Pakistan Girl Guides Association National Headquarters is organizing the 12th All Pakistan Camp for Girl Guides in Islamabad from 22nd to 28th October 2023. The theme of the Camp is “Building Resilience”.
280 Guides and Leaders from the far-flung areas of AJK, Baluchistan, Punjab, KP, Sindh, Gilgit Baltistan, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) participated. The areas included: Quetta, Sibi, Turbat, Gilgit, Skardu, Ghizer, Hunza, Chitral, Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin, Sukkur, Lahore, Multan, Vehari, Attock, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sheikupura, Wah Cannt, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad.
It will be a lifetime experience for girls to live in tents for 5 days. Camping and outdoor program activities provide an experience of adventure, challenge, teamwork opportunities, confidence building, and fun to the girls. At camp, girls make choices and meet challenges in a structured, supportive, supervised environment. Camp experiences are opportunities to practice problem-solving, a key developmental skill.
The camp was formally opened by Mr. Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan on 23rd October, 2023. Mrs. Maria Maud Sabri, National Commissioner Pakistan Girl Guides Association welcomed the guests and Guides and informed them about the Program of the Camp.
She said that this year’s camp attempts to respond to the environmental catastrophes that Pakistan has faced with its theme of Building Resilience. Our program is three-fold: we begin with physical resilience where Guides focus on prioritizing health in their lifestyles. We then work on their emotional resilience by helping them identify their emotions and deal with stress. Within these, we cannot turn a blind eye to the current problems being faced by girls. The camp’s final resilience goal is to help them understand personal safety, online safety, substance abuse, and self-defense. Finally, community resilience is being developed by learning skills that are useful in emergencies and dealing with issues threatening the environment, such as the menace of plastic waste.
The camp has been divided into three sub-camps that reflect the qualities we hope to foster in our Guides: strength, perseverance, and courage. Only a few days will be spent in the camp but I am confident that each Guide will leave stronger in character, knowledge, and patriotism.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Abdullah Fadil congratulated the Pakistan Girl Guides Association and all Guides and members for organizing the 12th All Pakistan Camp.
He said that Adolescent girls around the world are demanding their voices be heard, their aspirations supported, and their rights met. Yet, girls in almost every context face tremendous barriers to accessing the information, services, and support they need to achieve these aims. These constraints deny them the ability to make informed decisions and choices for themselves, to care for their health, and to be treated as equals. Adolescent girls continue to face greater risks of sexual violence and its wide-ranging consequences.
UNICEF is engaged with partners like the Pakistan Girls Guide Association to empower girls from all over Pakistan in activities like camp and building resilience.
He appreciated and said that he was glad that UNICEF has joined hands with the Pakistan Girls Guide Association in recognition that we cannot solve the challenges facing adolescent girls alone, it will join with and support adolescent girls that focus on or include adolescent girls, as well as more girl-focused investments and more innovative financing mechanisms to support such investments.
