The Emerging Program Model

Discover, Lead, Take Action: What Does It Really Mean for Girl Scouting?
By now you've likely heard that a key aspect of the Girl Scouts' Core Business Strategy is the creation of a program model that will stand as the world's best personal growth and leadership program for girls ages 5-17. Girls Scouts of the USA intends for this new program model to offer a consistent foundation for the unique Girl Scout experience.

With feedback from girls, volunteers and council staff, this emerging program model is still being refined. Ultimately, the model—and the outcomes it delivers—will reflect and further the mission of Girl Scouting, which is to build "girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”

To this end, the emerging program model follows a girl-centric approach and organizes girls' activities into three broad categories—Girls Discover, Girls Lead and Girls Take Action. These categories speak directly to girls and adults who partner with them.

But what do activity categories such as "Discover," “Lead” and “Take Action” really mean for girls? And how does a girl's age factor into these new categories? In focus groups conducted over the last two years with GSUSA's Program Department and the Girl Scout Research Institute, girls both in and outside of Girl Scouting were asked to help shape these activity areas.

Discover: Girls and Their World

In the Discovery phase, girls come to recognize that personal growth and success is achieved by discovering more about themselves and learning more about the world around them—whether that learning is focused on issues close to home, such as their immediate family, or topics farther afield, such as a new language, a new country, or anything at all that a particular girl has never before experienced.

Through specific "Discover" activities, such as researching family trees or ancestry lines, or learning a new skill such as CPR, girls learn more about themselves. Through other activities, such as studying their heritage, or the heritage of their friends, girls learn more about the world they live in. And by stretching even further— by learning a new language, studying global issues, exploring new places and cultures, or experiencing the great outdoors— they make discoveries about the larger world around them. In essence, when girls discover, they venture beyond the borders of their home life, their comfort zone, to try something they've never done before. As a result, they come to know more about themselves, their own world and the world at large.

It's important to note the Discover activities are not age-restricted, and they don't often follow the sort of age correlation that might seem most logical to adults. For example, research shows that younger girls, rather than older ones, are often quite interested in the larger world around them; older girls are often intensely focused on themselves and their immediate personal life, while at the same time they are also thinking about the world beyond high school—such as their future education and career goals.

Leadership: Pathway to Girls Being Their Best

Discussions with girls around the country have shown that most girls value leadership skills and see them as a path to becoming the best that they can be. By leadership skills, they mean problem solving, taking responsibility, helping others, leading by example, planning events, the ability to get consensus, and the ability to tell others what to do in a way that maintains a friendly relationship. Self-confidence is part of being a leader, and so, too, is being a good follower. Being a leader means having knowledge and knowing what to do with that knowledge—being willing to act upon it. The new Girl Scout program model will place a high value on leadership by emphasizing activities that allow girls to learn from and teach each other, and by encouraging opportunities for older girls to lead younger ones.

Take Action: Doing Good in the World

As girls discover and lead, they naturally come to a point where they want to take action. Girls believe that a key way to be their best is to look beyond themselves and to do good in the world at large. It's natural, then, for girls to want to help others, whether they have a bold ambition, such as ending world hunger and poverty, or they want to do their small part to help on a global issue, such as cleaning up the environment by starting with their own neighborhood park. The "Take Action" category of Girl Scout activities allows girls to experience many aspects of community service. In short, the new program model, which intends to stand as the world's best personal growth and leadership development program for girls, allows Girl Scouts to give back to the world, and that's at the heart of Girl Scouting's mission of building "girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place."

Check back each week for a new update on the Core Business Strategy. Coming next: What Girls Say About the Emerging Program Model