2 - The Strategy for Scouting and Peace Projects

The Strategy for Scouting

The Strategy for Scouting was adopted at the World Scout Conference in Thessaloniki in 2002 and provides a framework for Scouting to achieve its mission and realize its vision. There are seven strategic priorities which are:

SP1 - Youth Involvement – revitalizing the Scout Method.
SP2 - Adolescents - -supporting their transition to adulthood.
SP3 - Girls and Boys, Women and Men – respecting differences, promoting equality and sharing responsibility.
SP4 - Reaching Out – breaking down barriers and working with all segments of society.
SP5 - Volunteers in Scouting – developing new approaches to broaden the base of adult support.
SP6 - An Organisation for the 21 Century – becoming flexible, lean, innovative and participatory.
SP7 - Scouting’s Profile – strengthening communications, partnerships and resources.

Linking the Strategy and Peace/community projects

Here is some information on the content of the strategic priorities. Ths information will hopefully help you to reflect on your project or proposed project and consider how your project can be used to help achieve the strategic priorities of the Movement.

Youth Involvement - revitalizing the Scout Method.

There are three complementary areas of Youth Involvement in Scouting:

• In the Unit
• Within the Movement
• Within the Community

By being involved in decision-making, young people can discover the values of working together to achieve common objectives, listening to others and paying attention to other peoples’ opinions in order to achieve a consensus, sharing skills and efforts in team work to share achievements together instead of seeking self-promotion. These values are essential for building up a tolerant and caring society.

There are 4 steps in developing and implementing the Peace/community projects ƒand young people should be involved in all stages of the project. The stages are:

• Exploring and identifying the needs of the community
• Developing awareness and responding to these needs
• Taking action
• Measuring changes, in the community and in the Scouts themselves.

Peace/community projects can support youth involvement in decision-making with the Unit and within the Community. The project requires all young people to be involved with the process of identifying needs in the community and then together deciding on the best way to respond to these needs.

Scouts will also be working in the community, working with others, listening to others and together deciding on the actions to be taken.

Involving Scouts in all aspects of peace/community projects supports the Scout Method.

Adolescents - supporting their transition to adulthood.

Scouting was founded to help young people through the transition from childhood to adulthood. With the rapid changes in society, adolescence is becoming a greater challenge in many communities. Scouting can respond by involving young people in the adolescent age-group as the recipients of the peace/community projects, or as the key participants in your association.

Here are some of the tried and tested ways of working with adolescents, which should be built into your peace/community project.

• Give young people access to real responsibility
• Develop the peer group
• Involve young people in decision-making
• Develop confidence and self-esteem in young people
• Provide real challenges
• Allow young people to try out adult roles
• Develop positive, non-judgmental relationships between adults and young people.

There is also Scouts of the World Award and the World Scout Environment Badge that can be used to support working with adolescents and building a more peaceful world.

Girls and Boys, Women and Men – respecting differences, promoting equality and sharing responsibility.

The Scout Movement has a commitment to reach, in societies where mixed gender relationships are the norm, a situation where gender equality is a reality in terms of youth programme, adult resources, management and all other aspects of the Movement.

Throughout the world gender discrimination and stereotyping limit the full development and participation of girls and young women as well as boys and young men. Until all girls receive the same opportunities as their male counterparts, their fundamental human rights are denied and the conditions for sustainable development are unfulfilled. It is vital for the future that girls and young women grow up to become leaders intheir families and communities; and increasingly in the workplace and in society.

Peace/community projects can support this strategic priority if you:

• Choose projects where girls and boys and/or women and men benefit equally from the Gift for Peace.

• Explore the different needs of girls and boys, women and men who are the recipients of the Gift for Peace and target the support and actions to meet the specific needs.

Reaching Out - breaking down barriers and working with all segments of society.

If Scouting is to have a significant impact in the world today, it must extend its reach to all segments of society. If Scouting continues to serve its “traditional audience” this will limit its potential to build a better world.

Peace/community projects provide you with an opportunity to make contact with people in the community who are not aware of Scouting. Peace/community projects can make an impact in your community if you work with groups who feel marginalized or excluded and help them to be more integrated into the life of your community.

Volunteers in Scouting - developing new approaches to broaden the base of adult support.

Scouting relies on its adult volunteers to deliver the programme to young people and manage all aspects of the Movement. Sometimes adults are recruited from a very small group of people and a wider view should be taken to ensure that there are the necessary skills required to run Scouting locally. There are many adults who can make a contribution to Scouting if we are prepared take a broader view of volunteering; not limiting people to traditional roles and recognizing that there are many ways that adults can be rewarded for their contribution to Scouting.

Peace/comunity projects provide you with an opportunity to revise your concept of volunteering and perhaps recruit a new group of adults to Scouting.

Please note: Any adults recruited should go through the normal recruitment and selection procedures in your Associaiton.

An Organisation for the 21 Century - becoming flexible, lean, innovative and participatory.

This strategic priority covers two aspects – the need for strategic thinking and the need for effective and efficient decision-making. The importance of taking a strategic approach and some support on how to do this is covered in section 3 of this resource.

For effective and efficient decision-making, make sure that the decision-making structures related to the project link into the main decision-making structure in your Group, District or National Scout Organization.

It is very important that:

• Clear lines of responsibility and authority are set out at the beginning of the project.
• All groups involved in the project contribute to the decision-making process.
• Regular reports are provided
• A final report is prepared after an evaluation by everyone involved.

Good project management should support the implementation of the project – the management process should not be an obstacle which prevents the project’s development and implementation.

Scouting's Profile - strengthening communications, partnerships and resources.

This priority has three inter-related aspects which are key to the success of Scouting. If Scouting is to be effective it must:

• Carefully plan and target its communications to get specific messages to clearly identified groups of people.
• Be part of the local, national and international community and work in partnership with other groups at all levels.
• Be able to secure the funding it needs to both support the routine activities and undertake work to develop Scouting.

Here are some ways that Peace/community projects can support work on the strategic priority:

• Develop a communications strategy to make sure that key messages related to the project are communicated with target audiences inside and outside Scouting.
• Choose to work with partners and involved then in the planning, delivery and evaluation of the projects.
• Use these events to place Scouting as a key contributor to civil society, worthy of working in partnership and receiving support from businesses, local authority and other community groups.
• Make sure that the key leaders in your community are aware of your project and what you have achieved.

For information, resources, presentations and video clips on the Strategy for Scouting, visit the strategy web-pages on the WOSM web-site.