Mission of Scouting
“The Mission of Scouting is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.”
Vision of Scouting
“By 2023 Scouting will be the world’s leading educational youth movement, enabling 100 million young people to be active citizens creating positive change in their communities and in the world based on shared values.”
To achieve Scouting’s Vision, six Strategic Priorities were adopted at the 40th World Scout Conference. Supporting Adults in Scouting is a core tenet of the Strategic Priority “Educational Methods”.
Educational Methods Strategic Priority
“The Youth Programme should provide a non-formal learning environment strengthening the capacity of young people to face the challenges of tomorrow. Scouting should attract, train and retain quality adult volunteers to deliver the Youth Programme.”
The aim of the World Adults in Scouting Policy, as with the World Scout Youth Programme Policy and other WOSM Scouting policies, is to support the Mission of Scouting. This is achieved by improving the quality of leadership at all levels through better support tools and management strategies for Adults in Scouting, resulting in the provision of better services for young people.
The World Adults in Scouting Policy encompasses all the roles and functions undertaken by adult members and all the areas of competence necessary to fulfil them. This is particularly relevant when we consider that adults are the ones delivering the Youth Programme. Therefore, their appropriate recruitment, selection, training and support are critical to enable the full support needed for the Youth Programme.
Three strategic areas cover the effective functioning of an NSO:
- The Youth Programme: establishes the requirements for the adults (e.g. functions) who work in this area and determines the logistical requirements to develop the Youth Programme.
- Organisational Development: establishes the organisational framework that provides the administrative and financial support so that the Programme can be developed and implemented.
- Adults in Scouting: connects functions to relevant positions, identifying the training experiences needed to develop competencies. It also determines the logistics needed for the process to work properly (e.g. requirements to run the training experiences and, in general, to operate the whole adult management system), operating with the overall support of the NSO.
Adults perform key roles and functions to achieve the Scout Mission. The quality of the Youth Programme and the impact Scouting will have on society depend on the quality of these adult volunteers.
The strategic outcomes of implementation of Adults in Scouting supporting the Mission and Vision of Scouting are:
- better programmes and deliverance for young people (Youth Programme)
- improved effectiveness, commitment and motivation of adult leadership (Adults in Scouting)
- more effective and efficient organisations (Organisational Development)
- competitive advantage and impact on social or external well-being
The roles of supporting adults fall into three categories:
- Those who design, develop, facilitate or deliver programmes adapted to different age groups, and specific conditions in which young people live.
- Those who operate directly with adults in management, leadership, training and support roles and functions.
- Those who establish and operate organisational structures, delivering the necessary logistical, financial and administrative support for the Movement.
See also:
Mission, Vision and Strategy of Scouting