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The beautiful Panama City, again, became the heart of the Interamerican Region to host the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit 2012.

The hot sun, the sea breeze, and, especially, the Scout brotherhood were the ingredients that made this Summit a Scout success.

A great effort was developed to prepare the Summit. This is because the new executive team of the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region, arrived in Panama earlier this year, with only a few weeks to prepare their presentations and get incorporated in the preparation work of the Summit.

Since the completion of the 24th Interamerican Scout Conference in August 2010, the top leaders of the National Scout Organizations of the continent did not have the chance to meet again. Their return to Panama allowed them to experience the Regional Office, now fully completed and working, and to meet the new team and their action plans.

The nervousness on the part of the new team was not long in coming. Days before of the arrival of the participants, we were working long hours to finish up the last details.

The minutes of the Summit were passing one by one, as were all the presentations. An atmosphere of camaraderie was felt at all times. The smiles of the participants confirmed that everything flowed well.

For us, it was an opportunity to learn even more, and to listen to the needs and success stories of our NSOs. It was the kick off for the joint work we all have in our hands and, although it is a lot, we will give a good result. Much is what we expect of Scouting in our Interamerican Region, but it is a shared effort. Everyone needs to do his share and do it all with full commitment and conviction, that what is sown today will be reaped tomorrow.

Be prepared Raul Sanchez Vaca Regional Director World Scout Bureau Interamerican Region

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The participants at the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit started arriving at Tocumen International Airport in the early hours of February 23rd.

The airport is located 24 kilometers from Panama City and is currently being modernized to increase capacity. It is the largest and busiest in the country, and in Central America, with the most passengers. On arrival at different times and days, the representatives of Regional National Scout Organizations and their companions were warmly welcomed by Panama Scout personnel and the Office of The World Scout Regional Interamerican Organization.

Little by little, they arrived and each group were soon taken on the same tour around Panama City, which included the country’s business and banking centers, before going to the Hotel InterContinental Playa Bonita located some 40 minutes from Tocumen International Airport. The hotel was chosen by the organizers of the VIII Regional Interamerican Scout Summit for its facilities and convenience, its success at hosting events, and its proximity to the city with its view of the sea and the Panama Canal.

The InterContinental Playa Bonita Resort & Spa contains the intimacy of a tropical holiday resort located only a few minutes from the iconic Bridge of Americas and the incredible canal by the coast of Panama City.

Many of the participants were keen not to miss a visit to the Miraflores Canal Locks, one of the wonders of the world, to observe the Panama Canal up close.

On arrival at the hotel, they were received by the friendly staff, and then taken to their respective rooms to relax and wait until 13:30 on Friday, February 24th, the time when the VIII Interamerican Panama Scout Summit 2012 was scheduled to begin.

The organization of the event, from the moment of arrival of the participants at Tocumen International Airport, was due to successful preparation and logistics of brother Scouts working to provide a grand occasion.

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Taking advantage of the presence of numerous leaders from diverse continental and world Scout institutions, personnel from the office of the Interamerican Region of World Scouts organized a guided tour of the new facilities at the City of Knowledge.

On the morning of February 24th, executives from the office participated in the tour, in which about twenty people took part, among whom were leaders of regional organizations, members of the World Scout Committee, and invited organizations.

The visitors were divided into two groups (English and Spanish speaking) and were able to view the modern comfortable establishments as well as the recently acquired, modern

computer facilities which will provide a quality service to member associations. As part of this tour, the visitors left messages of goodwill for the new office and excellent facilities, as well as took part in a game of recognition of the different NSO regional insignias. This was followed by refreshments in the dining room.

To conclude the visit, the guests gathered in the reception area on the ground floor where Scouting Antiano presented the office with a gift.

Beyond the formalities, this visit highlighted the welcome and friendly encounter of brother Scouts and girl Guides who were visiting not only a new service office, but their new regional home away from home.

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At the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit, THE ASSOCIATION OF SCOUTS AND GUIDES OF COSTA RICA was recognized to have been declared, on September 1st, a Meritorious Institution by the Costa Rican government.

This is the highest governmental distinction that can be given to an Institution. The Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica made this decision based on the social work this NSO has done in the education of children and youth through values, outdoor living, and service.

This designation, in addition to representing a social and political acknowledgement, strengthens the image of both the Association and the Scout Movement in relation to other partnering organizations, donors, allies, and means of communication.

For this reason, the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit highlighted this declaration and, along with the NSOs in our region, would like to recognize the brother and sister Scouts of Costa Rica, whom encourage us all to continue building a better world.

On the morning of Sunday, March 14, 1909, BadenPowell arrived at the port of Buenos Aires where Scouts were there waiting. He was greatly surprised to know that not only his book, “Scouting for Boys,” was known in the country, but Scouting had followers and practitioners among youth from Rio de Plata.

It took three years, but in 1912, Scout groups formed a NSO, creating the Argentina Association of Boy Scouts, which is the predecessor of the current Scouts of Argentina.

For this reason, this year the Scouts of Argentina celebrate the first 100 years of institutionalization of Scouting in their country. As part of their celebrations, they just completed a Centennial National Scout Jamboree in the city of Mar del Plata with the participation of 16,000 children and young people from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, currently showing the validity of Scouting in Argentina.

Taking advantage of the meeting of top officials of the continent, during the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit held in Panama, a memorial plaque was presented to Scouts of Argentina for its 100 years of service to children and young people of Argentina, represented in the figures of their Vice-President José María Rafaelli and their Executive Director, Mr. Luis Tornatore.

Congratulations to the Scouts of Argentina! Here is wishing that the first 100 years serves not only as an occasion for celebration, but also for reflection on new challenges they will face as an organization in its second century of life.

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As part of the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit, the Youth of the America’s award was presented to Mr. Luc Panissod, Secretary General of WOSM. The Youth of the America’s award is the only award given by the Interamerican Scout Committee, which distinguishes people for important services rendered to benefit the youth on a regional level.

For Luc, it highlighted the valuable assistance provided to the Interamerican Scout Region and for being a leader who has had a major impact on life in the region, especially in recent years.

As is traditional, all Youth of the America’s award holders present at the Summit accompanied Luc at the time of receiving the medal from the Interamerican Scout Committee Members.

Congratulations to Luc for this deserved recognition.

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After dinner at the hotel, most participants were ready to board the buses to bring them to a leisurely and relaxing time after a long day at the Summit.

The participants wore Hawaiian necklaces when boarding the famous Panamanian bus called, “Red Devil,” and began their journey to the La Playita de Amador spring, located on Naos island - the Amador Causeway, to begin a tour of the Bay of Panama, all during evening hours.

As a sidenote, the La Playita de Amador spring is located in the Causeway, a road that was built in 1913 with rocks excavated from Corte Culebra during construction of the Panama Canal, and is a road above the sea that connects Panama City to four Pacific islands.

Before boarding, the ship’s crew imparted the safety instructions to the Scouts of Panama’s associates to begin what became a fun journey. The boat had three areas: a disco at the bottom of the boat with snacks and refreshments, another a little more quiet at the top where they could sit and enjoy the fresh air and

spectacular views of the Bay of Panama, and the bow area where you could see the bay as well as a clear view of the stars.

At midnight, the ship returned to the dock after nearly 3 hours of entertainment. The whole group returned back to the hotel with a smile on their faces and an unforgettable experience.

Thank you to those who lent their cooperation to make this event an exciting diversion as well as helping to make the activities of this Summit a success.

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The Executive Directors, and members of their teams, present at the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit had time to meet and work with Raul Vaca Sanchez, Regional Director and Executive Team of the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region.

The meeting could be described as highly participatory, with a strong exchange between all present.

The Executive Directors worked together to analyze the functions performed and the roles they should fulfill. Support requirements were defined by the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region (WSB-IR), in three critical areas: Program for Youth, Adults in Scouting, and Management.

These exercises resulted in a series of demands for assistance expressed

by NSOs and addressed to the WSB-IR, that constitute an important input for the work of the regional office in order to respond appropriately and effectively to the needs of associations. Importantly, as in much of the Summit, the meeting also had the presence and active participation of Elisa Chiodi, Executive Regional Director, Western Hemisphere of the World Association of Girl Guides and Scouts.

The Messengers of Peace global network will connect young people around the world using the media to work for peace, show their projects, share ideas, tell their stories, and get training and assistance for their projects to promote working together for peace worldwide.

The Global Messengers of Peace fund, which will provide financial support for service projects and initiatives of Scouting, allows Scouts from poorer countries to implement their projects.

This fund focuses on five categories of work: 1) Training for dialogue 2) Support to specific projects of peace

In the VIII Interamerican Scout Summit was the presentation of the Messengers of Peace initiative with the National Scout Organizations present.

Patrik Hedljung and Peter Illig, charged with the said initiative, from the World Scout Bureau - Headquarters, spoke about the main objective of Messengers and inspiring millions of young people around the world to work for the cause of Scouting: Create a better world.

Basically, the initiative has two big elements.

3) Support young people living in extreme situations of conflict 4) Capacity building 5) Globalization Network of the Messengers of Peace.

In Patrik and Peter’s presentation, they highlighted the massive support they had received through the Facebook group of Messengers of Peace in Spanish, promoted by our region in cooperation with staff from the World Scout Foundation, which, in a few weeks, reached the sum of over 10,500 members.

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This topic was presented by Oscar Palmquist, a member of the World Scout Committee (WSC), who explained that the Intent and other technologies available can be used to make information readily available to all associations. This was in line with World Conference Resolution 05/2011, the objective of which is “To create a bank of resources (human and intellectual) so that National Scout Organizations can assess their own needs in terms of strategic and practical support, and access targeted assistance (across regional and national boundaries) to meet those needs”.

The Global Support Programme requires every association to carry out a SWAT Analysis of its Governance, Administrative Mechanisms and their Operations to determine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. They will need to identify “Experts” in the different areas and to advise the WSC, as the intention is to develop a large pool of experts comprising Individual Support Coordinators and Consultants, who would be ready to be involved institutionally. In support of this Global Support system national working groups are to be developed. The presentation was very informative and holds much promise for the operations of all NSOs worldwide, as they see WOSM at world and regional levels become service oriented.

The Chairman, Hector Robledo sumarised for the Summit the history of the Foundation, noting that it was formed in 1980 with the objective of supporting Scouting in the region. The Interamerican Scout Foundation (ISF) has no professional staff but its Trustees are volunteers appointed by the ISC and who seek to raise funds for Scouting. Boy Scouts of America supports the fund by providing financial management and accounting services. The capital is invested on a permanent basis and only the dividends it generates are used to fund projects and the development of scouting in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hector explained the structure of Certified Donors and urged members to join. There are six levels of recognition ranging from USD 1000.00 to USD 50,000.00. Contributions can be made in part for any level until the target is reached.

Leaflets were distributed to participants for them to encourage benefactors in their respective countries to become donors. Given the performance of the ISF to date and the expectations of NSOs for greater support from the region, the Chairman was hopeful that there would be many new members joining the Order of the Condor at the Regional Conference in Argentina in 2013.

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The financial position of the region is stable and the accounts are in order. This was the heartening news from Kent Clayburn, chairman of the Finance Committee of the Interamerican Scout Committee, when he gave an overview of the finances of the region at the recently concluded 8th Interamerican Scout Summit in Panama.

Added to that is the fact that the Regional Office is now fully operational. The renovation work has been completed and the building supplied with modern office furniture, state of the art computers, printers and appropriate software.

Tribute was paid to Harold Friend, Chairman of the Interamerican Scout Fund who with the help of the BSA launched a fundraising campaign that raised some USD 254,000 to furnish the building, and to Scott Teare who relentlessly supported the effort and helped secure funding from the BSA for two young interns, Luis Bethancourt and Ramon Guerra.

Kent reported also on the sale of properties in Chile, Picarquin, the camping ground and the Office in Santiago. The proceeds from the sale of the camping ground were used to offset the bank loans and related debts and so there was

no surplus to add to the coffers if the region.

However, the burden of having to pay USD 170,000 annually to service the debt no longer exists, so that sum can now be used for the development of Scouting in the entire region. The house in Chile where the Regional Office was located was sold for approximately USD 800,000. After closing charges some 700,000 was deposited with the Interamerican Scout Fundation. The flat in San JosĂŠ Costa Rica is also being sold and that surplus will be lodged with the Regional Foundation as well.

In Fiscal year 2010-2011 the sum of $350,000 of $600,000.00 was spent. The Region was allowed to retain the surplus to assist with its developmental work. Of the 2011-2012 budget $125,000 to $175,000 was allocated to assist the NSOs. Subregional meetings and Networks were allocated $125,000. Strong assurances were given that the worst was past and the future is promising. The accounts are available for checking upon request and help is available to NSOs concerning financial development at the local level. All contact should be made through the Regional Office.

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One of the priorities of the World Organization of the Scout Movement is to maintain the life of its Youth Program, with the aim of satisfying the needs of today’s youth.

With this premise in mind, and continuing with the strategies for the Youth Program promoted by the Interamerican Scout Region, within the Regional Plan 2011-2014 “A New Deal for Growth,” is the general objective of the triennium in the area of the Youth Program, “Improving educational quality of the implementation of Youth.” To achieve this general objective, the following goals have been defined: • Provide relevant and updated educational material available to everyone and aligned with the Youth Program Regional Policy.

• Apply a relevant and updated Youth Program to respond to the interests and needs of youth and social demands of the community, and aligned with the Regional Policy.

• Develop evaluation systems to obtain reliable data on the degree of implementation and quality of the Youth Program.

• Increase the autonomy and improve the performance of the teams of Youth Program.

The actions required to achieve these objectives stress the development of the Regional Policy Youth Program, which seeks to present it for approval at the next Interamerican Scout Conference in 2013. The indicators referred to in the Regional Plan are defined to be achieved within three years, which means there is hard

work in the months to come. For successful achievement of the objectives of the Regional Plan 2011 – 2014, it is necessary to have committed and active participation of all stakeholders: national Scout organizations, as major players in the development of action plan, the Interamerican Scout Committee, and World Scout Bureau - Interamerican Region.

The Action Plan for the Adult Area is immersed within the 5th Strategic Priority of the Scout Movement. In that regard, the overall objective of the management plan for adults is “to have active volunteers, motivated, committed, qualified and competent to the task.”

This goes through the various stages within the life cycle of the adult in the Movement (recruitment, training, monitoring and evaluation, and retention).

Achieving this involves strengthening the processes of support provided by personal advisers, implement flexible training systems geared towards the person (and not the system itself), and, in that vein, to continuously improve personal development and skills of adults.

It, also, involves the review of the Regional Human Resource Policy, “The Leaders We Need,” and the structuring of a new Policy on Adults in Scouting for the Region (with the proposal to call it “Adults That We Need”) to introduce key elements that constitute the consolidated and proper policy, strengthen the implementation process of the competencies approach in adult education policy in the NSOs in the Interamerican Region, unification in diversity, and seek, within the autonomy of each of them, some degree of standardization to promote and facilitate the exchange of experiences and trainers among member countries of the region.

For the development of the plan, we will use the Virtual Training Platform for Adults in Scouting of the Interamerican Region, which is especially versatile for all types of training: discussion forums, documentary exchange, guided courses, group chats, and others, democratizing the access to information and discussion spaces.

This year will be a meeting of the Adults in Scouting Network in each subregion and, in September, two meetings of the Responsible National Management of Adults in Scouting, one for English-speaking countries and one for the Spanish-speaking. These meetings will be, among others, a space for debate and consensus for Regional Policy-Making, “The Adults We Need.”

To achieve the objective of the plan requires the participation of many actors – it hardly can be developed by one person or a small group of focused adults in the area. It requires synergy between NSOs, their leaders and trainers, and the WSB-IR, so, in that way, the subregions and the Adults in Scouting Network may be constituted and consolidated in the space of exchange and generation of desired knowledge.

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Further”, and “An Organization for the 21st Century.” As the discussions progressed, we revised article 4, “Specific Objectives,” of the already referred to “General Objective” with a view to establishing the basics for each section.

We, then, reviewed progress in each area with reference to the three sub-regional meetings of the Institutional Development Network, which took place in 2011, and was attended by 34 leaders from 15 regional NSOs.

We outlined briefly before the full participation at the Summit as a dissertation covering the general and the particular. We began by defining the basic definitions of “development”, “institution”, and “institutional development” in the framework of our organization and governance. The next step established the relationship between the third objective of the General Regional Plan, “The Creation of a New Agreement,” relating to regional and national structures in a flexible and democratic manner designed to grow and service the Scout movement and strategic priorities: “Youth Participation”, “Progressing

En el marco de la Cumbre tuvimos la oportunidad de exponer nuestra propuesta para el desarrollo del Plan Regional en materia de Comunicaciones.

El área de Comunicaciones es para nosotros el eslabón de la cadena de valor que encabeza Programa de Jóvenes, seguida por los Adultos en el Movimiento Scout, todos soportados y asistidos por Desarrollo Institucional.

La tarea fundamental de esta área es la proyección de la imagen del Movimiento Scout, tarea en la que estamos comprometidos todos. La sociedad como un todo debe estar consciente de nuestra labor, de lo que somos y de lo que hacemos, en especial de nuestro aporte en la labor de “Construir un mundo mejor”.

Nuestro Plan Regional en su Cuarto Objetivo General establece: “Desarrollar comunicaciones efectivas que fortalezcan la imagen del Movimiento Scout ante la sociedad, permitan establecer alianzas estratégicas y ayuden a consolidar los procesos y relaciones entre los distintos niveles de la estructura regional y nacional”, lo cual se alinea con la 7ma. Prioridad Estratégica de la Organización Mundial del Movimiento Scout: “Perfil del Movimiento Scout”.

We ended the session deciding on actions required in 2012: the re-launch of “The Route to Excellency,” which will be used to asses the strategic planning process of the NSOs; the development of instruments for efficient and practical realization of plans; the design and application of development instruments to allow the NSO to carry out the plans effectively and efficiently; the design and application of a means of applying our democratic principles; the establishment of two growth workshops; the preparation of a document outlining general guidelines to promote juvenile participation in administration; and finally, the establishment of annual meetings at the subregional level of the Institutional Development Network.

In conclusion, we appealed to those present to promote our body as “a technical development organization” with the goal of being a closer partner and collaborator of the Regional NSO. Also, we invited everyone to participate at the regional and sub-regional level, as well as in the soon to be operating virtual communication system, to add their skills and to help the organization in carrying out its work program.

El área de Comunicaciones realiza tareas en tres niveles: Intraorganizacional, mejorando nuestras comunicaciones internas en y entre todos los órganos que componen la OMMS en nuestra región; Extraorganizacional, proyectando la imagen del Movimiento Scout; y en Asociaciones Estratégicas, abriendo canales para establecer acuerdos ganar/ganar con otros que desarrollen objetivos afines a los nuestros.

A la fecha nuestra oficina cuenta con un Boletín Electrónico “Mundus Novus” que desde su salida hace ya mas de un año ha estado circulando ininterrumpidamente mes a mes.

Las próximos acciones a realizar: La Reunión de la Red Regional de Comunicaciones a celebrarse en BogotáColombia en Julio; la medición y evaluación del uso de la Marca Scout; la recopilación y difusión de la cobertura en medios de las actividades de las OSN de nuestra Región; apertura de relaciones con organismos internacionales ; así como la documentación y difusión de las experiencias exitosas de las OSN en materia de comunicaciones.

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The Interamerican Scout Committee met with the National Presidents of the National Scout Organizations that were present during the VIII InterAmerican Scout Summit.

During the session some of the NSO shared about their national structures.

Were different concerns, including that, they are answered the emails that are sent to interamerica@scout.org in a timely manner. Also called start to use other distance communication tools. Was highlighted that we should start making more frequent use of social networks and ensure that communications are made, at least in English and Spanish.

Was asked to OSN to define clearly what they need and expect from the World Scout Bureau - InterAmerican Region, also were asked to define who will join the new network of Communications.

These asked the InterAmerican Scout Committee that the new executive team visit the NSO to provide direct support and strengthen collaboration and open communication. These visits must have structure, focus and purpose.

The Governance Committee from the Interamerican Scout Committee made a interesting presentation at the VIII Interamerican Scout Conference, Panama 2012.

This committee was led by Oswaldo Navas who made a brief statement of the issues being addressed, the most important was the analysis of the new World Scout Constitution and its comparison with our present constitution Regional.

With the help of Humphrey Shurman and Rafe Lucado, also members of this committee, working groups were held with all participants of the Summit.

In the topics discussed at the tables were: Regional Conference, Summit Regional Governance Regional Committee, etc.

One by one the teams made, presented to the plenary the conclusions reached after establishing dialogue between them.

The topics were of great interest to all teams, and time was what was missing. This committee has a long way to go, but we know that those who go up slowly showing results.

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You can be part of the Official Newsletter of Interamerican Region

Send us your stories about any activity that has taken place in your National Scout Organization so the world will know it.

Tell us at: interamerica@scout.org

This newsletter was made by the contribution and the efford of: • Luis Bethancourt • Ramón Guerra • Vivian Huacuja • Scott Teare

• Ralf Dillmann • Mauricio Veayra • José Gabriel Criollo • Héctor Carrer • Ronald Richardson

Visita: www.lacvox.net

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