Fatemah Alfailakawi, COVID-19 Volunteer Medical Support and Girl Guide, Kuwait

Fatemah is a member of Girl Guides of Kuwait and has taken part in a range of WAGGGS programmes. She currently volunteers in a COVID-19 medical team because of her experience working as a laboratory technician. Fatemah’s passion for helping the community and having a positive spirt are both traits that she gained from Guiding.

Ackissah Thandiwe Baluti, Youth Exchange South to South Programme Assistant, Malawi

Ackissah Thandiwe Baluti, a young leader from Malawi Girl Guides Association and a YESS Alumnae. Currently Volunteering with WAGGGS as a YESS programme Assistant (also responsible for Advocacy and Membership within the same programme). Ackissah is a Menstrual hygiene Activist and MHM Education Guide (Rosie's World) Master trainer, trained by Wash United.

Isabella Caldas, Former Juliette Low Seminar Participant, Brazil

I am Isabella Caldas, a Girl Guide from Brazil and I have been in the Movement for about 12 years now. I’m 21 years old and I’m finishing my degree as a Pharmacist, but I work with Digital Marketing.

This is one of the many things the Girl Guides gave me: the ability to reach my full potential through great communication skills, emotional intelligence and leadership skills.

I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for the girl guides. I’m very grateful for everything that WAGGGS has given me, such as the opportunity to grow from a child participant to an active leader in my Community.

With my volunteering I hope that I can inspire and share my story with other guides at least a little!

Wendy Calhoun, Hollywood Award Winning Writer and Producer, USA

Peabody-award-winning writer/executive producer Wendy Calhoun’s prolific career spans one-hour dramas, unscripted series, VR, and gaming.  She’s currently developing exciting new series for Netflix and HBO Max featuring women in leading roles. Her scripted drama credits include Co-Executive Producing and writing the historic first season of FBC’s EMPIRE, as well as debut seasons of PRODIGAL SON, STATION 19, NASHVILLE, REVENGE, and JUSTIFIED.

Known as a champion for diversity and inclusion, Calhoun’s developed and sold nine series pitches since 2015 with buyers including Walt Disney TV, Warner Horizons Unscripted, WBTV, NBC, The CW, F/X, and ABC Signature Studios. She’s produced and directed over forty hours of unscripted prime-time content. Calhoun wrote and directed the virtual reality short, Left Behind, designed to create empathy for girls impacted by parental incarceration that was the first-ever VR screening at the 2016 Austin Film Festival and won “Best in VR” at Digital Hollywood. Born and raised in Dallas, Calhoun is an honored film and television alumni of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She lives in Los Angeles with her loving husband, two wonderful daughters, cats, turtles, and one very loyal dog.

Susan Campbell, President, Olave Baden-Powell Society

Susan is a passionate advocate for Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting and is active in a range of areas across the WAGGGS Organisation. A member of OB-PS since 2008, she has seen first-hand the positive and lasting impact the Society has had in supporting the WAGGGS Mission and most importantly making a difference in the lives of girls and young woman. Susan was elected President of the Society in 2020.

Susan has been a volunteer with Girl Guides Australia for more than 40 years, supporting work in the areas of governance, international experience and human resource management.

In her professional life, Susan has been an educationalist and has held leadership and management roles in a number of educational institutions in Australia.

Chamathya Fernando, Former World Board Member and Current Member of Generation Equality Youth Task Force, Sri Lanka

(27) served as the youngest member of the World Board of WAGGGS from 2018 – 2020, filling a vacancy created by a resignation. Currently, she is a member of the Generation Equality Youth Task Force and its Representative to the Core Group – decision making body of the Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women and co-chaired by Governments of Mexico and France.

She has been involved with Girl Guiding since the age of 8 years and received the President’s Guide Award in 2010. As a global facilitator of the Stop The Violence Campaign, Chamathya has delivered projects for “Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association” and “Bangladesh Girl Guides Association” on preventing gender based violence.

Chamathya continues her service to the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts movement as a “Volunteer Project Lead” for “Motion 32 - Young Women in Governance” project and leading WAGGGS engagements at the “Generation Equality Forum and Campaign”.

She was recognized by the US State Department as one of the 10 Global Emerging Young Leaders in 2017 for her work on empowering girls and young women and to advance gender equality.  

Chamathya has also worked with Rotaract, Girl Up, Plan International, and many other grass-root level CSOs focusing on different thematic areas. She is a graduate in Economics from University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and in Management from University of Plymouth, UK.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/chamathya.fernando

Twitter - @chamathya93

Instagram - chamathya93

Janne Fongen, Girl Guide, Norway

Janne Fongen is an 18-year-old Girl Guider from Sandefjord, a small town in the southern part of Norway.  She is a member of the Norwegian Guide and Scout Association. She is interested in the international aspects of Girl Guiding, and her Girl Guide Group participated in the National Camp with a Friendship Group from Iceland.  She also has Guiding friends in Italy and Germany.

Janne has been continually active during the pandemic and has been able to keep up the activities in her Group during the pandemic.

Cearlovey Granali, National Advocacy Champion, Together We Rise, Philippines

Cearlovey Granali (18) a member of Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) is one of the national advocates of Together We Rise Philippines, a national girl-led advocacy project of GSP under the Stop The Violence Campaign of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. In November 2020, Together We Rise Philippines ran an 18-day campaign in celebration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Additionally, Cearlovey leads and helps deliver Girl Scouting programs and activities to girls and young women in their Movement. She is also a public speaker and has spoken on different spaces about gender equality and youth empowerment.

Since August 2020, Cearlovey has been co-leading the efforts of WAGGGS in the Generation Equality Youth Journey process to amplify the voices of girls and young women at global and national Generation Equality processes. She has represented WAGGGS to the Youth Journey Design session for Generation Equality convened by UN Women last July-September 2020, and to the Generation Equality Mexico Forum last March 29-31, 2021.  At present, she is one of the Advocacy Champions of the Girl Powered Nutrition programme in the Philippines.

Ingrid Kvamme, Girl Guide, Norway

Ingrid Kvamme is 18 years old, living just north of Bergen on the West Coast of Norway.  She is belonging to Eidsvåg Group of the YWCA-YMCA Guides and Scouts of Norway.  She has been a Girl Guide for 12 years and is currently heading the Rover Ombud in her County, Bjørgvin.

Ingrid’s best memories from Girl Guiding are from being a Service Team Member at the National Camp in 2018, and from participation in the World Jamboree in 2019.

Other than Girl Guiding and school, she enjoys being with friends, reading and playing the guitar.

Tori James FRGS, President of Girl Guiding Cymru, Adventurer and World Record Breaker, UK

She was the first Welsh woman to climb Mount Everest, aged 25. Tori stars in the BBC television documentary ‘On Top of the World’ which was produced about her expedition and she is also the author of ‘Peak Performance’ which describes her climb to the summit.

She was a member of the first all-female team to complete The Polar Challenge, a 360-mile race to the Magnetic North Pole. She also set the record for the longest open sea kayak crossing in UK waters (200km) when the Beeline Britain team became the first to travel in a straight line from Land's End to John O'Groats.

Among her notable journeys, Tori has also cycled the length of New Zealand, a total of 2400km.

Tori was a Brownie, Guide and Ranger in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK between 1988 - 1999. She represented Wales at a World Guide & Scout Camp in Olympia, Greece and climbed her first alpine peak in Switzerland when she visited Our Chalet. Tori also completed the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards as a Ranger. Tori is the current President of Girl Guiding Cymru (Wales).

“Guiding taught me that to achieve anything you needed to make a commitment to yourself and to others. The badges that we worked towards were not plucked from the air, they were earned through hard work over time. Achieving one badge made me want to strive for the next. It taught me to set my sight on the next goal. My proudest achievement was gaining my Camp Permit Award and being selected to represent Wales at an international camp in Olympia, Greece.”

Twitter: @torijtweets

Insta: @torijameseverest

Linked In: @torijameseverest

Heidi Jokinen, Chair, WAGGGS World Board

Heidi is a member of the Guides and Scouts of Finland. She joined the World Board in 2016. She continues to be an active member in the Advocacy Team of the South West Finland Guide and Scout District. She has previously held the positions of Chief Commissioner and International Commissioner and served the National Board for eight years.

Heidi is currently on parental leave but has most recently acted as Post-Doctorial Researcher in Philosophy and Ethics; and as Church Minister.

"As a global organisation WAGGGS has excellent chances in enhancing its mission and vision for girls and young women. I find this exciting. Simultaneously WAGGGS makes a platform for its Member Organizations’ diverse needs. This must be remembered when pursuing WAGGGS’ mission globally."

Mariyam Rayya, Young Leader from Maldives Girl Guides Association, the Maldives

Mariyam has been in the Youth Executive Committee as a Public Relations Officer (2018), President (2019), and Programs and Projects Coordinator (2020-till date).

She is the founder of Keep the Scene Clean and a Climate Champion representing Maldives in the UNICEF South Asia regional campaign "One Planet, One Youth, One Love." 

Mariyam have taken awareness sessions locally on the SDG’s especially those related to the environment and about zero waste lifestyle. She has also been making the best use of social media to reach more people about these issues.

Mariane Dorothy Rosario, WAGGGS Advocacy Champion and Girl Representative to the Central Board of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, Philippines

Mariane Dorothy Rosario (18) is a member of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines who is actively working on various advocacy initiatives specific to online abuse and harassment and violence against women and girls (VAWG). Currently, she is an Advocacy Champion and U-Report Global Ambassador at WAGGGS, a National Girl Leader and Girl Representative of the Central Luzon Region to the Central Board at the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP), one of the national advocates of Together We Rise Philippines, and a Girls Get Equal Advocate at Plan International. In 2020, she represented the Philippines in WAGGGS' girl-led global panel on VAWG and led a localized campaign focused on ending prostitution and sex trafficking in the Central Luzon Region. She also spearheaded GSP’s first-ever 18-day Campaign to End Violence Against Women as its National Project Lead and represented the Philippines in Plan International’s Girls Get Equal 'Listening Sessions' in partnership with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.to tackle online violence against girls.

She leads and delivers Girl Scouting programs and events to the girls in her country. She is also an experienced public speaker who has delivered speeches on issues surrounding gender equality and women's empowerment in regional, national, and international spaces. On March 15-26, 2021, she represented WAGGGS to the United Nations 65th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and contributed to WAGGGS' Reaction Statement to the Zero Draft Agreed Conclusions. 

Solveig Schytz, Norwegian Parliamentarian, Norway

Solveig is a former Chief Commissioner for the Guides and Scouts of Norway. She is an active politician, and a professional curator of historical sites and cultural heritage.

Solveig is actively engaged in environmental issues and believes it is urgent to change human behaviour. Solveig was also responsible for nominating WAGGGS for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Anna Segall, WAGGGS CEO

Anna Segall joined WAGGGS in September 2020 and is an Australian-German national. She brings a wealth of experience working with multi-cultural, volunteer-led teams, as CEO, Country Director and General Counsel and in change management roles globally. She has also held a number of Trustee roles on UK Charity Boards.

Anna has a vision for and experience in navigating diverse ever-evolving contexts in member-led organisations, able to connect local actions to a global mission whilst influencing change on an international scale. Across her leadership career, Anna has held Executive roles at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), UNESCO and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Prior to joining WAGGGS, Anna led a change management process at the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), one of the world’s largest demining organisations.

Having spent four years as General Counsel to UNESCO, Anna has been directly responsible for guiding the Executive Board through complex governance, policy and legal issues, establishing mechanisms and systems that support innovation and transformation.

 Hannah Stanton, Leadership and Gender Equality Scholar, Sweden

Valuebased and visionary, to make the world a place to live in with equal rights and chances for everyone is the red thread through Hannah’s personal and professional life.

Undertaking a strong volunteering role in advocacy for girls and young women rights, she has among other volunteering commitments been a UN delegate for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, taking a lead in the negotiations for the 2030 Agenda. This led to her appointment to the Swedish government’s commission tasked to implement the 2030 Agenda nationally.

Hannah started her career in the public sector working on citizen participation and meaningful inclusion of marginalised community members and has since worked across sectors with the aim to achieve sustainable development at home and abroad. She is a valued speaker and facilitator at home and abroad.

For her efforts she received the Compass Rose scholarship, awarded by HM King of Sweden to a young leader acting as a role model for value based leadership demonstrating courage, care and willingness to take action.

Instagram: @hh.stanton
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hhstanton/  

Marika Vaasvainio, Our Chalet Volunteer, Finland

Marika started Scouting when she was five years old and has been a Girl Scout for 15 years. Marika has had many amazing experiences through her time as a Girl Scout, including daytrips with local groups, attending international camps, and most notably being a volunteer at Our Chalet. It is these experiences that Marika will be sharing with us during the event. Outside of her Scouting life, Marika is an activist, or as she says: "just a normal young person trying to change the world."