World Thinking Day

Each year on 22 February, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world celebrate World Thinking Day. World Thinking Day was first created in 1926 at the 4th Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference, held at Girl Scouts of the USA’s Camp Edith Macy. Conference attendees decided that there should be a special day when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world think of each other and give thanks and appreciation to their “sister” Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The delegates chose 22 February as the date for Thinking Day because it was the mutual birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement, and his wife Olave, who served as World Chief Guide.

In 1932, at the 7th World Conference, held in Poland, it was suggested by a Belgian delegate that since birthdays usually involve presents, girls could show their appreciation and friendship on Thinking Day not only by extending warm wishes to each other but also by offering a voluntary contribution to the World Association.

Eradicating poverty and hunger

The theme for World Thinking Day 2010 is girls worldwide say “together we can end extreme poverty and hunger”. This ties directly to our Global Action Theme (GAT), which is linked to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular MDG1: ‘Eradicating Poverty and Hunger’.

This year we have identified five countries across our five regions who are eligible for support in their efforts to address poverty and hunger: Haiti (Western Hemisphere), Sudan (Arab Region), Zimbabwe (Africa Region), Maldives (Asia Pacific) and Georgia (Europe Region). The money raised for World Thinking Day over the year will go towards the development of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting across the world as well as offer support to projects in these five countries.