All members of the Scout Movement are required to adhere to a Scout Promise and a Law reflecting, in language appropriate to the culture and civilization of each National Scout Organization and approved by the World Organization, the principles of Duty to God, Duty to others and Duty to self, and inspired by the Promise and Law conceived by the Founder of the Scout Movement in the following terms:

Educational Methods is a term used in Scouting that encompasses our approach to education for our members (Scouts) and our approach to the training of our volunteer leadership.

Scouting recognises that volunteers play an essential role in the Movement and the Adults in Scouting model sets out an approach to the overall management; the recruitment, appointment, support and training and recognition, of its volunteers.

The Strategy for Scouting challenges NSOs to develop new approaches to broaden the base of volunteers that are willing and able to support Scouting. Approaches to volunteering vary from country to country. The EMC will help NSOs to explore volunteering from their perspective and make plans to extend their base of volunteering and provide appropriate training to support the growth of Scouting.

More information on volunteering is available in the World Adult Resources Policy and the Volunteers in Scouting Toolkit.

As an educational movement for young people, Scouting's purpose is to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual potentials as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.

• It includes all four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be, the last two requiring a particular emphasis.
• It belongs to the category of non-formal education since, while it takes place outside the formal educational system, it is an organized institution with an educational aim and is addressed to a specific clientele.

In addition, Scouting’s educational approach is characterized by the following:

1. it adopts a holistic approach to a young person’s education;
2. it seeks to achieve its educational purpose on the basis of an educational proposal;
3. as a non-formal educational agent, it plays a complementary role to that of other educational agents;
4. it recognizes that it can only make a contribution to the education of young people.

More information on Scouting's approach to education is available in The Essential Characteristics of Scouting

The adoption of the Strategy for Scouting in 2002 was the result of the work done at all levels of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in recent years. The Strategy for Scouting recognises that each National Scout Organisation (NSO) has peculiar needs and challenges. Consequently each NSO adapts the Strategy to its own reality and develops coherent action plans. Therefore, the Strategy for Scouting is not rigid, it is a framework for integral action.

The Strategy for Scouting is now available. This module compiles the history of the development of the Strategy for Scouting, outlines the Strategy's concept and contents; it also provides a general overview of the process to measure progress and impact. It lists the global impacts and outcomes that can be achieved and measured at National Scout Organizations (NSO), World Scout Committee (WSC) and World Scout Bureau (WSB) levels. For further information, please contact

For Scouting to grow and develop it needs volunteers who have a wide range of skills and experience. Sometimes the vision of who can volunteer to support Scouting is too narrow, sometimes we are not clear what we expect from our volunteers and sometimes we are not aware what our volunteers expect from us.

Here is some news from Associations that are working on Adolescents.

• Youth of the World web-site launched
• Active Citizenship Programme in Brazil
• Scouts of the World Technical Commission meets
• Programme development for the last age section in Europe

Scouting recognises that volunteers play an essential role in the Movement and National Scout Organisations are encouraged to value this important resource. For NSOs to grow and offer better Scouting to more young people, they need to attract and retain a sufficient quantity of motivated and effective leaders and maintain their motivation and effectiveness throughout their time in the association.

In recent years many NSOs have invested time and resources in identifying the trends in volunteering in their country; clearly identifying the volunteers that are needed in their NSO and developing strategies and plans to recruit and retain volunteers. Building on these ideas tools and resources to support volunteering have been developed.

5 December 2009

Message from the Chairman of the World Scout Committee to all volunteers in the Movement
"Your expertise and commitment guarantee our growth"

Dear Scout Leaders, Dear Friends,

Your volunteerism is the catalyst that transforms the values of the Scout Movement into a reality. Thanks to you, the significance of these fundamental values is exemplified by the tenets of your service, responsibility, solidarity and involvement.

While in the midst of a global financial crisis, we see your steadfast support as a sign of good health. Our social assets are built upon your contributions to the future development of the young people around the world.

It is ten years since the first International Year of the Volunteer and WOSM is currently working with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and other organisations to develop plans to celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2011, the International Year of the Volunteer +10. These celebrations coincide with an important year for Scouting as three of the four major world events will be held during 2011.

The year will start with the World Scout Youth Forum in Blumenau, Brazil, when around 150 young representatives from NSOs will gather to discuss and explore issues and prepare to participate in the World Scout Conference. The World Scout Conference follows in Curitiba, Brazil in early January 2011, when around 1,000 delegates and observers from 160 NSOs gather to discuss, debate and decide on key issues in Scouting.

How could you prepare your next Volunteer recruitment campaign? How could you reinforce your volunteer recognition and retention strategy? How could you renew your volunteer management approach?

If these questions are important for you as others issues, this toolkit is for you.

This document includes some key concepts, new factsheets and practical worksheets to support Volunteer in Scouting.

Youth Programme is the totality of what young people do in Scouting (the activities), how it is done (the Scout method) and the reason why it is done (the purpose).

It is the principal means of achieving the purpose of Scouting and is the key to attracting and retaining members.

Youth Programme is implemented through a partnership between young people and adult leaders, taking into account the participants' interests, needs and abilities.

World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) is happy to announce the launch of its latest publication, Guidelines on Spiritual and Religious Development.

These guidelines have been prepared to support Scout Associations in the development of the spiritual aspect of their members. It provides principles and guidance to support programme design rather more than a detailed discussion of the nature of spiritual development. It will take as the norm, the understanding of Spiritual Development articulated and reaffirmed by the World Scout Conference in its various Conference resolutions and documents.

In January, 2010, Ten Young men and women from all over the country gathered for two weekends for the first time in Costa Rica to explore, respond and take action within the Scouts of the World Award.

A seminar for the SCENES Centres (Scout Centres of Excellence for Nature and Environment), will be organized from the 18th to the 23nd May 2010, in Kandersteg International Scout Centre, Switzerland.

The aim of the seminar is to bring together representatives of existing and potential SCENES Centres, the SCENES Network and people interested in supporting the development of Scouting and the environment, particularly through SCENES Centres. The aim is to strengthen the SCENES Centres and SCENES Network and explore how to continue to advance SCENES as part of the World Scout Environment Programme.

During the seminar, we ask for active participation from all participants so that we can learn from each other. The seminar is designed to be able to support potential new SCENES Centres to learn from existing centres.

In September 2009, a total of 938 official National Scout Organization (NSO) representatives registered in the WOSM directory were invited to participate in an electronic survey to rate the level of satisfaction with the services provided by WOSM to NSOs. For the sole purpose of this survey "WOSM services" were referred to as comprising "the work of volunteer committees and the World Scout Bureau Central and Regional Offices". This was an initiative from the World Scout Committee (WSC) supported by the Strategy Coordination Group (SCG), which fitted directly into the first of the commitments which the Secretary General, had expressed since taking up his position: "to develop a customer oriented mentality to better serve NSOs".

The horrors of war

Longing for peace after three years of war, in 1917 B-P wrote "The roots of Scouting have grown among young people of all civilised countries and are developing more each day. It might be thought that if in years to come, a considerable proportion of the future citizens of each nation forms part of this brotherhood, they will be joined by a bond of personal friendship and mutual understanding such as has never existed before, which will help to find a solution to terrible international conflicts."

What to do with young people?

Released from his missions, Baden Powell set up home in England. He looked at the pressing problems of a British society weakened by unemployment and decided to devote himself to the service of young people. Taking advantage of his fame, he spoke directly to them by means of the newspapers sold in stalls throughout England.

Scouting does not exist in isolation; it is part of the community and it needs to work in partnership with others, from individuals to organisations and institutions at local, national and world levels.

Scouting has many strong examples of youth-led environment projects from around the world which demonstrate how Scouts are contributing in practical ways to 'Creating a Better World'. Volvo Adventure recognises environmental projects conducted by 13 to 16 year olds from around the world and are opening a special opportunity for Scouts to receive help in preparing and delivering their environment projects. Could you be the next Scouts to make it to the international final in Sweden, competing with groups from around the world for the top prizes?

Clean Up the World and the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) are celebrating the second year of their Ally relationship in 2009 by working together under the banner of “Communities uniting to Combat Climate Change”.

Clean Up the World and WOSM are proof in point that partnerships such as their Ally Relationship can bring about tangible improvements in the environment, create opportunities to connect with others and have fun in the process. As each of the organisations works in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, their individual missions are strengthened through this Alliance.

Exploring the local park, considering the biggest environmental challenges facing the planet and discussing how Scouts connect with nature were all part of the training provided to Scouts at the Euro Scout Academy. Fourteen participants from Denmark, Lithuania, Portugal, Iceland, Malta, Belgium, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland explored the World Scout Environment Programme and how this can be of benefit to their own National Scout Organizations.

For almost 100 years the Scout Movement has contributed to building a better world through the personal commitment of hundred of millions of women and men living up to their Scout Promise. In many countries, people with leadership roles (politics, civil society, international organizations, business) are former Scouts. This does not happen by chance.

His Majesty the King of Sweden, the World Scout Foundation’s Honorary Chairman, visited neighbouring Finland twice recently in support of Scouting.

In September representatives of the World Scout Foundation were official guests for the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Scouting is an investment with long-term potential. The values and skills that young people acquire can last a lifetime.