In 1995, the Council of Ministers of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) – now African Union (AU), meeting in its Sixty-Second Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, from 21st to 23rd June, passed a resolution to set aside the 13th March of each year as the Africa Scout Day.

“In many African countries the Scouting Movement has successfully undertaken community development projects – food production, health, hygiene, literacy programmes, etc., and has directly contributed to the improvement of the living conditions of the concerned populations”, reads part of the resolution.

Thus, Africa NSOs have been celebrating this day to take stock of their contribution to the development of the continent. In September 2010, the Africa Regional Scout Committee resolved to give the celebrations a regional outlook, by assigning an NSO to host the main celebrations whereby Scouts and Scouters meet, along with their partners, to showcase their achievements and promote the “spirit of world kinship, cooperation and mutual assistance amongst Scout Organizations within the Region” (WOSM Constitution, Article XXI.1.A).

The first of these regional celebrations were successfully held in Burundi in March 2011 and the second in Angola in March this year. As resolved by the 15th Africa Scout Conference in Angola in June this year and under the banner “Scouts promoting good citizenship and peace”, the main celebrations for 2013 will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 10th to 14th March 2013. Scouts aged 14 to 26 years and their leaders from all over Africa as well as their partners from across the world are expected to participate.

Participation fee per person are as follows: 400 ETB (20 USD) for host NSO Scouts, 60 USD for the rest of the Africa Scout Region and 100 USD for the rest of the world.

However, participation to the main celebrations in Addis Ababa should in no way prevent your respective NSOs from organizing decent Africa Scout Day celebrations in your respective countries.

To help you in the preparations, the ARO has enclosed herewith the event logo, the event theme, a list of proposed activities and an intention to participate form for the main event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This form should be filled and sent to the host at with copy to . The draft programme for the main celebrations in Addis Ababa is also attached.