Around the world
How Girlguiding, WAGGGS, the Scouts and the wider guiding family relate to one another, and how they don't.
Organisation names in Guiding change, overlap and are often used loosely. This map shows the structure as it stands today. Dates of name changes are being established from constitutions and annual reports.
World association of national Member Organisations
Formed in 1928 at the Fifth International Conference in Hungary by delegates from 26 countries, it succeeded the International Council set up in 1919. It is an association of national organisations, not a headquarters that runs every unit.
UK Member Organisation of WAGGGS
The UK organisation, a charity incorporated by Royal Charter in 1922. Its own history says the Guide Association was established in 1909; WAGGGS describes formal foundation in 1910. This site explains the difference rather than choosing one date silently.
Independent UK youth organisation (now coeducational)
A separate organisation. Venture Scouts (aged 15–20) admitted girls from January 1976; the younger sections could choose to admit girls from 1990–91; all Scout groups had to accept girls from 1 January 2007. Girlguiding is not the "female branch" of the Scouts.
World body for national Scout organisations
The Scout counterpart to WAGGGS. Some joint Scout and Guide associations belong to both world bodies: their girls and women count as WAGGGS members, their boys and men as WOSM members.
Adult community within the UK guiding family
Founded in 1943 for former Guides; self-governing and self-financing since 1952, and now a registered charity, while remaining part of the guiding movement. Open to adults aged 18 and over; men have been admitted since 1984. Not a youth section.
Girlguiding and the Scout Association are separate organisations with separate histories. Venture Scouts began admitting girls in 1976; the younger Scout sections could admit girls from 1990–91, and every Scout group has had to since 2007. We explain the differences rather than treating one organisation as a branch of the other.
