British Girlguiding Overseas (BGO) is guiding for girls who live overseas and takes place in 36 countries and territories with around 2,600 members. 

There are two parts within the overseas operations: 

• Units that run in the Middle East and Africa, Asia, Benelux and France, Europe and lone guiding 

• Units in British Overseas Territories, which are in the Caribbean and Atlantic 

Girlguiding UK senior leadership & trustees have made a decision to end all British Girlguiding Overseas operations. From 1 September 2023, the whole of BGO, volunteers and young members, will no longer be part of Girlguiding UK. 

BGO leaders and young members have done nothing wrong, and have not been consulted regarding this decision. Girlguiding UK state: ‘BGO has been a valued part of Girlguiding UK for much of our 113-year history, with thousands of incredible volunteers providing fun, friendship and adventure for girls who are living overseas. We want to emphasise that this decision is nothing to do with the quality of the experiences that volunteers have been providing for girls.’

We call for UK Girlguiding senior leadership & trustees to re-examine their decision to cease all guiding overseas, consulting fully and transparently with those affected.

We believe that senior leadership and trustees should work with volunteers delivering guiding overseas to support them to continue to do so, rather than to forcibly close all overseas units. We recognise that trusteeship of any charity does require time and effort, and that operations overseas present different challenges, but guiding overseas is not new - it has existed for more than a century, so senior leadership and trustees were aware of their responsibilities to overseas members when they took on their roles. 

Forcing overseas operations to cease because trustees no longer wish to invest the time and effort required is not an acceptable course of action for senior leadership to take.

No charity is more important than its purpose. Neither size nor complexity should distract a charity from the needs and interests of the people it exists to serve.

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