APRinbox

FEBRUARY 2006

Monthly publication of World Scout Bureau/

Asia Pacific Regional office

Manila, Philippines

publications@worldnet.scout.org

Dear Readers,

We acknowledge in a collective way the letters appreciating the APR INBOX. Here we re-convey your gratitude to the volunteers, young people and professionals who make Scouting an active presence in their localities and, literally, into the much larger community through sharing of news and information.

WHAT’S NEW IN THE REGION	APR Youth Fund The fund was created a couple of years ago to support youth development activities including assistance to young people who are appointed as Young Adult Members in the various sub committee meetings and in the Regional Committee meeting. Recently, the Regional Scout Committee approved the revised fund guideline on the recommendation of APR Youth Programme Sub-committee. The region promotes the fund continuously with the support of Finance Sub-Committee. World Scout Committee Chairman Herman Hui is the latest fund donor with US$5000. A Youth Fund box collected over US$250 from adult leaders and Scouts at the Jamboree in Thailand.
	Governance Review Task Force for WOSM and Region Apart from the Governance Review Task Force (GRTF) being established by the World Scout Committee, APR Chairman Eric Khoo and Regional Director Abdullah Rasheed invited all National Scout Organizations in the region to nominate leaders for the creation of a Regional Group who will look after governance issues within the region and give feedback to the GRTF.
	Latest on upcoming regional events APR Scout Leaders Summit. This is a gathering of the region’s key decision makers held a year before each Regional Scout Conference. Summit 2006 is dubbed as the 5^th APR Golden Anniversary Summit to be held on 18-21 May 2006 in the Philippines. Summit 2006 will assess the achievements of the current triennial plan and the effectiveness of the strategy until 2007 Regional Conference. The assessment will lead to identifying priority areas and objectives for 2007-2010. The Summit will likewise analyze the growth of Scouting in the region as well as its major challenges.
	Asia Pacific Regional Scout Conference. Formal invitation is sent to all National Scout Organizations for the 22^nd Asia Pacific Regional Scout Conference on 18-23 October 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. Each NSO is invited to send a maximum of six delegates and as many observers. Registration will start in October 2006. Conference venue is the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Tokyo, an educational facility of about 91,000 sqm. Two ancillary events are set before the conference – the Course for Leader Trainers on 10-16 October 2007, almost simultaneously with the 5^th APR Scout Youth Forum on 12-15 October. Young people attending both the Youth Forum and the Conference will be given a special rate on registration fee.
	APR Scout Photo Contest Want to preserve a piece of Scouting in your troop or district? Join the 5^th APR Scout Photo Contest 2006 by taking good photos of Jamborees and field activities, skills and training, community work and services, conveying the message that Scouting is making an impact on young people and their communities. Winning photos will be used in the yearly APR calendar and posters. Scouts and leaders are eligible to join though their National Scout Organization. Deadline for submission of entries, in film or digital format, is on 28 February 2006. See Circular No.42 2005 at www.scout.org/asia-pacific for details.
WHAT’S NEW IN THE NATIONAL SCOUT ORGANIZATIONS	Australian Venture 2006 The 13th Australian Venture (AV2006) was held from 3-14 January 2006, at Sydney Scout Park in the State of New South Wales. There were 715 Venturers (aged 14-18) attending with some coming from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, United Kingdom, Swaziland and Jordan. There were also over 300 leaders providing service. The Venture was the culmination of four years of hard work. The theme was: Friends, Fun and Freedom with all activities and planning centered on this. For the first few days, Venturers participated in off-site expeditions such as sailing and diving and then had fun with onsite activities such as caving and a commando course, until the end of the event. The choice of activities was based on feedback from the last Venture which helped ensure there was a large amount of fun tailored to the Venturers’ needs.
	Singapore welcomes WOSM Secretary General Singapore’s Scout authorities, leaders and young Scouts welcomed Dr Eduardo Missoni during his first visit to the association as Secretary General. The visit was highlighted with a supportive meeting with Chief Scout and President of the Republic of Singapore, SR Nathan. Singapore has around 9500 members. There is an interesting effort to promote Rovering and community-based Scouting. More focus is given to co-education and to disadvantaged youth as well as in creating wide partnerships with government agencies and other organizations.
	Indonesia invites international participation to National Jamboree Indonesian Scouting targets a bigger and wider participation of other countries and regions at its National Jamboree on 16-23 July 2006 at the Kiarapayung Campsite in West Java Province. This was expressed during SG Missoni’s January visit and meeting with Chairman of Gerakan Pramuka Dr Azrul Azwar and National Commissioners. Visit to Scout projects in tsunami affected areas of Banda Aceh showed good results and benefit to the local communities. Contact made with UNICEF and Italian Cooperation in Indonesia may develop some collaborative efforts with local Scouting.
	Sri Lanka hosts resources development workshop “An interesting and purposeful workshop…” was the general response to the recent Sub-Regional Workshop on Resources Development held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 21-25 January. In attendance were 20 local leaders and representatives from Korea, Maldives, Nepal and the Philippines, with a resource speaker from Australia. Among a diverse ways of developing resources, the Philippine experience of registration system and Australia’s educational training institute were sufficiently covered.
	Bangladesh sets strategy for 2013 Looking towards 2013 with increased membership was the focus of 49 Scout leaders from all over Bangladesh who participated in the National Strategic Planning Workshop on 28 January to 01 February 2006 in Mouchak, Bangladesh. This vision would be sustained by six strategic priorities the leaders identified: 1) Youth Involvement 2) Adults in Scouting 3) Management 4) Financial Resources 5) Membership Growth 6) PR and Communications. Chief Commissioner Fazlur Rahman and Faizur Razzaque presented their challenges to the Scout leaders. APR executives facilitated the planning exercise.
WHAT’S ON-GOING FEBRUARY	Afghanistan drafts constitution and holds inaugural assembly Over two years after the WOSM-APR team embarked on its first mission to Kabul in July 2003, Afghanistan Scout Association (ASA) has finally launched the draft of the Afghan Scout Constitution and inaugurated its first General Assembly. Regional Scout Committee Vice-Chairman Zainal Abedin and RD Abdullah Rasheed joined the ASA leaders in this major breakthrough. The draft constitution is written in Dari, the local language, to be translated in English in the coming days. Detailed discussions were held with ASA Chief Commissioner Mr Safiullah Subat to organize future activities. As part of the visit the APR delegation met the Minister of Education and the Deputy Minister. School supplies were also delivered to underprivileged children who are Scout members. Some months ago, American Scouter Grant Samms raised funds to help Afghan children. The funds, also partly from the APR office, were used to purchase the school supplies.
	Bhutan welcomes participants to risk management workshop Putting risk management as a priority for the protection of the well being of members is the reason why a number of leaders are now in Punakha, Bhutan for the sub-regional workshop on risk management in Scouting. International resource persons and participants from Korea, Hong Kong, Brunei, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Nepal, Bangladesh and Denmark are attending this workshop together with Bhutan Scouts Chief Commissioner Kinley Dorji and 20 Bhutanese Scout leaders. The workshop is from 6 to 10 February.
	Thailand hosts Scout Executives’ Management Course This is the 46^th Basic Management Course for Professional Scout Executives organized by the Asia Pacific Region since 1971 for the enhancement of individual competencies and leadership in the Scouting professional service. All is set for this batch of executives who will take the course from 7-21 February at Vajiravudh Scout Camp, Chonburi Province. Attendees are 12 executives from Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and India with resource speakers from Philippines and Singapore. Workshop Director Sommart Sungkapan arranged for 40 local counterparts.
	Sri Lanka prepares for 4^th SAF Camp SAF (South Asia Foundation) Scout Friendship Camp is a yearly event that promotes and strengthens regional peace and cooperation among young people in South Asia. Sri Lanka is host of the 4^th SAF camp on 21-26 February where over 100 young people will live together in the outdoors of a hill station having an elevation of 1800 meters. Scouts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan are joining Sri Lankan Scouts at this camp, side-by-side with the National Scout Jamboree of Sri Lanka Scout Association. SAF Founder Madanjeet Singh is the main sponsor of the young people’s travel from all SAARC countries.
	Inter-American Region appoints new Regional Director Mr Alberto del Brutto is joining the circle of Regional Directors with his appointment to succeed Mr Gerardo Gonzales who is retiring from the service after prominently serving world Scouting for many years. Alberto has had a long standing in the region as the Deputy Regional Director and Director of Adult Resources in the Inter-American Region.
WHAT’S UPCOMING MARCH 2006	Regional Scout Committee meeting The Regional Committee will meet in Taiwan on 11-12 March. Main discussion will focus on the forthcoming Summit in May and other emerging issues.
	APR Workshop on Marketing for Growth Persekutuan Pengakap Malaysia is preparing to welcome participants in the area of Marketing, Public Relations and Communications for the workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 16-20 March. Members of Scouting Profile sub-committee will facilitate the workshop. External resource speakers are invited to deliver topics on marketing principles.
BE PREPARED APRIL 2006	APR Gathering of National Training Commissioners will be on 8-9 April in Bangladesh, followed by APR Training System Development Workshop on 10-13 April to be attended by representatives from Macau, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia.
	International Seminar on Programme Development (Rover Section) in Maldives on 17-20 April awaits a significant group of attendees from Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Japan, Malawi, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UK, Zambia and members of the APR Programme Sub-Committee. The WOSM Rover Transversal Team will run the workshop. 2nd Preparatory Meeting of 22^nd APR Scout Conference in Tokyo, Japan on 5-6 April Interreligious Symposium in Taiwan on 27 April to 1 May
MAY 2006	APR Scout Leaders Summit in the Philippines on 18-21 May

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

FEBRUARY 2006