March 2010
The first weekend of March Lilly (another PCV) and I were supposed to conduct a Glow Training Workshop. Teaching young women leaders how to run these GLOW clubs. (GLOW = Girls Leading Our World.)
We never got to present it because no one showed up :( So I missed Ruta Day Maya for nothing :(
During the presentation I wanted to explain the purpose of GLOW: Encourage young women to become active citizens by building their self-esteem and confidence, increasing their self-awareness, and developing their skills in goal setting, assertiveness, and career and life planning.
• GLOW began in Romania in 1995.
• It began as a GLOW Camp for 80 young girls, and it has since spread to the creation of GLOW clubs and camps around the world.
• In the year 2000, approximately 21 camps took place around the world.
• In 2000, Belize was one of the 21 countries to have a camp GLOW.
• Since then, Camp GLOW has taken place in 2007 and 2008, with a total of 50 participants.
• In addition to the annual Camp GLOW, 10 GLOW clubs have been started around the country, and today there is at least 1 in each district. We are looking forward to increasing this number!
Why start a GLOW Club?
• Starting a club GLOW will give young girls in communities the opportunity to develop leadership skills, increase knowledge, and make a difference in their communities.
• Each Club GLOW reflects the unique characteristics and diversity of its local community, thus increasing awareness to the rest of the country.
• Helps young people meet and share ideas and skills
• Helps young women know themselves and improve self-esteem
How to start a GLOW Club:
• Step One: Identify an advisor or leader of the club. Good qualities of an advisor include:
- Committed - Encouraging
- Well-organized - Accepting of mistakes
- Devoted to the club - Appreciative
• Step Two: Recruit and sign up members to join the club. Determine age range that you will target. (Ex: Girls 8-12, or Girls 12-15)
– There are many ways to attract members:
• Flyers/posters at the school, library, community centers, etc.
• Hold an informational meeting about GLOW
• Word of mouth - tell teachers, principals, parents and young girls about GLOW!
Step Three:
Action Planning
Purpose: What is the mission of the group? After the group has decided, a statement of purpose should be written.
• Sample Statement of Purpose:
To enrich the lives of Belizean girls ages 10-15 through leadership, increased participation, and community projects
Goals: What does the group want to accomplish? These can be long-term for the entire year, or maybe short term for a month.
Policy: or set of rules. What will be ground rules for meetings and members.
Spend some time determining meeting time, space, and frequency.
• Frequency: One a week? Once a month?
• When: Before school, after school, evenings, weekends? This can be hard to determine, but using an activities/seasonal calendar can make the process easier.
Step 5 Funding:
- Funds aren’t always necessary, but are sometimes needed to keep the club running or provide basic supplies
- Funds can come from a variety of sources:
- Government funds for health and social programs.
- Private sponsorship, including churches.
- Business sponsorship from local community
- Clubs own fundraising ideas and efforts
- You will need to determine the structure of your club. A good guideline is
- Fun, Family, and Focus.
- - To ensure the success of your club, it is very important to include all three elements.
- Fun can be provided in many ways:
- - Social time during club meetings
- Group games and activities
- Social events
- Fundraising: dances, bake sales, talent shows
- Family is a huge component, and it is important to have their participation in GLOW activities.
- With family members being involved, it not only teaches the girls new skills, but often times the other family members will benefit too.
- Some ways to include family are:
- creating a family group where parents meet
- inviting parents to meetings or club activities
- sharing club news with parents on a regular basis.
Focus means making a difference through having a positive influence in your community. Some ideas to get started are:
- Volunteering or planning school events
- Community awareness days about various topics
- Community clean-ups (yards, painting, trash pickup, etc.)
• Meeting Ideas: Discuss Goals, careers, values
• Sports, Games, Music
• Guest Speakers/Mentors
• Poetry, Drama
• Arts and Crafts
• Read Books, Magazines, and discuss thoughts.
• Talk about everyday problem and new experiences
• Watch movies
• Meet with other GLOW groups
Quotes from other GLOW Groups:
• “I’ve learned to be more open, to establish my goals, to work as a team, and to trust myself.” - Glow club member.
• “The energy and intellect of the campers is inspirational. When I think of the campers, the future of Romania looks bright.” – Romania Peace Corp Volunteer
• “Working at summer camps with Bulgarian teachers and students gave Volunteers a chance to communicate with Bulgarians in a more informal context and provided for intensive inter-cultural exchange of opinions and ideas”
• In Poland, former campers have started a magazine called Iron Daisies. that provides girls with a forum to share stories, ideas and poems that are important to them. The organizational process of publishing a magazine is great skill development exercise for the girls as well as a great leadership opportunity.
Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.
