The Arab Region at the 33rd World Conference
29 July 2008
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Iraq attended the World Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.It was a great occasion and very special to the Arab Region in particular.
A new World Board Member from the Arab Region
Nadine is the present owner and creative director of ‘Orange Box’, an advertising company. As a volunteer, Nadine is the General Commissioner of the Lebanese Girl Scout Association and a trainer in the Fédération Libanaise des Eclaireuses et des Guides.
As for WAGGGS, she is an Honorary Associate, WAGGGS Trainer and Arab Region Trainer. She participated in many trainings in Qatar, Egypt, India, UK, Emirates, Jordan, Oman and Italy.We wish her all success in her new post and we know for sure that she will be a valuable addition to the World Board.
A new member of the Arab Region WAGGGS
The Syrian Scout Association became the newest associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts at the 33rd World ConferenceThe Arab Region WAGGGS is very glad to welcome the girl scouts of Syria in their big Arab family of guiding and wishes them well as they continue to support the development of girls and young women in their country and contribute to the growth of Girl Guiding in the Arab Region.
Olave Award to Lebanon
With an aim of helping and supporting the children and the inhabitants of Southern Lebanon, 1,000 guides (girls aged between 12 and 15 years) from Association des Guides du Liban gave all their efforts to relight the torches extinguished by the long hard and obscure days of the last war in Lebanon, by offering five schools a complete library to each (including educational books (approximately 7,000 books), encyclopedias, CD, DVD, decoration, computers, educational games for the children (cubes, clay…) to ensure an adequate or at least a better educational environment for the pupils.On 12 May, 2007, approximately 600 girl guides were present in the South in order to arrange the libraries and to spend one amusing and interesting morning with the students of the primary classes of the five schools. Unforgettable day for the Guides of Lebanon who have succeeded in founding new friendships a little far if we speak about kilometers, but never will be far from their heart.
This wonderful project brought the Olave Award to the Girl Guides of the Association des Guides du Liban during this World Conference.
The Arab Regional Committee
The World Conference was a great opportunity for the committee to meet formally and informally to carry out the regional work forward. Specially when all the committee members were at the conference except Abla who was busy organizing and preparing for the 19th Arab Camp in Jordan.The Regional Gathering
The Arab Regional Gathering was a great opportunity for the Arab Region participants to evaluate last year’s plans and discuss and agree on future ones. It was also a great opportunity for some Board and staff members to be updated with the priorities of work in the Arab Region.
In her report, Essia Fathallah, Chairman of the Arab Region, highlighted all past year’s events and thanked all those who helped make them a success.
Participants had the opportunity to ask for clarification on business of the Conference, such as quota payment, WLDP, GAT and also then discussed ways to implement the centenary celebration at the Arab as well as at the national level.The focus of meeting was the feedback from participants who attended our Regional events this year.
I attended the Round table in August last year. It was for me a fantastic experience to meet with members of the Arab Region. Through the sessions I have acquired a wealth of information and this also gave me a better understanding on the ways of work of the Arab Region and WAGGGS. It has certainly helped me to develop my leadership skills.
The leadership training in October 2007 was the first training in its kind that brought together Chairman, International Commissioners and young women from all Arab MOs. It has encouraged better understanding between us and the several group discussions clarified the role of each of us in our respective MOs.
Fatimah from JordanBack in my Association, I have started to implement the job description of both the Chairman and the International Commissioners that we agreed upon, but most importantly I have reinforced the role of young women in our Association by giving them an increased number of responsibilities.
Hind ElHoly, Chairman Kuwait Girl guides AssociationAdvocacy for me was a very new subject and once back in my country I started an advocacy campaign with guides and leaders in a project to stop children not attending schools. The project is still ongoing and is already bearing fruit.