From the 19- 26 May 2001, the European Scout Region held the 2nd Forum on youth
programme and adult resources in Mollina, Malaga, Spain. This event had 112
participants from 35 associations in 23 countries. This forum was a follow-up
of the 1st Forum which was held in Malta in 1999. The European Scout Region
has derived a working method in supporting national Scout associations, which
includes a biannual forum on youth programme and adult resources, a number of
sub-regional events every year and workshops on a specific topic if required/requested.
This means that the region has been in direct contact with more than 300 members
of national programme and adult resources teams over the last two years. The
visible benefit from this is that the European Scout associations have progressed
a lot in the implementing of the programme and adult resources policies and
only a few associations are not following the lead. The quality of the work
during this 2nd forum was very high. The main part of the work was done in what
was called an "international team task" or ITT, where a number of
participants (between 4 and 7) got together to develop a solution or a tool
to a problem of common interest. There were all together 17 different topics
treated by the forum, to mention a couple there were notably "From vision
to reality" which dealt with the problem of implementing change in an association.
Tools were developed to overcome resistance to change and a generic process
was proposed for any national team to implement a change. "Quality factors
in Scouting" dealt with the complex issue of identifying and measuring
the quality of Scouting. It touched on the different levels in the youth programme
work: development, dissemination and implementation as well as the training
which goes with the implementation of a high quality Scouting experience. Finally
there was "Participants or customers", which provoked the forum to
think about the participants in our training courses and other events as customers
and what would happen if our scout leaders could get their training in other
places than our organisations would they be loyal customers or would they
go for a better deal?
Thanks to the technological advancements over the last few years we were able
to put all the results of the forum on-line even before the event was over.
The entire material (ITTs, presentations and other resource material) canbe
found on: http://www.scout.org/europe/malaga2001/
On the initiative of the participants, an e-community has been established to
facilitate the contact and the sharing of experiences until the next forum,
here there is already a lot of hustling and bustling from
participants who want to implement the fruits of the work in their own associations.
The community can be found on: http://communities.msn.com/2ndForum2001/
Feel free to join in the discussion.
The European seminar on learning and voluntary work opportunities for young
people over 16 in Europe was held from 16th to 23rd September. The place was
quite interesting the Scout Centre on island Veruda, near Pula, in Croatia.
All the participants slept in tents and had restricted use of
electricity - that was a challenge and an opportunity for them.
The Programme of the Seminar was very wide, starting from personal needs of
young people and how Scouting and Guiding answer to them, through programmes
that are proposed on national and local level, up to European programmes for
Rovers.
Participants have appraised the Seminar as a successful one. They had produced
some materials, models, activity handouts and were working on Team Tasks that
can be widely used. Also, they have prepared several recommendations for national
Scout and Guide associations and to the European Scout and Guide Regions. We
had 28 participants coming from 14 countries and 18 associations, both from
WOSM and WAGGGS. You can find out more about this Seminar on the address
http://communities.msn.com/RoversandVentures
Following the success of the Sub-Regional Workshops in Slovakia (1999) and
Romania (2001), the European Scout Region is organising a third event, in Slovenia,
between the 15th and the 19th of November 2001. The main aims of this Workshop
are to assist national Scout associations in
developing their youth programmes and improving the management of their adult
resources and to encourage neighbouring associations to share their ideas and
experiences as well as to co-operate on projects of mutual interest.
Participants from Poland, Czech Republic Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland,
Italy, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia are invited. They are going to
make their contribution through:
A social programme, which stimulates inter cultural learning and understanding.
Hoping that this third step is going to have an even bigger impact in the region
we're ready to welcome all the participants and guests in sunny Slovenia.
The European Scout Region gives great importance to External Relations as a
part of the strategy for development and growth of National Scout Associations
(NSO) :
In the practice of our External Relations, the Region uses the following components
:
- Public relations, relations with the press and marketing
- Institutional relations
- Means and support for Information technology.
Many associations in Europe have recently requested assistance in developing
their own external relations' policies. For this reason, the European Scout
Region is offering a training course, comprising two sessions, on this topic.
The participants are asked to attend both sessions, whose aims and objectives
are the following:
Aim : Design and implement a strategy for External Relations.
Objectives of seminar 1 (8 - 13 December 2001 Geneva)
- Define what are the external relations and what they entail in order to establish
an individual strategy for each NSO.
- Analyse and understand the image policy of their own NSO.
- Analyse and understand the framework of relations within their own NSO.
- Acquire the methods of elaboration for an External Relations strategy
Objectives of seminar 2 (13-18 September 2002)
- Analyse in depth the methods of elaboration of the External Relations
strategy
- Elaborate the External Relations strategy of their own NSO.
- Acquire the implementation methods of the strategy
- Acquire the methods of evaluation and of follow-up
For more information, visit the European Region's website. You will find the
invitation document and the application form under Europak August 2001. You
can also contact the European Scout Office in Brussels, tel: +32 2 534 33 15
For the fourth year running, the European Scout Region invites all national
Scout associations in Europe to present projects which could be financed by
the European Scout Centenary Fund. Applications should be sent to the European
Scout Office in Geneva by 31 December 2001. For 2002, a new project category
has been added, in order to meet the challenges of the Movement in
relation to membership development. Associations are invited to present projects
on membership development. 4 years after the start of the Centenary Fund, the
next important step is to evaluate the educational impact of the projects which
have already been supported, as well as the use of funding to implement them.
More information can be found on our website under Europak October 2001.