The future of Girlguiding Cayman Islands is in doubt after Girlguiding UK announced this week that, from 1 Sept. this year, it will be removing its support for all its overseas branches.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, 19 April, Girlguiding UK said its board of trustees had decided to cut ties with British Girlguiding Overseas, which includes members in the overseas territories, after examining how best “to manage risk, and our future ability to run an overseas operation in 36 countries and territories across the world, each with separate laws and regulations”.
Girlguiding Cayman Islands commissioner Charlotte Lewis said the announcement had been a “huge shock” and had left local members “very upset”.
“We are currently challenging this decision and also exploring options for how we can continue,” she said.
Girlguiding Cayman Islands has been a branch association of Girlguiding UK since 1987, and moved under the British Girlguiding Overseas umbrella in 2020 with all other overseas territories.
In a statement, Girlguiding UK said its board of trustees had decided to change how Girlguiding UK operates overseas and end organised guiding run by Girlguiding UK, including “units, volunteer structure, trips and online meetings”, in overseas countries and territories from 1 Sept. 2023.
It added, “Further discussions are now taking place about how girls overseas might be involved in guiding in the future.”
Surprise and disappointment
Girlguiding Cayman Islands, in a statement issued on Thursday, said it was “surprised and extremely disappointed” with the UK body’s decision.
“As a British Overseas Territory we have a special link to the UK and the Girlguiding Branch Associations (now referred to as Caribbean and Atlantic Countries) have been in place for nearly 40 years. All of our volunteers have worked hard to be compliant with the rules and regulations, remained up to date with the programme and have given members wonderful Guiding experiences,” the group stated.
It added that the executive team of the local branch was “working hard to ensure that Guiding remains active and we continue to offer the best experience we can in the Cayman Islands”.
In the meantime, all unit meetings, activities and events will continue as normal, it said.
Girlguiding’s UK board of trustees says it has direct responsibility for BGO, which is not registered as a charity in its own right.
British Girlguiding Overseas, responding in its own statement, said it did not understand why the UK group had decided to pull out of the overseas jurisdictions, but that the announcement had been met with “immense shock and sadness” by its members.
It stated that its leaders had “always worked extra hard to keep their units compliant with the standards set by Girlguiding in the UK and additionally in the countries that host them. To this end, our safety record is exemplary.”
Negative impact
The group added that the closure of the British Girlguiding Overseas region will have a negative impact on both its guiding members in the current and former British territories, as well as on many British families living outside of mainland UK.
“Those who are already Girlguiding members will have to leave guiding, and the valuable English speaking, girl-only space, which has continuously provided a lifeline to our members when they move overseas, will disappear,” the group 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 all suggestions so far have been rejected.”
The group added that it would work with its 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”.
British Girlguiding Overseas said it is requesting that any letters of “complaint and disappointment” be sent to [email protected].
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