World Scout Conference
The World Scout Conference is the governing body, the "general assembly" of Scouting, and is composed of all the members of the Organisation: the National Scout Organizations.
Its function is to consider the policy and standards of the Scout Movement throughout the world, formulate the general policy of the World Organization, and take the action required to further the purpose of the Movement.
National Scout Organizations must gain recognition from the World Scout Conference to become members of WOSM- and there can only be one NSO per country. In the case of a country having more than one Scout Association, a federation is formed for the purposes of national coordination and world membership. Member Organizations can be represented at World Scout Conferences by a maximum of six delegates.
The Conference meets every three years and observers authorised by their National Scout Organization are also eligible to register and attend the event. Delegations usually include International Commissioners, the Scout responsible for relations with WOSM and with Scout Organizations in other countries.
One of the functions of the Conference is to elect members of the World Scout Committee, admit new member countries, and select the venues for forthcoming World Scout events which includes the World Scout Jamboree, the World Scout Moot, the World Scout Conference and the World Scout Youth Forum.
The 38th World Scout Conference will be held on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, from Monday 14 to Friday 18 July 2008. The Korea Scout Association, the National Scout Organization of the Republic of Korea, will host this Conference. They have formed a very good team in Seoul, where the headquarters of the Organization are located, and are enthusiastically preparing for the Conference.
The 37th World Scout Conference was held 5-9 September 2005 in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia.
The 36th World Scout Conference met in Thessaloniki, Greece from 15-19 July 2002.
The 35th World Scout Conference was held 26-30 July 1999 in Durban, South Africa.
Scouting was founded in 1907, based on an educational method developed by Robert Baden-Powell. It was not his intention to create an organization, but Scouting became very popular and spread quickly not only in the United Kingdom but spontaneously to many other countries.
