APRinbox

March 2006

Monthly publication of World Scout Bureau

Asia Pacific Regional Office, Manila, Philippines

Email: publications@worldnet.scout.org

WHAT’S NEW FEBRUARY 2006	Afghan Scouts launch draft constitution Over 25 years ago, Scouting in Afghanistan was an active member of world Scouting that promoted educational and developmental campaigns until the late 70s. The Scout movement was dissolved in 1981 as an effect of domestic disturbances that deprived the association of its democratic environment. Two years after the first mission of Asia Pacific Scout Leaders to Kabul in July 2003, a new Afghanistan Scout Association (ASA) emerged with 31,000 members today. The recent visit of Regional Committee Vice-Chairman Zainal Abedin and Regional Director Abdullah Rasheed facilitated the launch of ASA draft constitution. Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Education officiated the launching ceremony at a school auditorium in Kabul, witnessed by officials of the Education Ministry with school principals, leaders and about 200 Scouts. In a separate meeting with the Minister of Education, HE Nor Mohammad Qareem, he stressed on the importance of obtaining a legal identity for the association as an NGO. On this occasion, the APR team handed over 200 gift packets to Scout members. An American Scout leader donated the gifts, supplemented by APR office. National TV covered the events. The first advanced training course is to be organized on 12-18 July 2006 in a campsite outside Kabul. The course is for 50 participants who took the basic Scout training in 2005 under the sponsorship of Scouts Canada. ASA underscored the need to conduct courses in the provinces. APR team visited a Scout group in a small and snowy town named Paghma, about 25 miles from Kabul. The town was once upon a time a battlefield where one could still see some remnants of war. But the scout spirit of young people is bringing in some refreshing facets of change.
	Cambodia to launch new national Scout association On invitation of the Royal Government of Cambodia through the Education Ministry, WOSM visited Scouts leaders in Phnom Pehn to see the situation of Scouting in the country and to seek the formal support of the government for launching the newly created National Association of Cambodian Scouts (NACS). NACS is a merger of two associations, formerly named Scout Association of Cambodia, and Cambodian Scouts. WOSM’s last visit was around 7 years ago. Since then, ad hoc contacts were made with the two associations leading to their merger and combined effort to draft a NACS Constitution. They now seek formal government recognition as a non-governmental organization. RD Rasheed who made the visit was joined by the heads of the working group, Mr Lak Sam Ath, Mr Sok Seng Yan, Mr Phan Sokim and Mr Sok Cheng in a meeting with the Secretary of State and Acting Minister of Education. A meeting was arranged with the Deputy Prime Minister His Excellency Sok An, who expressed interest in seeing Scouting flourish in Cambodia. He brought up the possibility of organizing an exchange or invitation programme for Scouts to visit Cambodia and see historic and cultural sites, one of which is Angkor Wat.
	APR Scout Leaders tackle risk management issues Two years after holding the first risk management workshop in Singapore, the Bhutan Scout Association hosted the second regional workshop in a mountainous region on 6-10 February. APR organized this event as a response to the great need of raising the level of understanding of NSOs on the importance of risk management as few NSOs have taken initiative in this area. In all, 39 participants came from 13 countries, i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Korea and Denmark assisted by Resource Speakers from Republic of China, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and overseas guests. S Prassanna of APR office coordinated the event. Local officials supported the workshop with the presence of the district governor during the opening including senior leaders from the region, namely Zainal Abidin, Anthony Thng, Alex Wong and George Huang. The Minister of Education spoke at the closing.
	Professional Scouts take 2-week management course In Vajivarudh Camp, along the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, 46 Scout leaders spent two weeks on the Basic Management Course designed for professional Scout executives. The National Scout Organization of Thailand supported the course with Sommart Sungkapun as course director along with Sumon Samasarn, Chairperson of National Training Team. Dr Mak of Hong Kong, Dr Mohd Effendy of Singapore and Dr Sammy Cribe of the Philippines together with local resource persons and Thian Hiong Boon of APR office managed the course.
	Sri Lanka welcomes young people for SAF Scout Camp SAARC is comprised of countries in South Asia namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Through the sponsorship of South Asia Foundation (SAF) founded by Madanjeet Singh, a total of 112 Scouts from these countries joined around 5000 Sri Lankan Scouts at the 4^th SAF Scout Camp, a back-to-back event with the 7^th Sri Lanka National Jamboree. The camp ventured on outdoor activities like hiking, life skills workshop, youth forum, and cultural displays. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister HE Ratnasiri Wickramanayke declared the camp and Jamboree open at the tea state of Nuwareylia. Also at the opening are senior leaders of the region – Anthony Thng of Singapore and Regional Committee member Mohd Ali Khalid. Since 2002, SAF camps have been held in Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal. The camp rotates around the SAARC area on a yearly basis. Next camp will be held in Islamabad, Pakistan on 21-26 February 2007.
	SAARC Chief Commissioner’s gather in Sri Lanka Chief Commissioners and representatives from all the South Asian countries visited the SAF Scout campsite. As an integral event of the camp, commissioners had their annual gathering at the Grand Hotel in Nuwareylia. Chairman Shree Ram Lamichhane of Nepal presided the meeting that highlighted the challenges in the sub-region. This was reiterated in the speech of Mr Soma Weerakon of Sri Lanka who is the incoming chairman of the group. Committee member Mohd Khalid and Anthony Thng attended the gathering.
	Vietnamese Scouts observe Founder’s Day In Ho Chi Minh City, Founder’s Day (22 February) was a time to celebrate. More than 400 Cubs, Scouts, Venturers, Rovers and 240 leaders gathered four days later, on 26 February 2006, at Hoang Van Thu Park. This attendance was from 30 Scout Groups in HCM City and surrounding areas. For participants, it was a joyful moment as it was the first time the Founder’s Day was organized for hundreds of Scouts and Scout Leaders in Vietnam.
	Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia translates Scout Handbook to Bahasa After a thorough process of translation, adaptation and editing, Scouts in Indonesia translated the English text of the International Handbook for Leaders of the Scout Section into Bahasa Indonesia. A team of Gerakan Pramuka leaders and members of the School of Letters of University of Indonesia participated in the entire translation process, fully integrating the original concept of the Renewed Approach to Programme (RAP) with the Indonesian cultural mindset. Robert Hall Foundation is the major sponsor of this project. This is the second translation in the region after Mongolia.
	BSP creates National Training Commission Boy Scouts of the Philippines created a National Training Commission with the purpose of ensuring that training courses are according to standards. A recent seminar-workshop on 22-25 February was designed to uphold this standard. Part of the workshop was an appraisal of the training policy using the criteria of relevance, attainability, applicability to local situation and facility in interpretation. S Prassanna of APR office assisted the workshop as resource person.
	Scout Library on-line The new Scout library is now on line, with a link to Score. Please visit http://worldnet.scout.org/resource_centre/
WHAT’S ON-GOING MARCH 2006	Regional Scout Committee Meeting in Taiwan Majority of Regional Scout Committee members led by Chairman Eric Khoo and APR Sub-Committee chairmen confirmed their attendance for the forthcoming meeting in Kaoshiung on 11-12 March. The meeting will welcome the presence of World Scout Committee Chairman Herman Hui.
	Marketing workshop in Malaysia With the foresight of producing a value-oriented Marketing Plan for NSOs, the APR and Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia will organize this workshop on 16-19 March at Hotel Putra in Kuala Lumpur. Over 20 overseas participants are attending from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Singapore and WAGGGS. Confirmation is being awaited from some other countries.
	Basic Training Course in Tuvalu A maximum of 50 Scout leaders are expected to participate at the Basic Leader Training Course to be held in Fonafuti, Tuvalu on 4-10 March. Two trainers from Fiji will join Thian Hiong Boon of APR office to run the course.
	Woodbadge Course in Solomon Islands For the advanced Unit Leader Training Course in Honiara, around 40 participants are expected with the support of 3 trainers from Australia together with Thian Hiong-Boon of APR office. The woodbadge course is set for 14-20 March.
	National Strategic Review Workshop in Brunei Scouting in Brunei is heading to review its performance for the past 2.5 years and plan for the years ahead. The review workshop is scheduled for 22-26 March where Scout leaders will review the plan they set in 2003.
WHAT’S UPCOMING APRIL 2006	2^nd Preparatory Meeting on 5-6 April 2006 in Tokyo, Japan APR Trainers Gathering on 8-9 April 2006 in Mouchak, Bangladesh Training System Development workshop on 10-13 April 2006 in Mouchak, Bangladesh Programme Development Workshop for the Rover Section on 17-21 April in Maldives
MAY 2006	Interreligious Symposium on 5-8 May 2006 in Taiwan APR Leaders Summit on 18-21 May 2006 in Laguna, Philippines

APRinbox is the monthly e-newsletter of World Scout Bureau/Asia Pacific Region circulated to Scouts and adult leaders in the global community of the Scout Movement.

APRinbox is edited and designed by Ms Luz Taray and Ms Theresa Quine of the Asia Pacific Regional Office in Manila, Philippines. Email:publications@worldnet.scout.org