded in 1996, and became an associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 2002 and a full member in 2014. The girls-only organization has 1200 members.
Sangam World Centre is one of the five World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), located on the banks of the Mula River in Pune.
The Fédération Libanaise des Eclaireuses et des Guides is the national Guiding organization of Lebanon. Guiding was introduced to Lebanon in 1937 and became a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1954. The girls-only federation consists of five independent organizations with a total of 6,615 members(as of 2008).
Elspeth Henderson is former World Board Chairman of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and an educational consultant. She is Irish.
The Association Nationale des Guides d'Haïti is the national Guiding organization of Haiti. It serves 782 members. Founded in 1942, the girls-only organization became an associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1946 and a full member in 1950. In 1962, Haiti became the first country to issue a postage stamp featuring Lady Baden-Powell.
Our Chalet is an international Girl Guide/Girl Scout centre and one of five World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The others are Our Cabaña, Sangam, Kusafiri and Pax Lodge. Our Chalet is just outside Adelboden, in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Located in the Bernese Alps, it is 1,350 metres (4,430 ft) above sea level.
James Jackson Storrow II was an American investment banker, government official, and scouting leader. He gave up a legal career to become a partner of Lee, Higginson & Co.. He was also involved with automobile business, first as president of General Motors, then with Nash Motors. Active in public life, Storrow was a member of Boston's city council and school committee and lost a close race for Mayor in 1910. A leader in the Boy Scouts of America, he was the organization's second president.
Nuestra Cabaña, is an international Girl Guide centre of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) located in Cuernavaca, Mexico, It opened in July 1957 as a Baden-Powell centennial memorial. The centre can house over 100 guests.
Anne Hyde Clarke Choate was an early and prominent leader in the Girl Scouts of the USA and in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
Helen Osborne Storrow was a prominent American philanthropist, early Girl Scout leader, and chair of the World Committee of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for eight years. She founded the First National Girl Scout Leaders' Training in Long Pond, Massachusetts; headed the leaders' training camp at Foxlease, UK; and donated the first of the WAGGGS World centres, Our Chalet.
Rose Margaret Guthrie Kerr was a British pioneer of the Guiding movement.
Girl Guides is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909, when girls requested to join the then-grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
Helen Mary Laird PhD OBE, DL was an electron-microscopist working laterally in the Veterinary Faculty Pathology Department at the University of Glasgow. She worked as part of a research team studying cancer, and particularly viruses in spontaneous feline leukaemia. She served on various committees of the Royal Microscopical Society.
Kusafiri is one of the five World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). It is based in Africa but has no fixed location, instead it moves around existing locations in different African countries.
