15th European Guide and Scout Conference - Day 2

Day 2 of the conference and the main event is the presentations from the 9 candidates for election on the Europe Committee. All were impressive but of course our hopes are with Yvonne Brown CGI . An afternoon session of ' speed dating ' gave everyone a chance to put questions to the candidates and hopefully make the right decision for the committee.It was amazing to see the knowledge and enthusiasm of the candidates and the work that they are preparing to do as volunteers to support  Wagggs.

Other presentations took us on journeys to Croatia and Malta who are vying to hold the next Europe region conference, as well as an update from Roverway which will have up to 5000 participants and many volunteers taking part in the largest European joint event held by Wagggs and Wosm . The ethos being ' Living and Building peace together '.

The Guide section of the conference was opened with an address by Dr Michele Paule, a gender expert who is working with Wagggs on gender and diversity . This was very interesting and raised many issues including how girls  have problems recognising their leadership skills . An interesting point is that when society says both genders are equal , girls see this is not the case around them and therefore believe the problem to be with them.
Some results from the gender survey indicate that most countries are compliant on Health issues. In terms of the economy it is fair while gender balance in politics is poor. This is a huge issue for us as leaders of girls and young women . What happens that the young sixer , the patrol leader and the senior branches who show great skill  in leadership within IGG but don't bring it to the larger community ? This is one of the challenges which Wagggs and IGG will be addressing in the coming years.
Michele's concluding words must be an inspiration to us all .

'The space is there but the onus is on women to step into it.'

Saturday finished with an International evening which went on until 10 pm outdoors to take advantage of the light filled Nordic evening .
Ireland's table was always popular with  stew , Irish cheeses, tea-brack and of course red lemonade !