Global Action Girl Scouts

"Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding can be the magic thread which links the youth of the world together." — Juliette Gordon Low

An Amazing Passport to Discovery
It’s a big world, and what better way to experience it than on a global scale?

There are many ways for girls to engage with global throughout their Girl Scout experience. Whether it is exploring global issues through a Girl Scout Journey or Badge, earning their Global Action Award, or traveling with a Girl Scout Destination, girls can engage with global issues at every program level.

Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low once said, “Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding can be the magic thread which links the youth of the world together.” So as a Girl Scout, go find your place in the world and make a real difference, whether having a global impact by participating in local activities, completing a Girl Scout Journey or Badge, or traveling the globe with Girl Scouts.

Here are just a few of the ways girls can participate:

• Global Action Team
• Global Action Summit
• Global Action Award
• World Thinking Day
• World Centre Information
• Global Action Days
• Pinwheels for Peace Coloring Pages
  • Version 1
    
  • Version 2

Applications for the 10th Annual Global Action Team are now open! Apply here today. The theme for this year will be: Untold Histories from Around the World 

As part of the Global Action Team, Girl Scout Seniors and Ambassadors can become advocates for important issues that impact girls across the world. The program focuses on three main themes:

June 3-5, 2022

This annual event, led by the Global Action Team, is dedicated to helping Cadettes learn global action through advocacy, making global connections, and how to follow through on large projects that impact their communities. Many past Summit participants have gone on to become Global Action Team members. Some have even turned the knowledge from the Global Action Summit into Highest Awards projects.

In 2015, leaders around the world agreed to work together to accomplish 17 goals by 2030—these are referred to as the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs—or Global Goals, for short. They focus on things like taking care of the environment, making sure all people have enough to eat, and improving people’s health. They are big goals, but Girl Scouts® knows a thing or two about changing the world! The Girl Scout Global Action award calls for girls to address the Global Goals by discovering, connecting, and taking action in their communities and the world. In 2021, the award focuses on SDG 13: Climate Action.

If the global goals are new to you, start by teaming up with an adult to go online and learn about the SDGs at www.globalgoals.org*. You can also download and read this short booklet, The World We Want: A Guide to the Goals for Children and Young People. Once you know what the goals are, you’re ready to move on to the activities you can do to earn your Girl Scout Global Action award.

This year, the Girl Scout Global Action award is focused on SDG 13: Climate Action. Every Girl Scout must complete five steps in order to earn her Global Action award. The first four steps have three activities to choose from. You only need to do one activity in each step to earn the award, but don’t let that stop you—you can do as many as you’d like! Steps: 1. Learn about the Global Goals and Global Action award. 2. Find out about climate change. 3. Explore responses to climate change. 4. Focus on a climate change issue. 5. Create a Global Action Climate Challenge. When you’ve earned this award, you’ll understand what climate change means and you’ll have created a global action climate challenge for SDG 13: Climate Action.

Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors
Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors

On February 22, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides across 150 countries celebrate World Thinking Day—that’s one big celebration!  But don’t think the celebration is limited to February 22!  You can celebrate all year long!

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), along with Girl Scouts of the USA and the other WAGGGS member organizations, have celebrated World Thinking Day since 1926. That’s when delegates from around the globe met at Camp Edith Macy—now called Edith Macy Conference Center—in New York and agreed that February 22 would now be known as a special day for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts worldwide.

Observed by 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts worldwide, World Thinking Day 2021 celebrates what it means to be a peacebuilder, an important component of our global Movement. Check out our activity guides below to explore this theme—and celebrate being part of the diverse global sisterhood that is Girl Guides and Girl Scouts!

• GSWW World Thinking Day 2021: Peacebuilding - Stand Together for Peace Guide for both GSUSA and WAGGGS patches
• GSUSA Activity Guide for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors
• GSUSA Activity Guide for Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors
• WAAGGGS Activity Pack
• Women Peacebuilder Cards

WAGGGS operates five World Centres that offer training programs, activities and lodging for girls and leaders, as well as members of some other groups and independent travelers. Activities are primarily focused on international friendship and cooperation, personal development and leadership training, enjoyment, and service. The Friends of the Four World Centres organization supports and promotes the centres.  We are fortunate to have several Friends of the Four World Centres in our Council who are available to speak at events. 

The five World Centres are:

• Our Chalet, in Adelboden, Switzerland; opened in 1932.
• Pax Lodge, in  Hampstead,  London,  England; current location opened in 1990. It is actually London's third World Centre; the first was Our Ark, opened in 1937, which was renamed  Olave House on its 25th anniversary.
• Our Cabaña, in  Cuernavaca ,  Mexico; opened in 1957.
• Sangam, in  Pune ,  Maharashtra ,  India; opened in 1966.
• Kusafiri, moving between cities  Africa ; opened in 2010

A new centre, Kusafiri, meaning “to journey” in Swahili, was announced in 2015. Unlike the other centres it will be a roving centre and exist for a fixed period of time in different places with a particular theme in Africa. While testing the idea, starting in 2012, the country organizations involved include Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Benin. Focuses so far have included “Stopping the Violence” training in Rwanda and developing entrepreneurial leaders among others.

Take a pre-recorded virtual tour via the GSUSA Girl Scouts at Home Virtual programs. Perfect for a virtual troop meeting!

• Our Chalet
• Our Cabana
• Pax Lodge
• Sangam
• Kusafiri

Click here for a complete listing of WAGGGS member organizations by region.

International Day of the Girl

It has been 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted– the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. The Beijing Declaration is the first to specifically call out girls’ rights. The United Nations adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child (IDG), to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

International Women’s Day

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.

International Women's Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.

World Environment Day

The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature. For instance, each year, marine plants produce more than a half of our atmosphere's oxygen, and a mature tree cleans our air, absorbing 22 kilos of carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen in exchange. Despite all the benefits that nature gives us, we still mistreat it. That is why we need this Observance.

Since 1974, it has been celebrated every year on 5 June: engaging governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

The UN System’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence activities, from 25 November to 10 December, will take place under our 2021 global theme: "Orange the World: End violence against women now!"

As the world retreated inside homes due to the lockdown measures introduced to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, reports showed an alarming increase in the already existing pandemic of violence against women.

“Accompanying the crisis has been a spike in domestic violence reporting, at exactly the time that services, including rule of law, health and shelters, are being diverted to address the pandemic,” stated the UN Secretary-General's report, “Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19". 

You can make a difference during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and protracted state of crisis it has generated across the world. You can support women and girl survivors of violence to stay safe and free of violence.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. It was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

In support of this civil society initiative, under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign (UNiTE campaign) calls for global actions to increase awareness, galvanize advocacy efforts, and share knowledge and innovations.

TAKE ACTION:  Orange Challenge:

1. RESPOND: 
   • Wear Orange on November 25 & post their picture on Girl Scouts of Western Washington Instagram and Facebook pages AND
   • Ask your teacher to say something during a class session on December 10 – Human Rights Day about gender-based violence
2. PREVENT
   • Connect with local domestic violence or sexual assault program in your area to help promote their work.  Discover what resources exist in your area
3. FUND:
   • Collect feminine hygiene products to deliver to local Domestic Violence shelters or food bank in your area OR
   • Participate in holiday toy & food drives for children affected by domestic violence
4. COLLECT: 
   • Learn more about the Violence Against Women Act which was established in 1994. VAWA responds to the needs of victims, provides tools for holding offenders accountable, and sets up measures for data collection AND
   • Discover who collects data on Domestic Violence incidents in your county