Scouts of the World Seminar

The Scouts of the World Award - News from the world Imagine an international opportunity to be a part of the real adventure of today's world: protecting the environment, sustainable development, challenging prejudices and building peace within and between communities; in one thought, contributing to making the world a better place.

All this and more is currently happening through the e!orts of thousands of Rovers from all over the world that are taking part in the Scouts of the World Award.

More and more countries have adopted and implemented this global initiative within their programme for the Rover section. Here is some news from all corners of the globe: Scouts of the World Seminar in the Interamerican Region The Interamerican Scout Region is pleased to invite its National Scout Organizations to participate in the 1st Scouts of the World Interamerican Seminar, this event will be held at the “Iztarú” training centre of the Scout and Guide Association of Costa Rica, from 9 to 12 July 2009.

The Seminar has been designed for leaders who work on youth programme development or are members of national programme commissions, especially those directly related to Venturer and Rover communities, and for national commissioners or professionals working in youth programme in NSOs that are in the process of implementing the Scouts of the World Award at the national level. Participants should be familiar with the implementation of the youth programme proposal at the national and regional levels, so that they will be in a position to integrate the Award into their work in the area of youth programme.

The Scout and Guide Association of Costa Rica is contributing generously to the events, having kindly o!ered to cover the costs of participation (transfer to and from the airport, board and lodging, and working materials) of up to one participant in the Scouts of the World Seminar. NSOs must assume the cost of travel from the respective place of origin.

Further details on the agenda of the event, participation costs, visa requirements and so forth will be provided in the coming weeks. For the moment, expressions of interest or requests for additional information may be directed to Loreto González, Youth Programme Director, World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region at lgonzalez@scout.org or by telephone on +56.2.2257561.

SW Award ceremonies During the 1st Panamerican Scout Moot held in Bolivia, nine young people received their SW Award during the closing ceremony of the event. During the ceremony Rovers that already obtained the SW Award, presented the Award to the nine young people, they explained as well to all the participants of the Moot their achievements and projects.

In 2008, in France, more than 2000 Scouts of the World Awards were given to young adults working on international solidarity projects within the Scouts of the World Programme framework, the recent Scout of the World Award ceremony was held in France, February 7th during the “Live on Earth di!erently” Conference ("Habiter Autrement la planète").

SW Award FaceBook group The Scouts of the World Award – O"cial FaceBook Group was launched recently and now is composed by almost 850 Rovers, leaders and young people from around all over the world! This group is serving as a point of contact and is helping to share information and experiences among their participants. As well young people are sharing their projects on how to contribute to the areas of peace, environment and social development.

SW Discoveries After several weeks of planning, the first Colombian Scouts of the World Discovery was held in Bogota, Colombia from March 28 until March 29. Nine Rovers from across the country took part in the Discovery which had Environment and Sustainability as its theme, and United Nations as partners.

The first ever Scouts of the World Discovery in Ireland took place in October 2008, gathering 21 enthusiastic Venture Scouts and young leaders from across 11 Scout Counties and 4 Scout Provinces to the Scout Den & Museum of the 37th Cork (Togher) in Cork City. Scouting Ireland's Venture Scout and International teams are carrying out this pilot to investigate how best to integrate the Scouts of the World Award programme into national programme. It also allows the assocation to put in place the necessary resources to facilitate young people from around the country in applying for the award.

The second UK Scouts of the World Award Discovery was completed by eleven members from across the UK, over two weekends they learned loads about the world around them and became great friends. Participating in this adventure brought loads of new challenges for the participants! They had the opportunity to learn project management skills and share ideas with others constructively. They also heard from specialist non governmental organisations like Practical Action and Peace Direct.

A participant said: "The projects of Scouts of the World, may not provide definitive cures for the problems of our world, but working together across the globe our projects and actions will come together to make a huge impact. As well as wanting to make a di!erence to the world, it has had a great emotional impact on our lives and as Scouting moves forward it showed how strong the movement can be when it comes together and how it can play a major role in the future of our planet."

For more information on how to obtain the Scouts of the World Award visit: www.scoutsoftheworld.net Please share your Scouts of the World activities with the World Scout Bureau by emailing Andres Morales (amorales@scout.otg), Unit Manager Adolescents & Young Adults.