FAQ - World Board Preliminary Responses to MO Proposed Motions and Amendments

The World Board does not support this Proposed Amendment. 

During our Governance Review, there was strong support for keeping the Regional Chairs on the board to ensure geographical representation. For that reason, the World Board’s proposal is to move to a smaller board which includes Regional Chairs. 

Having Regional Chairs on the World Board without voting rights would not achieve a smaller, agile and cohesive board and could lead to a two-tier system between Board members who do, and do not, have voting rights. 

We believe a smaller, more agile Board is best achieved by reducing the number of elected Trustees.

We thank the Proposing MO for this Proposed Amendment and look forward to continuing the discussions further at World Conference.

The World Board does not support this Proposed Amendment. 

The World Board works with a strong principle of shared leadership and collective responsibility. This would not be possible if the co-opted member on the World Board does not have the same voting rights as all other Board members. 

We believe it is key that that all World Board have the same level of accountability and responsibility towards decision-making, rather than creating a two-tier structure with differentiated ways to influence.

We thank the Proposing MO for this Proposed Amendment and look forward to discussing it further at World Conference.

The World Board does not support this Proposed Motion. 

We remain strongly committed to the Regional structure as a core element of WAGGGS’s governance. 

However, good governance practice suggests that Constitutions work best when they focus on long-term, lasting principles, with more detailed information set out in policies, guidelines and other documents. 

We believe this Proposed Motion would add unnecessary rigidity to the Constitution and would make it harder for WAGGGS to respond quickly and effectively to changes in the external environment. 

We believe the current wording in the Constitution clearly highlights the importance and central role of the Regional structure within WAGGGS. At the same time, it allows enough flexibility to respond to changes in the external environment.

We thank the Proposing MOs for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing conversations on how to best ensure that Regions remain at the core of WAGGGS’s governance. 

The World Board supports this Proposed Amendment.

The World Board supports the intention in this Proposed Amendment of allowing WAGGGS to respond to changes in external environment and circumstances. 

We believe this Proposed Amendment improves Proposed Motion 11 in that way and therefore, we support this Proposed Amendment. 

However, the World Board believes that the Constitution already allows for this flexibility. Therefore, even if this Proposed Amendment is adopted, we do not support Proposed Motion 11.

We thank the Proposing MOs for this Proposed Amendment and look forward to continuing conversations on how to best ensure that Regions remain at the core of WAGGGS’s governance

Proposed Motion 12

The World Board is unable support this Proposed Motion because it directly conflicts with our intention to hold two Regional Conferences in each triennium, as set out in Proposed Motion 4a.

The World Board supports the intention of this Proposed Motion to make the role of Regional Conferences clearer.

We see Regional Conferences as crucial opportunities for meaningful engagement and dialogue between Member Organisations. They also play an important role in ensuring that regional perspectives and diversity are at the heart of WAGGGS’s work. 

We are strongly committed to WAGGGS’s Regional structure and to ensuring that Regional Conferences remain strategic spaces.

We thank the Proposing MOs for bringing forward this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on the role of Regional Conferences at World Conference.   

The World Board supports this Proposed Amendment as it acknowledges the conflict with Motion 4a and amends Motion 12 to accommodate this. 

The World Board thanks the Proposing MOs for bringing forward this Proposed Amendment and look forward to continuing discussions on the role of Regional Conferences at World Conference.

The World Board does not support this Proposed Amendment, as it conflicts with the World Board’s intention to hold two Regional Conferences each triennium, as set out in Proposed Motion 4a.

We believe that Regional Conferences already provide spaces for Member Organisations to raise and discuss issues and to shape Regional priorities through consultation on their Region’s Triennial Action Plan and financial framework, which are presented back to Member Organisations at Regional Conferences. Therefore, we do not believe that this Proposed Amendment is necessary.   

In addition, we note that the implementation of this change would require additional staff and volunteer time and financial resources that will have to be found from other areas. 

The World Board thanks the Proposing MO for bringing forward this Proposed Amendment and looks forward to continuing discussions on the role of Regional Conferences at World Conference.

Proposed Motion 13

The World Board believes this Proposed Motion would not lead to any specific changes, as co-creation and consultation are already central to our existing Regional budgeting processes. 

However, we do support the intention of the Proposed Motion and commit to continuing to ensure that the current Regional budgeting process is carried out through consultation and co-creation with Regional Committee members. 

The World Board thanks the Proposing MOs for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on it at World Conference. 

Proposed Motion 14

The World Board does not support this Proposed Motion. 

The safety and wellbeing of everyone in the Movement is the World Board’s top priority. We believe that WAGGGS already has strong policies and processes in place to support this. 

We believe that creating a single global framework, as suggested by this Proposed Motion, would be very difficult to put into practice across all Member Organisations. This would be because of differences in national laws, especially relating to safeguarding and sharing personal data. It would also require significant time and resources from both WAGGGS and Member Organisations.

However, as part of the planned review of the Safeguarding Policy, we will take into consideration the issues raised in this Proposed Motion to make sure we continue to maintain high safeguarding standards across our Movement.

The World Board thanks the Proposing MO for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on safeguarding at World Conference.

The World Board supports this Proposed Motion.

We support the intention to further exploring the potential for Artificial Intelligence and digital translation tools to enable greater access to WAGGGS resources, such as via Campfire, which already incorporates digital translation. 

We thank the Proposing MO for this Proposed Motion and looks forward to exploring ideas to offer greater accessibility and inclusivity to WAGGGS resources in a cost-effective and sustainable way.

Proposed Motion 16

The World Board supports this Proposed Motion.

We believe it raises some important considerations, which can be incorporated as inputs into the review of the WAGGGS Communications Policy that is already planned for the 2027-29 triennium.

We thank the Proposing MO for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on it at World Conference,

Proposed Motion 17

The World Board supports this Proposed Motion, which seeks to expand dialogue and shared learning across the Movement. 

The World Board remains fully committed to delivering to WAGGGS’s charitable object: ‘to further the aims of the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement by providing girls and young women with opportunities for self-development through leadership, responsible citizenship and service in their own and world communities’. 

We are aware that there is a wide diversity of membership practice across the Movement as each Member Organisation chooses the best way to achieve our Vision - an equal world where all girls can thrive - within their own cultural context. 

We thank the Proposing MO for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on it at World Conference. 

Proposed Motion 18

The World Board believes this Proposed Motion would not lead to any specific changes, as we already provide a range of support for in-person Conference attendance and are also continuing to develop hybrid approaches to improve accessibility and enabling more Member Organisations to engage, contribute meaningfully, and vote at governance events.

However, we support the intention of this proposal and commit to continuing to monitor and evaluate our governance events, including assessing the impact of different methods of participation.

We thank the Proposing MOs for this Proposed Motion and look forward to continuing discussions on how to make governance events as accessible as possible at World Conference.