Pressure is mounting on Girlguiding UK to reverse its shock decision to end operations for girls living abroad.
More than 14,000 people have signed a petition calling for a rethink after the youth charity announced on Twitter yesterday that it would change its relationship with British Girlguiding Overseas and cease all overseas guiding from 1 September 2023.
Girlguiding UK said that the decision was the result of a year “looking at ways best to manage risk” and its “future ability to run an overseas operation in 36 countries and territories across the world, each with separate laws and regulations”.
Following the announcement, a petition was launched on the website Change.org, calling on Girlguiding UK’s leadership to “re-examine” the decision.
The petition said: “We call for UK Girlguiding senior leadership and trustees to re-examine their decision to cease all guiding overseas, consulting fully and transparently with those affected.
“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.”
At the time of writing, the petition has 14,176 signatures.
British Girlguiding Overseas, which has around 2,600 members in 36 countries and territories, said it received Girlguiding UK’s decision “with immense shock and sadness”.
BGO said: “We have worked hard to suggest solutions to the board of trustees in order to provide an alternative delivery method so that we may continue as a region. We are disappointed that we have not come to a solution at this time.
“Whilst we will never fully understand the decision that has been made and it is not of our making, we will work with our membership to make sure that we continue to care for every individual girl and member; and we hope that an alternative offer can be swiftly made to them in one form or another.”