After the Congress?
The Centenary Congress also aims to strengthen long-term cooperation with universities and other research institutions in the world:
The Congress report will contain the main presentations made in plenary and in the workshops, a summary of the debates, a presentation of best practices and the “Agenda for Change”. This report will be the basis for the World Scouting Report 2008, which will be widely disseminated amongst university and research institute networks and within the World Scouting network.
During the Congress, participants from universities or other research institutions will be invited to think about research that could be carried out that would strengthen the ties between scientific research and non-formal education.
A real scientific network could thus be established to accompany the “Agenda for Change” for the future and, more generally, to enrich the practices of national Scout organisations. This scientific network would involve researchers from a variety of disciplines: sociology, education sciences, history, geography, medicine, management, and so on. Thus, scientific articles could be published in the years to come that would help the work of everyone promoting non-formal education - this field in which Scouting has always played such an important role.
In conclusion
couting’s Centenary Congress will establish the know-how acquired from a hundred years of experience in non-formal education and it will mark a turning point in the links between the scientific community and Scouting. The outcomes should enable Scout leaders to improve the synergy between the scientific community and Scouting’s non-formal education.
In addition, it is hoped that this World Congress will be the starting point for more local cooperation between the world of research and the universe of Scouting.
Other congresses at regional or national level could ensure a follow-up and serve as a relay for the World Congress by working in more depth on one or more of the themes addressed in Geneva, according to the local context.
More than a celebratory public relations event, this Congress would thus be a tool to develop better non-formal educational practices in Scouting at a time when its new century is dawning on a world in which education is the key to sustainable development.
