Edinburgh Girlguiding volunteer representing global advocacy at UN conference
Girlguiding Edinburgh member, Lily Raper, will be representing the UK at the 69th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
The conference is set to take place at the United Nations from 10th to 21st March 2025 and follows International Women’s Day on 8th March.
Lily, 27, was given the opportunity to participate in the conference after becoming one of this year’s Global Advocacy Champions (GAC) for the World Association for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). She is the only GAC representing the UK.
Being a GAC with WAGGGS is a unique opportunity for members of Girlguiding internationally to advocate for the rights of girls and young women at a global level.
By becoming GACs, they will represent the concerns of girls and young women from their national Girlguiding or Scouting association and the diverse range of countries where they are from.
Lily joins 12 other global members of Guiding chosen to represent their nations at the conference, including from Malawi, Australia, Panama, Madagascar and Taiwan.
Ahead of attending the conference in New York next week, Lily said: “I got the news in December that I’d been chosen to be one of WAGGGS’ Global Advocacy Champions. Out of the 13 of us who have been chosen from across the world, only six of us will get to be there in person, with the other seven participating in the conference online.
“I’m one of the six who will be attending in person. We’ll be there to share stories from young women and girls in our home nations and what needs to change to help them grow and develop.”
Lily, who is a Guide leader in Edinburgh, mentioned that her experience as a GAC has helped her discover she wants to continue working in the field as a career.
“I want to stay in WAGGGS if I can as I can definitely see myself doing this as a career. Global advocacy has interested me for a while and it’s always been important to me to work in something I’m passionate about.
“In the build up to the conference we’ve all been getting to know each other and what Guiding is like in all the different parts of the world. We’ve also been doing mock UN sessions and training on how to present at the conference.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the hard work pay off and influencing change.”
Following the conference, the GACs will work with WAGGGS to draft its own calls to action to help advocate for change for its members globally, not just those represented in the group.
More information about the WAGGGS GACs can be found here: https://www.wagggs.org/en/what-we-do/global-advocacy-champions-2025-meet-the-inspiring-young-women/