A new partnership with the Girls' Brigade
Claire Walford
The Clewer Initiative has pioneered a new badge with the Girls' Brigade called “Respectful Communities”.
It is designed for ages 4–18 and introduces concepts of community safety, injustice and valuing fellow humans. It is part of a new series of badges that the Girls' Brigade has developed in conjunction with the Mothers' Union, thirtyone:eight and The Clewer Initiative.
The vision behind the new programme is that the three badges (Respectful Communities, Respectful Relationships and Speaking Up) will equip girls and young women to live compassionately and thoughtfully in the world around them.
Children as young as 6 or 7 years can inadvertently (and sometimes unknowingly) get caught up in crime or groomed for other harmful activities and that this affects children from all backgrounds and family situations. That’s why this badge is so important as it will encourage young people to engage in these issues, in an age-appropriate way. The badge curriculum explores what the indicators of grooming are, and what to do if they’re concerned about anything they’ve seen or experienced.
The Girls’ Brigade is a Christian uniformed youth organisation that focuses on fun and friendship while sowing the seeds of faith, helping its members to build confidence and develop life skills. Each one of the Girls’ Brigade badges has a spiritual component which helps people understand what the Bible says about the issue, a skills development component, and a community service element where members bring their skills and knowledge to the service of others in their community. Striving to keep young people safe and enable them to live life to the full (as described in John 10:10) is at the heart of The Girls’ Brigade’s mission and ministry.
Lois Bosatta explains: "It was an honour to be asked by the Girls' Brigade to contribute to the content within the Respectful Communities badge. We are passionate about equipping young people with the self-awareness, kindness, and the confidence to speak up when something isn't right and believe these badges are a key way in which we can educate hundreds of girls and teenagers."
