Longford's Ardagh & Viking Girl Guides win international recognition award

During Science Week 2021, Ardagh Girl Guides teamed up with ECO-UNESCO to work on a Climate Justice Project, focussing on Fast Fashion.
The project was a series of activities, investigations and experiments put together by Joanna Pearman and Donna Reilly working with Alex Konieczka (Understory) and Reesha Kurichiyiel (ECO-UNESCO) to highlight the impact of the Fast Fashion industry on clothes manufacturing nations, consuming nations, water and our environment.

The project encouraged girls to look at their own wardrobes, identifying materials and their production cost to the environment, also to see the roles they as individuals play in the global picture and consider responsible consumerism. They looked at which shops were most environmentally friendly and sustainable and looked at alternative options available locally and online.

Linking in with Science Week, the girls also conducted experiments on water pollution of dyes, cleaners and fashion products. The aim was to equip the girls with the information to make purchasing decisions that are not detrimental to the environment, also inviting them to take action through highlighting their own purchasing ability of fast fashion locally to themselves.

"At the initial Zoom meetings with ECO-UNESCO we all brainstormed to come up with a project the girls would engage with, we could have done a number of different SDGs but chose Fast Fashion. The project is flexible enough to repeat in a couple of years but looking at Food/Fair Trade and similar issues", Donna explained.

"In doing the project, looking at how much water I consume in a day, it’s really difficult to imagine that quantity of water, 2,000 litres (used for one t-shirt) – what does it look like? In my house, we compared it to the size of the calves’ water container and it’s a lot for just one t-shirt. It’s not fair that countries making these clothes have to put so much water into their manufacturing."

Sarah McDermott then aged 13 described how the project impacted her thinking. The Fast Fashion project was also part of Viking Guides Science Week meeting, in Longford town, Colette Lyons, then-Unit Leader said how much the girls enjoyed the experiments, identifying micro-plastics and other pollutants entering the water system, and the effects of CO2 and acid on water.

The value of the project was noted by Irish Girl Guides National Office, who nominated it for The Olave Award, an international award to honour the memory of the World Chief Guide, Lady Olave Baden-Powell, and to keep alive her belief in the spirit of service. It is awarded by WAGGGS every three years at the World Conference, to Girl Guide and Girl Scout groups that have created positive change in their community. The criteria for judging were relevance, creativity, effectiveness, inclusivity, impact, sustainability and group engagement.

Only three awards are given out in the European Area and at this year's 2023 World Conference, all three went to Irish Girl Guides, one of them being to Ardagh and Viking Guides. A great honour for girls and Leaders of Co. Longford to be recognised and acknowledged on the World platform.
As well as giving girls confidence, the Mission of the Irish Girl Guides is to enable girls and young women to develop to their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world, and the Longford project definitely met that target.

Ardagh Girl Guides has spaces in Ladybirds, ages 5-7, Guides 10-14, and Senior Branch ages 14 up. Irish Girl Guides are a girl-only, non-competitive group, meeting weekly to work through our Journey programme. Through age-appropriate activities and games, girls are introduced to the outdoors, global themes, teamwork, leadership, and life skills. For more information please visit our social media or email ardaghgirlguides@gmail.com.
With units in Longford town and North Longford there are opportunities for all ages and for anyone wishing to volunteer with a Leadership team to guide girls on their journey, please contact wcmrdo@irishgirlguides.ie