By Patience Gondo
The Girl Guides Association of Zimbabwe (GGAZ) is gearing up for a major national training session expected to bring together all provincial Girl Guides leaders, influential community figures and a regional delegation for high-level skills development and strategic planning.
It has been scheduled for December 10 to 13 2025.
The training, which will draw representatives from Manicaland, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Mashonaland East, Harare, Southern and Masvingo marks one of the organisation’s most significant national gatherings in recent years.
Matebeleland South Provincial Commissioner Charlene Savanhu said the training summit aims at strengthening leadership structures, boosting capacity among trainers and enhancing the quality of programmes delivered to girls across the country.
Savanhu, speaking to Ziyah News Network, said the December summit forms part of the association’s intensified effort to widen its impact and ensure that girls in both rural and urban areas receive consistent, high quality mentorship.
“This national training will equip our leaders with the skills needed to guide girls effectively and confidently. It is an important moment for the Girl Guides movement as we strengthen our structures across all provinces,” Savanhu said.
The training comes at a time when GGAZ has been expanding its outreach, particularly in Matabeleland South, where the association is reviving participation in remote schools and rolling out leadership and confidence-building programmes from Plumtree to Beitbridge.
The upcoming summit follows a series of events held this year, including a successful Girl Guides and Brownies camp at Oakleigh House last weekend.
The camp brought together 40 children who participated in the Free Being Me body-confidence programme, moral-lesson activities and a visit to Terry’s Game Sanctuary.
The gathering also saw participation from Heinsky Junior, who interacted with the children during their activities.
Founded more than a century ago, the Girl Guides Association of Zimbabwe an affiliate of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) remains one of the country’s leading youth development movements, promoting discipline, citizenship, leadership and community service.
As preparations intensify for the December national training, officials say the summit will play a crucial role in shaping the organisation’s direction for 2026 and strengthening its mission to build confident, responsible and patriotic young women.
The Girl Guides movement formally started in 1910 in the United Kingdom, led by Agnes Baden-Powell, the sister of Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell. The formation followed a significant event in 1909.
At the first-ever Boy Scout rally held at the Crystal Palace in London, a group of girls attended and demanded “something for the girls”, declaring themselves “Girl Scouts”.
In response to the clear demand and subsequent public attention, Robert Baden-Powell asked his sister Agnes to establish a separate, girls-only organization. This became The Girl Guides Association in the UK.
The name “Guides” was chosen after the British Indian Army Corps of Guides, which was known for its resourcefulness and handiness.