Scouting Around - Issue 16 - Apr 2017

ScoutsTT’s Second Annual National Food Drive is here!

Upcoming Activities May 5-7 — Geocaching Treasure Hunt (Troop/Zonal Activity) 6 — Cub Scout Leaders Meeting (St. Joseph) 6 — New Leaders Certification Training (Scout Headquarters)

Set to launch on United Way’s National Day of Caring on May 21st, 2017, Scouting for Food is picking up where it left off last year in working towards Sustainable Development Goal number two of seventeen: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.”

8-14 — Global Road Safety Week 20-21 — Cub Scouts Science Camp (Scout Headquarters)

This year, Scouting for Food will return to the supermarkets, where collection bins will be set up for customers to leave their donations.

20-21 — Basic Outdoor Training (NLC) PaxVale

headquarters@scouts.tt 1(868) 624-7271 www.scouts.tt

Our goal is to provide one hundred meals to one hundred families for one month. This means donating 1600 hampers between the launch and August 31st when the program will end.

Once again we are calling on our membership to champion the cause and get the support of your peers and communities.

We are engaging the country to assist in solving a problem that faces many of our citizens who struggle to feed themselves and their families daily.

Produced through the kind support of

Youth members with their collections at last year’s launch

Additionally, we are setting up an “Express Collect” service for companies to easily run their own food drives at their offices. This will include a Scouting for Food box, which will be dropped off at the start and picked up once filled.

Distribution will be done directly to households as well as through other charitable organisations such as F.E.E.L. and Living Water Community.

Youth members, Leaders and District and other Commissioners are encouraged to execute Scouting for Food in your communities in the best way that works for you. All that matters is that we get together and gather food to feed those in need.

CALLING on YOUth! Originally published on ThomsonReuters.com

By Ravi Karkara & Doug Ragan | 26 October 2015 Harvesting Youth Partnership by Strengthening Inclusive Participation in the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

In the year 2000, the United Nations announced the Millennium Development Goals to set a path for nation-states and citizens across the world in bringing certain fundamental changes to the planet, including the eradication of poverty, creating universal primary education, and promoting gender equality. However, in the 15 years the Millennium Development Goals have been in place, it has not been very clear how youth participated in the development of the millennium development goals or in their implementation.

There has been a dramatic and significant change that has taken place from when the Millennium Development Goals were announced—today, the world has the largest youth population ever, with 1.8billion young men and women across the planet. Youth today are far more connected and integrated through online and offline communication channels than ever before and are often abreast on policy dialogue and discussions. The last 3 years have seen an extensive participation of youth in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals. Their participation ranges from actively engaging in UN Development Groups and supported national consultations on post-2015 agenda to active engagement with the high level

panel on the post-2015 development agenda as well as both online and offline participation in various thematic consultations that contributed to the development of this agenda.

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Every SDG requires youth action for success.

With 1.8 billion youth, they are a demographic that cannot be ignored. Youth have expressed their voices and taken action—in most cases more than any other age groups, as we have seen from the more than 6 million youth votes on MyWorld.

Without youth, the SDGs cannot succeed.

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The most critical take back has been that young people from across the world have collaborated to bring forth their voices in the development of the SDGs. This is an important milestone in youth participation in the global policy framework as young people have offered their energy, commitment, and partnership, which need to be sustained as we move into the next step of sustainable development goals implementation. Youth will play a critical role in this process. Young people can participate in the following broad ways: 1.

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Youth can extensively participate in creating awareness and communicating these goals to their peers and society at large using both online and offline methodologies.

Young people and their youth lead organizations and networks can offer their participation by identifying solutions, innovative approaches, and

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taking action in the implementation of the seventeen SDGs. Young people can play a critical role in becoming the eyes and the ears, which simply means becoming the monitors for the implementation of the SDGs. Last, but not least, youth must become key players in ensuring accountability, ensuring impact of the SDGs to even the most marginalized youth populations in the world. Ensuring that the focus respects gender and diversity.

Promote inter-generational partnerships between youth and older people as well as youth supporting children focused activities to make Agenda 2030 a reality.

Youth are leaders of today and it is important to engage with young people in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Youth must be at the center of achieving agenda 2030 for sustainable development and transforming our world.

GEOCACHING: How to Get Started Looking for a fun, family-friendly way to exercise both mind and body? Try geocaching ("jee-oh-cash-ing"), the fast-growing sport that's akin to a modern-day treasure hunt.

Instead of a worn map marked with an X, you use a GPS receiver, a set of coordinates and (optionally) clues. And instead of hunting for a buried chest, you're looking for a cache of goodies hidden in an eco-friendly site above ground.

Geocaching Basics What's a Cache?

Caches are hidden all over the world by fellow geocachers who put together a hodgepodge of trinkets, a logbook and pen or pencil, and perhaps a disposable camera. This hoard is then stuffed into a weatherproof box and hidden under a rock, behind a tree or maybe even in a more urban locale.

The geographical coordinates of these containers—some no bigger than a film canister—are posted on one of several Web sites for fellow geocachers to follow. One of the first and still most popular sites is geocaching.com. Check it out beforehand to find a cache near you, updates to the game, and photos and stories shared by fellow geocachers.

Geocaching and GPS units go hand in hand. Even the most basic of units is enough to track down the location of a geocache. But to get a visual acquaintance with the area you'll be searching, a map is a must. Your GPS can tell you the straight line between 2 points, but unless the route's waypoints have been preloaded into your unit, only a map can show you that squiggly path between you and your destination.

Garmin eTrex10 Available at The Scout Shop for $825

Caches often use a 5-star system to rate the level of difficulty and the terrain.

Basic Geocaching Guidelines Though always evolving, geocaching does follow a few fundamental guidelines. Among them:    

Do not place caches on private land without permission or in national parks or wilderness areas at all.

Do not cross private property without permission to reach a geocache Do not include offensive or inflammatory material in a cache Maintain a "tread softly" and Leave No Trace philosophy.

Getting Started With geocaching, there are no dues to pay or clubs to join. Simply log onto geocaching.com for access to nearly 2 million cache coordinates. The game transcends geographic, political, gender and age boundaries. Geocache sites range from easy to challenging, and their level of difficulty is indicated alongside the cache's coordinates for easy access.

Geocaching employs the skills of problem and puzzle solving: You'll sleuth for and identify clues, learn navigation and orienteering, and you may get an introduction to other related games such as letterboxing.

The Bottom Line Geocaching is family fun! With its international appeal, worldwide internet access and minimal gear list, geocaching is an activity that is destined to stick around.

Go online and do some more research about geocaching before heading out. Here is a good place to start: goo.gl/8PTu8v Your troop/zone’s Geocaching Treasure Hunt is scheduled for May 5 -7. Don’t forget to share your photos with us!

Youth Leadership Training and Pioneering Course @Paxvale From the 7th to the 9th of April, ScoutsTT hosted a training camp teaching Youth Leadership and Pioneering conducted by respective course directors Keston Woodruffe and Jordan Ramesar. Over sixty scouts were in attendance from groups across the country.

In the Scout Movement, pioneering is the art of using ropes and wooden/bamboo spars joined by lashings and knots to create structures such as camp tables and gadgets up to larger structures such as bridges and towers. These may be recreational, decorative, or functional.

The Youth Leadership Training course included effective communication, conflict resolution, understanding the role of a patrol leader and assistant patrol leader, creating a patrol identity and understanding its dynamics.

After participants battled the gruelling sun and cold nights, the three-day camp came to an end with an inspired bunch of newly trained young leaders and pioneers marvelling at the camp site they had built over the weekend.

PHOTOS of the Month Send your photos to program@scouts.tt to be highlighted here!

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Towards a New Scouting Adventure YOUTH ADVOCACY

By expanding its role as a leading advocate for youth issues, the SATT creates an environment in which districts and groups can succeed and grow. Our aim is to become the leading NGO in the area of youth advocacy, specifically in the areas of youth leadership and development, education, health and wellness, citizenship, workplace preparation and community building.

Youth advocacy will require greater communication with and listening to our youth population. The association will develop a strong network of youth through utilization of social networks and introduction of youth forums and focus group sessions. We will develop a youth policy team to review and develop policy positions of youth issues.