SCOUTING: Striving to meet the needs of African youth and their communities

The leaders of Scouting in 37 countries in Africa believe that Scouting has tremendous potential to help with the education and development of young people. They want to take action and have created a Ten-Year Development Plan to establish the strategic priorities, and to find additional resources. The Plan was formally adopted in 2001 at the 11th Africa Scout Conference, the triennial General Assembly of National Scout Associations in Africa

The challenge: Finding resources to do more.

60% of Africa's population is below the age of 25 years. This very large group of young people is daily confronted by almost insurmountable challenges of poverty, unemployment, hunger and malnutrition, diseases - especially HIV/AIDS, as well as crime and civil strife.
Scouting is the largest youth organization in Africa, and in many places it is the only youth organization.
Scouting does not promise a quick cure to these problems, but it is making a significant contribution to the development of society through the education of young people.
In many countries, 5 to 20% of youth are Scouts. In most countries of Africa fewer than 1% are Scouts. The opportunity is simply not available.
Experience shows that Scouting is attractive to young people when it is offered to them, yet Scouting remains largely inaccessible to many due to constraints of terrain, distance, weak infrastructure within a country, and general inadequacy of resources, both human and financial.
We believe that this potential can only be unlocked by developing the human resources of the continent, particularly its youth. Scouting uses its particular educational method which makes each individual the principal agent in his or her own personal development in order to produce individuals who become autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed, and are prepared to play an active and constructive role in society.

"The international Scout movement has a long and illustrious history and is a world leader in educating the youth. Scouting inspires patriotism, sound moral values, courage, character building, self-reliance and community awareness. It also motivates the youth to achieve their full potential.”
From Nelson Mandela’s message to the opening ceremony of the 35th World Scout Conference in Durban, South Africa in 1999