World Scout Conference
The World Scout Conference is the governing body, the "general assembly" of Scouting, and is composed of all the members of the World Organization: the National Scout Organizations.
Its function is to consider the policy and standards of the Scout Movement throughout the world, formulate the general policy of the World Organization, and take the action required to further the purpose of the Movement.
National Scout Organizations must gain recognition from the World Scout Conference to become members of WOSM - and there can only be one NSO per country. In the case of a country having more than one Scout Association, a federation is formed for the purposes of national coordination and world membership. Member Organizations can be represented at World Scout Conferences by a maximum of six delegates.
The Conference meets every three years and observers authorised by their National Scout Organization are also eligible to register and attend the event. Delegations usually include International Commissioners, the Scout responsible for relations with WOSM and with Scout Organizations in other countries.
One of the functions of the Conference is to elect members of the World Scout Committee, admit new member countries, and select the venues for forthcoming World Scout Events, namely the World Scout Jamboree, the World Scout Moot, the World Scout Conference and the World Scout Youth Forum.
The 39th World Scout Conference was held from the 10th to 14th of January 2011 at Estação Convention Center in Curitiba, Brazil. Built in 2004, it's a state-of-the-art, world-class convention center with 25,000 square meters of fully air-conditioned space able to host events for up to 5,000 people .
The 38th World Scout Conference was held 14-18 July 2008 on Jeju Island, Korea. It was attended by 1189 participants from 150 countries. Hosted by the Korea Scout Association, The Conference was officially opened by Dr. Han Seung-soo, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea.
The 37th World Scout Conference was held 5-9 September 2005 in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia.
The 36th World Scout Conference met in Thessaloniki, Greece from 15-19 July 2002.
The 35th World Scout Conference was held 26-30 July 1999 in Durban, South Africa.
Scouting was founded in 1907, based on an educational method developed by Robert Baden-Powell. It was not his intention to create an organization, but Scouting became very popular and spread quickly not only in the United Kingdom but spontaneously to many other countries.
