EUROPE OFFICE WAGGGS BUREAU EUROPE AMGE 38 AV. DE LA PORTE DE HAL, BOX 1 B-1060 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM TEL + 32 2 541 08 80 - FAX + 32 2 541 08 99 EMAIL
: europe@europe.wagggsworld.org
WOSM - EUROPEAN REGIONAL OFFICE OMMS – BUREAU REGIONAL EUROPEEN 5 RUE HENRY CHRISTINE, BOX 327 CH-1211 GENEVA 4, SWITZERLAND TEL + 41 22 705 11 00 - FAX + 41 22 705 11 09 EMAIL
: europe@scout.org
Education For All, Girls And Boys Introduction One of the greatest challenges to fulfil the missions of WAGGGS and WOSM is to look deeper into the realities that MOs/NSOs face today. WOSM organisations achieve the mission by offering educational programme and training to both girls and boys, whilst WAGGGS is open to both single-sex organisations and co-educational settings as both scenarios are appropriate. WAGGGS in its normal operations also looks continuously into the different educational settings that exist. Many Associations around Europe have chosen to offer their educational programmes in a setting where boys and girls work together. This requires co-education. Co-education also represents equal opportunity and mutual respect and responsibility. Background th
The 10 European Guide and Scout Conference in Slovenia in 2007 requested us to work on this recommendation after considering various factors as follows. •
Considering that the education of both girls and boys is an educational issue for the future of Guiding and Scouting and their impact on society;
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Considering the difficulties faced by Member Organisations and National Scout Organisations to achieve the common challenge of Guiding and Scouting to break down barriers;
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Considering that there exists a social and cultural context common to the European Countries with regard to the education of boys and girls but that more important differences exist on World level.
Recommends that the European Scout Region and The Europe Region WAGGGS: •
Develops gender-specific and co-educational programmes and practices on the education of boys and girls that is updated and adapted to the needs and aspirations of young people today, emphasising the experiences of Guiding and Scouting, with the aim of: -
Promoting differences and complementarities between women and men;
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Building equal gender partnership between women and men.
The development of educational programmes is a key task of MOs/NSOs. They have the ability to build those programmes having in consideration the social and cultural environment of their country, in order to better respond to young people’s needs. In an important issue like the education of young women and men and their relations, this is even more relevant. That’s why both European Regions WAGGGS and WOSM decided to support MOs/NSOs in addressing this issue by giving more visibility to existing tools and opportunities, and to promote interesting practices on associations.
Title
Publisher & year
aim/ content
co-education (definition etc.)
Policy on girls and boys, women and men within the scout movement
WOSM 1999
strategy paper for world congress
One of the boys Doing Gender in Scouting The gender toolkit
WOSM 2002
some country specific examples
approach in which the response to the educational needs of boys and girls, young men and young women, is conceived on the basis of a common educational proposal and a clearly defined set of objectives and method which aim at the development of both genders equally, bearing in mind the individuality of each person and her or his gender identity. May also incorporate separate gender activities. several aspects ‘rating and dating’
Him ´n her
indiv idual educ ation etc.
Attachments or web links
WOSM 2006 WOSM/SSF
Diversity toolkit
WAGGGS/WO SM
Information and training materials definition of co-education
some questions
DiversityToolkit.p df
Policy on “The Education of girls and young women in WAGGGS”
WAGGGS 1998
mutual respect and responsibility, equal opportunity
Education of Girls and Young Women.pdf
Gender Training Kit
WAGGGS 2006
Different Gender modules which could be used in all kind of settings.
Gender Charter
WAGGGS 2004
The Charter is to examine how gender equality is incorporated into six areas (education; personal development; empowerment; human rights; image and health)
Associations bring gender into focus and identify any action/s MOs would like to take in the future on the issue of Gender.
Charter_EN.pdf
Global Action Theme (GAT)
WAGGGS 2008
Educational resources to
MDG 2 Achieve Universal Primary Education
GAT_Guidelines _EN.pdf
Available at the Europe Office
Badge Curriculum
All Different, All Equal
support MOs and members of all ages to work on the Global Action Theme (GAT).
Council of Europe 1995/20062007
WAGGGS Girls Worldwide say “education opens doors for all girls and boys” MDG 3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women WAGGGS Girls Worldwide say “empowering girls will change our world”
GAT_BadgeCurri culum_EN.pdf
more gender related
Other WAGGGS activities Development of Gender café session (module developed to be organised and delivered during events organised by the Europe Region WAGGGS, targeted to different audiences) Aims: Creating spaces where to discuss and collect practices and experiences on how to achieve WAGGGS mission in both single sex and co-educational environments. Feed back information to decision making bodies in order to develop a strategy toward a better support for co-educational organisations Objectives: Provide information on WAGGGS policy about single sex and co-education Communicate the interest WAGGGS has in understanding different realities and its will to answer different needs while achieving WAGGGS mission Provide space for official discussion on single sex and co-education at Regional level and gather MOs’ opinions and requests for WAGGGS Map the results and gather information at Regional level •
•
World Thinking Day 2010: a special edition of the World Thinking Day badge for Member Organizations working in a co-educational environment has been created and produced. More info on: http://www.worldthinkingday.org/en/about/WTDbadge.
•
Outcomes of the 111 World Board Meeting – “Delivering the Mission in a Co-Educational Setting”. The WAGGGS World Board commits itself to ensure that all MOs, both single gender and coeducational, benefit from their engagement with WAGGGS. WAGGGS is actively working to strengthen its support to Member Organisations working in a co-educational setting. In the coming months, a consultation process will be implemented. This process is to engage with relevant MOs on how best to support the delivery of WAGGGS mission in a co-educational environment. WAGGGS will review its existing material and will begin consultations at various MO gatherings in 2009. Very shortly and th invitation to a Roundtable in 2010 will be issued. (111 World Board meeting, held in London from 28 September to 3 October 2009).
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Other WOSM activities •
Establishment of Gender Unit and the Gender Practitioners’ Network to explore gender in Scouting and Guiding and collect different realities across Europe through interaction with NSO/MOs. The Gender Practitioners network is a network for scouts working with gender-related issues in NSOs in Europe. The purpose of the network is to be a support for the members and collect knowledge for further work.
•
Development of Her&Him on-line tool to produce, collect and promote gender resources: documents, activities, other links and good practices across Europe http://www.gender.scouthub.org/ (under construction)
•
Training session at 6th European Forum on Youth Programme and Adult Resources, Portugal, March 2009: The aim of this session was to inform, educate and energize participants about what gender is and why it matters in Scouting.
•
Gender Corner, Roverway, Iceland, July 2009: The aim of the Gender corner was to provide the participants the opportunity for exchange and discussion on gender related issues in their NSO/MOs.
The Way Forward -
Create a space on the joint website Promote already existing tools as per table above Materials that NSOs and NOs have produced - put links to their material Discuss more thoroughly the topic with MOs/NSOs on different occasions.
Lara Tonna & João Armando October 2009