Guiding Structure

If reading's not your thing, skip to the end of this page for a handy diagram.

GirlGuiding is all about girls, so that's where we start:

Each girl is part of a patrol - a small group of 3-8 girls with a Patrol Leader and an Assistant Patrol Leader. This is an important part of Guiding, because it is where girls get their first leadership experience. 

Then we have a unit. Units used to be called companies, and in some countries are called troops. A unit can have anywhere from 1-50+ girls, depending on the unit. They have at least one adult leader (in Guides, there must be one adult for every 12 girls - it's different for the other age sections). There are always at least two adults at every meeting, and one of those must be female. Our unit is Welcome Bay Guides. We have five patrols, and about 20 girls in 2014. 

Every unit is part of a district. A district is a local area with a number of units of different sections. There is a district co-ordinator (DC), who looks after all the leaders. There is also a treasurer. The DC and treasurer look after the important administration side of the district. Welcome Bay Guides is part of the Tauranga District. There are also two Brownie units, a Ranger unit and two Pippin units.

When you put a group of districts together, you get a region. A region has a regional co-ordinator (RC) and other administration roles. There are 22 regions in New Zealand, plus the 'Aotearoa Region,' which is a virtual region for all the girls who can't get to a regular unit meeting (like if she lives in a really isolated area, or if she has karate on the night the local group meets, or if she has to care for a baby or other relative). Our region is Bay of Plenty.

Each region belongs to a zone. There are four zones in New Zealand: Upper North, Central North, Lower North, and Southern Zones. We are part of the Central North Zone.

Then there is our national organisation: GirlGuiding New Zealand, also known as Nga Kohine Whakamahiri o Aotearoa. Their website is a good place to learn more. All national organisations are known as member organisations. In New Zealand, there is just one, but in some countries (like Germany, for example), there are more - maybe a secular organisation and a Catholic one, or one that accepts boys as well as girls.

All member organisations belong to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, or WAGGGS for short. WAGGGS has 10 million members in 145 countries worldwide. We are the world's largest voluntary organisation of girls and women, which means we have a strong voice. We participate in UN talks and have a presence and voice in other important international settings. We make sure girls are not silenced or ignored. We empower girls and young women.

And that brings us full-circle back to the most important part of Guiding: the girl!

To summarise: