Sustainability Counts!

 

Welcome Barb Christenson as our guest blogger today. Barb serves with me on the Older Girl Committee and as a Gold Award Interviewer for the council...among the many hats she wears!  Her topic today is sustainability.  Read on... 

The main meanings for sustain found in dictionaries are to “maintain," "support," or "endure.”  Does this mean that a Girl Scout Gold Award Take Action project has to last forever?  Does this mean a girl is responsible for maintaining or supporting her project for years after receiving her recognition?  Thankfully the answer is a resounding “NO!” to both of those questions. 

The sustainability information shared with Girl Scout volunteers at the Gold Award Advisor training is that all Take Action Projects need to include provisions to ensure sustainability.  Girls must make arrangements to ensure that the project creates lasting change and is NOT a one-time event.  In other words, gone are the days of running a one-day event to create awareness of Social Problem X and calling it a Gold Award project; that is a community service project.  Adding the sustainability piece now elevates the one-day event to a Gold Award Take Action project.  That sounds a bit daunting, so what does this requirement look like?

Let’s start with what it isn’t.  It isn’t creating a “How To” manual and leaving it with the agency in hopes that someone will pick up the book and continue on with what you started.  Nor is it as simple as posting a video of your project on YouTube.  But, these are both good starts to sustaining your project.

Girls can still run a one-day event and create the “How To” manual for their project; why should anyone who follows have to re-invent the same thing?  But to meet the sustainability requirement, the girls will need to train others or find a group willing to commit to using and maybe even updating the manual and continuing the project in the future.

Technically, posting a video could be an enduring legacy of your project but if no one goes to view it, it isn’t really serving the sustainability purpose.  The best way to utilize posted videos is to create a method to direct people to your video.  If the agency you are working with has pamphlets or informational pieces, find out about including a link to your video in these materials.  Ask if they can add your link to their website.

Once you have someone committed to continue the project or agreed to share the link, you have met the sustainability requirement.  But what if they don’t follow through?  Don’t panic – you are not responsible for the actions or, more accurately, the inactions of others.  However, choosing the right group of people to continue your work is the key.  You want people who feel the same as you do about the project and what you are trying to accomplish and people with the passion to see that it continues.  This will make all the difference in the world and in your project’s ability to endure.

Thank you Barb!