Sixty girls aged between four and 18 from across the North West have become the first in the country to earn a new Rainbows, Brownies, Guides or Rangers badge after learning more about electricity.
The Girl Power challenge pack has been developed in a £25,000 partnership with Electricity North West and the Girlguiding Association. Electricity North West is the company responsible for running the region’s power network.
Electricity North West’s Jill Hendry said: “Engineering and utilities is very male dominated, but there’s no sensible reason for that. In working with the Girlguiding Association we hope to inspire more girls into a career in engineering, and who knows, it may be the spark that sets them on a course to become one of our future apprentices or engineers.”
The companies have created 30 exciting individual and group challenges for members of the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers to learn more about electricity, highlighting the importance of electrical safety, support for vulnerable members of society, energy efficiency and low carbon technologies.
On completion of the pack, the guides will receive a newly designed ‘Girl Power’ badge as well as opportunities to compete in cross unit challenges to build on their knowledge and understanding of electricity with exciting prizes provided by the network operator throughout the year.
The launch of the Girl Power challenge pack saw 60 children aged four to 18 having taken part in the challenge last month.
Now, the pack is being rolled out to a further 5,000, including those in hard-to-reach communities, as part of a pilot scheme.
If successful, the challenge will be extended to a further 20,000 children across the North West with more challenges to be developed later this year.
Jill Hendry added: “With electricity demand expected to double by 2050, engaging with young people is more important than ever.
“This new partnership and the exciting new challenges we have created together will help young people understand more about how electricity works, the importance of low carbon energy over carbon intensive fossil fuels and the importance of energy efficiency.”
Kelly Hunter from Girlguiding North West England said: “It’s very exciting for us to be working in partnership with Electricity North West and we’re delighted that they are sponsoring the badge. We’re extremely proud of the challenge which has lots of fun and exciting activities which will empower our young members to learn about some very important electrifying topics.”
