Engere Kooperation mit den Pfadfindern

In einem Rundschreiben vom Januar 2006 an die über 200 nationalen Mitgliedsorganisationen hat das World Scout Bureau diese gebeten, sich mit dem Verantwortlichen des Internationalen Jugendprogramms in ihrem Land in Verbindung zu setzen.

Co-operation between WOSM and the International Award Association

Dear colleagues,

As you are aware the International Award Association (IAA) and the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) are founding members of the Alliance of Youth Chief Executive Officers.

This Alliance has worked well at a global level for some years now, publishing several papers and booklets and ensuring that our common view on the importance of non-formal education of young people has been aired and has influenced governments and other decision-makers.

WOSM and the IAA are keen to develop these links at a national level. As the Award is a Programme and not a membership organisation, there is no element of competition between Scouts and the Award; in fact many Award participants become involved with the Award through their membership in Scouts. For Scouts, doing the Award gives added value: while many Scouting activities will count towards Sections of the Award, Scouts are also encouraged to take on activities that they otherwise might not have done and they get the additional recognition of the Award.

Where the Scouting/Award partnership is most developed we have seen dramatic increases in the number of participants doing the Award through Scouts, and Scouting has seen an increase in numbers in the 14 - 25 age range after years of slow decline in this age group. It has been shown that closer co-operation is a real win-win situation.

The World Scout Bureau will publish in 2006 guidelines for developing a programme for the Senior Scout Section - Venturers (15-18) and Rovers (18-22), which will include a presentation of the International Award and its links with the Scout programme.

We would urge you to make and develop contacts with your “opposite number” in the Award. To facilitate this, we attach contact details for National Award Authorities. There may already be links between the Scouts and the Award in your country; in this case this initiative should encourage you to further develop these links.

For National Scout Organisations in countries where there is no National Award Authority it is possible to be directly licensed to run the Award. Contact the International Secretariat of the Award for details. The relevant websites are www.intaward.org and www.scout.org.

Please contact us if you feel there is more we can do to help develop this partnership, and please keep us informed of developments.

Best regards,