News on Partnerships and External Relations

5th June 2009. On World Environment Day, Scouts have again demonstrated their commitment to working together to take positive action for the environment. The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) have partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to encourage Scouts to take action in their local community.

UNEP have provided support to WOSM with a grant of $US100,000 that is being used to plant more than 65,000 trees spread across 10 National Scout Organizations to celebrate World Environment Day. Scouts will plant and continue to nurture these trees so that they can have an ongoing benefit for the environment. Participating countries include Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, India, Brazil, Hungary, Ethiopia, South Africa and Lebanon.

Ms. Michele Jankanish, Director of the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC ) and Mr. Luc Panissod, Acting Secretary-General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today, to extend their cooperation in the fight against child labour for a further 3 years.

The cooperation between the two organizations will be based on a shared vision in pursuing social justice and peace, the empowerment of young people, and promoting the social dimensions of globalization.

Youth Organisations participating to the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations, such as the Scout Movement, and the National Youth Delegates, convened by the European Youth Forum for its first European UN Youth Advocacy Meeting to prepare for the upcoming UN General Assembly. The meeting was hosted by the Finnish Youth Cooperation - Allianssi, in Helsinki.

During three days (4-6 September), the youth delegates and representatives agreed on the key messages to bring at the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly and on the practical coordination of the youth delegations. One of the main goals of the mission will be to increase the recognistion of the importance of youth participation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

En la reciente 7ª Asamblea General Ordinaria del Foro Latinoamericano de Juventud (FLAJ), celebrada en la ciudad de Panamá los días 25 al 27 de julio, la Oficina Scout Mundial – Región Interamericana fue electa para la Vocalía de Cooperación Internacional dentro del Consejo Directivo del FLAJ, para el período 2008-2010.

External relations were addressed many times during 38th WSCon Jeju Island in Korea. Workshops were conducted and a report launched on the past triennium and the successes and challenges both of past and also for the future. Many honourable guests were also attending the Conference.

On Wednesday 16th July in one of the conferences workshops around 40 top leaders debated the external relations in World Scouting on all levels. They addressed the challenges that they face in the work of the national Scout organizations. In the future the participants of the workshop hope to find more efficient ways to take care of the relations between their own scout organizations and other in their societies.

While millions of personal computers sit idle on office desks and in homes worldwide, hundreds of people contract and die from infectious diseases every hour. As screen savers run, millions die from hunger, or environmental disasters devastate whole communities. But it doesn't have to be that way and one year ago World Scouting took up the challenge!

Koné Tilomian Danoubié, 17, who is a member of Catholic Scouts of Côte d’Ivoire took part in the Junior G8 summit (J8), which was held in Japan from 1-10 July. He was able to participate thanks to the support of the UNICEF Côte d’Ivoire.

The summit brought together 274 young people between the ages of 14-17 from developing countries, to exchange ideas and share knowledge on issues relating to climate change, poverty, and global health.

The ILO has estimated that some 165 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are involved in child labour. Many of these children work long hours, often in dangerous conditions. This year the World Day against Child Labour will be marked around the world with activities to raise awareness that Education is the right response to child labour. World Scouting, as the largest global youth movement which prides itself on its strong history of non-formal education, is encouraged to get involved and draw attention to the key issues related to Child Labour.

Friday 16 May 2008 - Represented by its Acting Secretary General, Mr. Luc Panissod, the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) participated in a new meeting of the Alliance of Youth CEOs. These organisations have been working together since 1996, when they realised that their 6 movements had great potential for joint advocacy work for young people. The Alliance, which altogether represent more than a 100 million young people, the widest component of organised youth movements in the world, aims to raise international awareness on youth issues through its advocacy work.

Geneva, 3 April 2008 - Youth are a powerful resource for development and are critical actors in the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals. This was one of the key messages of the World Youth Report 2007, which was presented in Geneva on 3 April 2008 at an event hosted by the CONGO Committee of Youth NGOs which is currently chaired by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). The event was also attended by representatives of international youth organisations and UN agencies.