Girls First Research
In 2014, GGC brought together more than 100 girls and 120 women at our Annual General Meeting to participate in a forum for member engagement. This forum set the stage to capture the prevalent opinions of our members about GGC programming and will serve as the basis for ongoing youth development research.
Communication: Vancouver consultation findings
Overview
Summary of Findings
Next Steps
Overview
The Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada (GGC) Mission is to enable girls to be confident, resourceful and courageous, and to make a difference in the world. We know that girls and their needs are changing. Our goal is to meet these needs and to ensure that we are well positioned to continue to do so. GGC is currently revitalizing our programming through Girls First, a five-year comprehensive review and revision of our programming and program delivery.
On June 7th, 2014 a consultation was held in Vancouver, British Columbia as a part of the Girls First project. The event coincided with the Girl Guides of Canada Annual General Meeting. Girls, parents, Guiders and other adult member were invited to attend the consultation and share their perspectives on Girl Guides today, and the Girl Guides of the future. Two sessions were held concurrently – one with Girls (Sparks through Rangers) and one with adults. The sessions were organized and facilitated by a team of consultants from OPTIMUS|SBR who will be working closely with Girl Guides of Canada on the Girls First project for the next two years.
More than 100 girls and 120 adults registered to attend the consultation sessions. Participants were primarily from a range of communities in British Columbia. The purpose of the consultations was to inform and engage girls, guiders and parents about the Girls First project and gain an early sense of common values and considerations that may require further exploration throughout the project.
Both the girls and adult consultation sessions included a number of activities to stimulate ideas and get people thinking about how GGC could be even better in the future. Activities included:
- Sharing likes, dislikes and things that GGC could change
- Designing a badge or program for the future
- Identifying the key skills and attributes of Guiders
Both the girls and adults were actively engaged in all of the activities. There were common themes that emerged between the five branches of girls and the adults. There were also differences noted between the different Branches of Girls; specifically between the older girls (Pathfinders and Rangers) and the younger Girls (Sparks, Brownies and Guides).
Summary of Findings:
Overall, the girls indicated that they are passionate about being in GGC. The girls noted that they like developing new friendships and having the opportunity to engage in activities and events that they otherwise might not be exposed to. In general, the younger girls enjoyed earning badges and doing crafts while the older girls were more interested in developing leadership and social skills.
With regard to overall program improvements, both the adults and the older girls expressed that programming needs to be made more current and relevant to the girls’ lifecycle stage. In particular, the girls and adults felt that Pathfinder and Ranger programs should be targeted towards preparation for university/college, leadership, and career development. For branches such as Pathfinders, both adults and girls felt that the program content was too school-like and indicated that they would like to see programming that is more hands-on. Overall, girls and adults also felt that programs should make better use of technology by providing relevant and accessible content online.
When discussing specific activities, the girls shared that it takes too long to complete activities and/or earn a badge. In addition, activities such as selling cookies were noted as being better suited to the younger girls; the older girls were interested in having other fundraising activities introduced to GGC in the future. The younger girls and adults also mentioned that they would like to see more group activities and even suggested some group badges.
In terms of Guiders, the older girls expressed the desire to have Guiders who can be role models and who are relatable. They indicated that Guiders should be adaptive, flexible, open-minded and able to treat girls in an age appropriate way. Guiders identified that they would like to have access to more training, specifically around the use of technology.