Chairman's Message

The European Guide Conference in is still fresh in our memory and the new European Committee has made its first steps since it was elected.
As a chairman I feel I have a wonderful team of young, enthusiastic and strong young women ready to meet the challenges ahead of the Region and as I said at the Conference I have received a precious gift that has started to reveal its beauty, its strong and its weak aspects and we are looking to develop all of them.

Membership is once again one  of our big issues and we will try to use the creativity of this young and new  committee to envisage together with all you new ways to tackle it... it is essential that we reshape ourselves to meet the needs of more and more girls and young women in each of our member organisations. It is what we need to know, all together, to become stronger, to build youth leadership and to be the voice of our young girls.

As the triennium progresses I would like to see each of the Member Organisations involved in the effort of contributing to the work of the Region, suggesting people for working groups and planning teams and giving useful feed back in order to help the committee to reach the ambitious objectives the Conference has approved. 

We have been working hard in prioritising and we are now in the final stage of defining the country contact system and our ways of working and you will soon receive news about this. In the meantime we have events coming that are still part of our current operational plan and we need your cooperation to turn them into a great success.  I am looking forward to seeing you all involved in the 2^nd Europe Region Swap Shop (End August), in the Advocacy Workshop (September, Brussels) and in the joint seminar on Developing Guiding and Scouting in Inner Cities (end November.)

A lot has happened already this year, with having the European conferences but we are only half way through the year – and that means we are only half way through the centenary of Scouting.  I am sure that the World Scout Jamborree in the will be one of its greatest events and I am looking forward to meeting many of you there.

I am also looking forward to my first meeting of the World Board in September. I will have the opportunity there to bring the work that you did at the Regional Conference on our 2009 – 2011 Operational Plan to the discussions on the World Strategic Plan, which will be presented at the next World Conference.

The next few months will be very intense but I am sure it will be an opportunity to learn and have fun!  Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about what is happening in our region.

Yours in Girl Guiding/Girl Scouting 
Fabiola Canavesi