Hello and thank you for visiting this fundraising page for my 2024 Girlguiding Overseas Linked with Development (GOLD) project.

What is GOLD?

GOLD 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 host 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.

My Guiding Journey So Far

I trained as Peer Educator in 2016 and have delivered over 100 sessions on building mental resilience, challenging gender stereotypes and exploring personal safety. I love that Guiding gives me a chance to use my skills to inspire and encourage others: Guiding is so much more than weekly meetings.

I'm currently Young Leader Coordinator for Surrey West county and the Peer Education Coordinator for Girlguiding London and South East England region. In this role, I've helped grow our Peer Educator numbers from 8 to 67 in two years. I'm also working towards the Leadership Development Programme, Queen's Guide Award and the Trainer Qualification. I'm looking forward to bringing the skills I've developed in these roles to the team.

My GOLD Journey

I attended the Go for GOLD selection weekend in October 2023 (which involved camping in Edinburgh!). I enjoyed meeting other members from across the UK and quizzing GOLD alumni on the most challenging aspects of their projects. In December, I was delighted to hear that I had been selected to be part of the Madagascar Fanilo team of six. My focus now is fundraising, planning, team building and spreading the word about GOLD prior to three weeks in Madagascar this summer. Along the way, I will also be attending three team briefing weekends, planning meetings, a debrief weekend and completing a post-project pathway.

The Project's Aims

The purpose of the project with Fanilon'i Madagasikara is to support and facilitate them to:

1. Enhance an offer for members of FIM who are at university that is separate to their existing programme.

2. Develop a youth leadership qualification for members aged 10-30.

This partnership is in its second year and the focus will be around the finalisation of the offer for university-based units and the co-creation and testing of the new youth leadership programme. These young women will then bring their leadership skills and learning gained back to the local community and themselves become advocates for the project, boosting both recruitment and retention.

I'm super excited for what's to come and the impact that will be had in Madagascar but also back home. I hope to be able to share my experiences and inspire younger members to apply for GOLD and other international experiences in the future. Thank you for your support.

Please note that any Gift Aid will not count towards my participant fee but will be donated to the GOLD bursary to help those who may find fund-raising difficult.