I have been super fortunate to have been selected to work in partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Scouts (WAGGGS) and Girlguiding UK for a GOLD 2023 project in Madagascar.

GOLD (Guiding Overseas Linked with Development) empowers young women to work in partnership with other Guide Associations around the world to deliver Guiding-based development projects. These projects are tailored to the needs of each partner country and range from leadership skills training to delivering advocacy programmes to young women. GOLD projects are designed to be sustainable and make a lasting difference.

It is the first year of GOLD in Madagascar with Mpanazava, and the aims for this project are:

- To equip trainers and leaders in non-formal education methods and facilitation skills to support the delivery of Mpanazava’s programme

- To empower every member of Mpanazava to be confident, self-assured, innovative and creative leaders in their Association and wider communities.

- To increase membership.

- To evaluate the effectiveness of targeting the topics of confidence, self-esteem, innovation and creativity both on membership numbers, capacity and engagement with relevant social issues, as well as recruitment of non- members.

It will be a sustainable project that makes a lasting difference, as it is the first year of the project, it will set things up for working alongside the Mpanazava organisation in Madagascar.

As someone who came into Guiding as a 16 year old, I have been fortunate to have been on international experiences with Guiding and volunteered as a Guide Leader for over 10 years. These experiences have formed who I am today and to be able to collaborate and work with Mpanazava on this project is incredible!

I hope to develop and grow my teamwork, training and facilitating skills on this project, and learn from others from Girlguiding UK and Mpanazava and make lasting friendships.

After GOLD, the GOLD pathways creates lasting opportunities within Girlguiding for participants to journey on where you will continue to pass on your experience and knowledge in a myriad of ways.

Additionally, I will be hoping to combine my work with Mpanazava with the 100 Girls Project, something I have been working on since being a delegate for the UK at the Juliette Low Seminar in December 2022.

I understand the intricacies and difficulty during these times, but any help would be so gratefully appreciated and any donations will be sent directly to Girlguiding UK GOLD towards the Madagascar project.

If you have any further questions about GOLD or Girlguiding or you may be interested in volunteering with Girlguiding, please don't hesitate to reach out!