Making international friends
Make contact with girls in guiding in other parts of the world without needing to use your passport!
Connect with girl guide and girl scout groups around the world.
There are 10 million girls and young women involved in guiding and girl scouting around the world. Creating international connections is a chance for girls to strike up a new friendship. It's also an ideal way to make your World Thinking Day celebrations into a lasting connection with a group, unit or troop from a different country.
Ideas for making international connections
You can create connections with guides and girl scouts abroad in several different ways. For example, you could:
- Become international pen friends.
- Set up a video call between your unit and a group, unit or troop abroad.
- Welcome visitors from other World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) member organisations to your unit.
To find international connections for your unit, you could:
- Find out from your county international adviser if your county has any contacts with guiding or girl scout groups overseas.
- Use the WAGGGS website to find a member organisation in another country. You can check out each member organisation's page for their contact details.
- Use the Girlguiding Facebook page and WAGGGS Facebook page to make contact with Guides in other parts of the UK or the world. Remember that Facebook accounts are only available to those aged over 13 and make sure you read the Girlguiding online safety guidelines.
Leaders should make the initial contact with guides or girl scouts elsewhere in the world rather than individual young members.
Safeguarding checks
You should also seek confirmation from the WAGGGS member organisation of anyone that you're contacting to make sure that the person or group is genuine. You must also confirm with the member organisation that all adults your unit is meeting have completed the necessary recruitment checks in their home country. You can do this by emailing or calling the contacts listed for each member organisation on the WAGGGS website. If you have any questions about this, please get in touch with us at: [email protected]
