1. Have a vision and set clear objectives
It is very important at the beginning of a large project to set out a vision for the future. This initial step should involve people from all aspects of Scouting so that the vision will be shared by everyone involved. Young people should be consulted too. Once a vision is developed, clear objectives should be set. The vision and objectives should help to keep people focused and working together to achieve a shared goal. Here are some examples of how a clear vision helped in the development of the Centenary celebrations.
1.1. Gifts for Peace - the vision for the Gifts for Peace was that all Scouts around the world should be involved. National Scout Organizations were asked to declare a Gift for Peace project in their country. As it was realised that national projects would not necessarily involve all young people in a National Scout Organization, the ScoutPAX toolkit was designed to help Scouts and their leaders learn more about issues, assess needs, identify projects in their local communities and work locally to support peace. This approach meant that all Scouts around the world could be involved in the Gifts for Peace and the tool encouraged involvement at local levels which increased the impact of the project. ScoutPAX is available on scout.org (in English, French and Spanish), has been partly translated into additional local languages (Romanian, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese) and is still relevant for all Scouts after the Centenary.
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Think through the plans that are developed and check that they meet the objectives that have been set. |
1.2. Participation at the 21st World Scout Jamboree – the vision for the Jamboree was that Scouts from all member countries should attend. Solidarity funds are traditionally established for World Scout Jamborees to assist Scouts from all countries to attend. The guidelines for host National Scout Organizations organising world events ask that a significant percentage should be allocated to a solidarity fund.
The Scout Association UK has a strong history of supporting Scouting in developing countries and decided to look for imaginative ways to support the solidarity fund "Operation One World" for the 21st World Scout Jamboree. Through their approach to fund-raising throughout the United Kingdom, many more people contributed to realising the vision and assisting in making the Jamboree a truly global experience for the participants. Around 1 million USD was raised in total, with much of this money coming from small individual donations.
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Be innovative and allow others to contribute to realising the dreams. |
1.3. Demonstrate a commitment to nature and the environment – was one of the original objectives for the Centenary of Scouting, but one that did not receive much attention when developing worldwide centennial initiatives. Some activities were built into other projects e.g. some National Scout Organizations focused on the environment for their Gifts for Peace projects and there were environment activities at the World Scout Jamboree (in programme areas, at workshops in the Global Development Village and through waste management on the Jamboree site). Environment was also a focus at one of the workshops at the 21stWorld Scientific Congress and featured in the Join-in-Centenary activity resource pack.
Awareness of environmental issues is of increasing concern in the world today and a key issue for Scouts. Some reflections on this objective could be:
- Perhaps there were enough activities related to the environment for this objective to be met?
- Perhaps a greater focus on Scouting and the environment would have detracted from the work on peace?
- Perhaps there was an opportunity missed and more activities and a greater focus on environment education could have raised the profile of Scouting and attracted even more support?
- Perhaps Scouting is not working enough at the cutting edge of environmental awareness and action to be newsworthy and recognised by others?
- Perhaps the environment is so central to Scouting that this objective was not needed?
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Think critically of each objective that is set and its purpose. |