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A STRATEGY FOR SCOUTING... FROM DURBAN TO THESSALONIKI

1. UNDERSTANDING THE MISSION STATEMENT

World Organization of the Scout Movement Organisation Mondiale du Mouvement Scout

STRATEGY
THIS DOCUMENT IS A PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

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© World Scout Bureau, March 2000. Reproduction is authorized to national Scout associations which are members of the WorldOrganization of the Scout Movement. Others should request permission from the publishers.

World Scout Bureau P.O. Box 241 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland worldbureau@world.scout.org http://www.scout.org

MISSION STATEMENT

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 areself-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society. This is achieved by • involving them throughout their formative years in a non-formal educational process • using a specific method that makes each individual the principal agent in his or her development as a selfreliant, supportive, responsible and committed person • assisting them to establish a value system based uponspiritual, social and personal principles as expressed in the Promise and Law.

CONFERENCE RESOLUTION 3/99

MISSION STATEMENT The Conference - commending the World Scout Committee’s Strategy Task Force for the preparation of the discussion on the mission statement - appreciating the participatory process that has been followed since the Oslo Conference in the work to develop a mission statement •adopts the mission statement for Scouting proposed by the Select Committee, as amended • urges the World Scout Committee, Regional Scout Committees and National Scout Organizations to disseminate the mission statement as widely as possible and do their utmost to facilitate the understanding and implementation of it • invites the World Scout Committee to continue its work on the development of thevarious formulations of the mission statement and the conditions necessary for its achievement, taking into account the output of the discussions at this Conference, and to present a progress report to the next World Scout Conference.

INTRODUCTION

For the first time, the World Scout Conference, meeting in Durban in July 1999, adopted a mission statement for Scouting. The adoption of the missionstatement is the latest milestone in the work undertaken by the World Organization of the Scout Movement on the development of a Strategy for Scouting. The statement, which is based on WOSM’s Constitution, is intended to reaffirm Scouting’s role in today’s world. The Conference also adopted Resolution 3/99 requesting that appropriate follow-up be made at all levels of the Movement to facilitatethe implementation of the mission. The process used at the Durban Conference leading to the adoption of the mission statement emphasised the active involvement of all Conference participants; this worked well. The text adopted is a result of this process. The Conference acknowledged that the wording of the text could have been refined. Since Durban, the World Scout Bureau has received questionsconcerning the text, in relation to both the meaning of terms and how the various elements within the statement relate to each other. This document is the first in a series of tools to be produced by the Strategy Task Force to help implement the mission. The purpose of this document is to facilitate the understanding and use of the mission statement within the wide range of national Scoutorganisations that comprise WOSM. It provides a variety of ways of examining the text. None of these ways is designed to provide an alternative to the text adopted in Durban. While recognising that a better wording of the mission statement might be necessary, this can only be done by the World Scout Conference itself. Over a period of time, you will receive other tools produced by the Strategy Task Force....