Youth Involvement in WOSM – What’s next?
2 © Wo r l d S c o u t B u r e a u I n c .
Introduction
YOUTH Youth Advisors
INVOLVEMENT decision making World Scout Youth Forum
Limited impact New Methods TO IMPROVE
World Scout Youth Forum
World Scout Youth Forum members of WOSM must be between their 18th and
26th birthdays in the year of the Forum
Aims: 1.share their ideas and experiences on current issues affecting young people in different parts of the world;
2.suggest ways of strengthening national youth policies and training young people for world citizenship;
3.contribute new ideas to the Movement on how to enrich educational programs for young people over 16
Youth Advisors The roles of the Youth Advisors are to increasing youth participation in decision making and strengthening youth involvement within the Scout Movement
• six Youth Advisors • for a three-year term • must be aged 18-26 • represent different countries
The Next World Scout Youth Forum from the 4th to 7th of August 2014, Rogla, Slovenia
ÂŤOne tree, many branchesÂť Our Movement, Our Community, Our Future
Impact study - Introduction As a response to Resolution 8/11 (Youth Involvement in Decision-Making in NSOs and WOSM) the Youth for Change working group has conducted an impact assessment research of the World Scout Youth Forum and Youth Advisor systems. The study was conducted between 11/2012 and 02/2013. The impact study was both quantitative and qualitative, and involved querying former Forum participants, former and current Youth Advisors, NSO representatives and World Scout Committee members. The Report also includes a qualitative analysis of the Recommendations from the past five Youth Forums.
Impact study – World Scout Youth Forum About 40% of 161 NSOs have sent participants to the past five Forums
The Forum has been highly valued in educating and preparing young delegates to the World Scout Conference
There has been a slight increase in the percentage of young participants (18-30) in the World Scout Conference delegations
Impact study – Youth Advisors The experience of being a Youth Advisor has a significant personal impact, but there has been limited return towards the NSOs they represent
The current system provides a voice of youth to World Scout Committee meetings, but their influence is limited
Despite the limited impact that the Youth Advisors have had on the decision-making processes of the World Scout Committee, they have made a major contribution through their involvement in the various subcommittees, workgroups and task forces of the World Scout Committee
Impact study - Conclusions The World Scout Youth Forum and Youth Advisor system were put in place as provisional measures to improve the youth involvement in decision-making in WOSM. After all the years they have been operational, some results have been achieved but the impact seems to be limited, the results being below the initial expectations. Therefore, it seems that it is time to consider other measures which may complement the current ones.
Improvements? The Youth For Change working group has started to explore ways in which WSYF and YA systems could be improved, as well as how new methods could be used in order to enhance youth participation in decision-making on World level. The suggested improvements include: –
Proposals related to the World Scout Youth Forum
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Proposals related to Youth Advisor system
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Other proposals related to the governing structures of WOSM
Improvements to the World Scout Youth Forum 1. More opportunities for WSYF participants: a pool of youth members 2. Stronger link between the Forum and Conference topics 3. From recommendations to draft resolutions and final declaration 4. Better prepared participants = Better WSYF outcome
Improvements to the Youth Advisors system 1.Smooth transition between YA generations 2.Reorganizing the tasks of the Youth Advisors 3.Increasing internal representation
Improvements to the management of WOSM 1. Proposals related to the World Scout Committee 2. Proposals related to the World Scout Conference 3. Proposals related to volunteers in WOSM 4. Proposals related to the World Scout Bureau
Now we would like to hear your opinion! Please use the stickers provided to indicate five proposed improvements that you think would have the best impact in involving young people to the decisionmaking of WOSM. Please only use one sticker per proposal.
You can also write your comments in the proposals.
Please use 10 minutes to go through the proposed improvements, indicate your favorite proposals with the stickers, and provide feedback with your comments.
Innovating new approaches new approaches
problem
reasons
Conclusions What do we recommend…
1. Concerning the proposals suggested by Youth for Change working group? 2. Concerning the new ideas we came up with? How would you now answer the question:
YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN WOSM – WHAT’S NEXT?
Evaluation and closing Please take a few minutes to fill in the congress evaluation form for this session. If you have any final comments or suggestions regarding the content of this session, please let us know!
Thank you!