The Girl Guides Association of Cyprus (GGCA, el, Σώμα Κυπρίων Οδηγών, ΣΚΟ) is the national Guiding association of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. Guiding in Cyprus started in 1912 and became a member of the

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS ) is a global association supporting the Girl Guides, female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organizations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, ...

(WAGGGS) in 1962. The coeducational organization has 2,763 members (as of 2006).

History

Although there were

Lone Guides Lone Guides or Lones are Girl Guides and Girl Scouts who do not attend group meetings for a variety of reasons. They are organised into groups that keep in touch, for example, by letter or email. Members carry out their organisation's normal progra ...

in the years following 1912, the first functioning units were formed in 1930 as an overseas branch of the British

Guide Association Girlguiding is the operating name of The Guide Association, previously named The Girl Guides Association and is the national guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest girl-only youth organisation. Girlguiding is a char ...

. In 1960, after the independence of Cyprus, the ''Girl Guides Association of Cyprus'' was established. In 1962, the new association was admitted to WAGGGS as an associate member. It became a full member in 1978. The association hosted the ''6th European Scout and Guide Conference'' in 1989, cooperating with the

Cyprus Scouts Association The Cyprus Scouts Association ( el, Σώμα Προσκόπων Κύπρου, ''Soma Proskopon Kyprou'', SPK) is the national Scouting organization of Cyprus. It was founded in 1913 and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movem ...

. The Cypriot Guides have an active partnership with the Association of Belarusian Guides. They trained Belarusian leaders prior to its admission to WAGGGS in 1996 and are still supporting the development of the Belarusian Guides.

Program and ideals

The association is divided in five age-groups: * Chrysalis (ages 5 to 6) * Butterflies (ages 7 to 9) * Guides (ages 10 to 12) * Sea Guides, Air Guides, Forest Guides (ages 13 to 15) * Senior Guides, Prospective Leaders (ages 16 to 18) The Girl Guide emblem incorporates elements of the earlier

flag of Cyprus The national flag of Cyprus ( el, Σημαία της Κύπρου, Simaía tis Kýprou; tr, Kıbrıs bayrağı) came into use on 16 August 1960, under the Zürich and London Agreements, whereby a constitution was drafted and Cyprus was proclai ...

. The

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

color represents the mineral wealth for which the island is named, the ''K'' is the first letter of the name of the country in both

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

References

* World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Bureau (1997), ''Trefoil Round the World''. Eleventh Edition 1997. {{WAGGGS, europe World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts member organizations Scouting and Guiding in Cyprus Youth organizations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Cyprus