World Scout Committee Seeks Inspiration from Baden Powell’s PAXTU

6 October 2017, Nyeri - Kenya: The World Scout Committee elected at the 40th World Scout Conference in August has converged in Nyeri, Kenya for their induction workshop. The three-day event is taking place at Outspan Hotel, which houses Baden Powell’s last home.

Also present at the workshop are the six Youth Advisors to the World Scout Committee, representative of the World Scout Foundation, Secretary General and Treasurer of WOSM, some Senior staff of the World Scout Bureau and Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson of the Regional Scout Committees.

The World Scout Committee is the executive body of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). It is responsible for the implementation of the resolutions of the World Scout Conference and for acting on its behalf between its meetings. The committee is elected for a three-year term.

The purpose of the workshop is to get the committee acquainted with its work, rules of procedure and to get an update on the progress made by the previous committee and where they need to begin from.

For the new Committee to begin its work in Nyeri, is not only symbolic but inspiring as well. Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting chose to spend the last years of his life in this town situated in the central highlands of Kenya, facing the Mount Kenya. It is also in Nyeri that Baden Powell together with his wife Olave are buried.

Speaking at the start of the workshop, the Chairperson of the Committee, Craig Turpie noted that it felt special to be in Nyeri. “Having being endowed with the responsibility to lead this movement of over 40 million people around the world, what better place could one find the inspiration they need than from the founder’s home?” he posed.

“Bringing the new World Scout Committee to Nyeri was a deliberate decision taken to enable the members to not only see the place where the founder lived and chose to be buried, and to pay him tribute, but most importantly to reflect and be inspired by his work. The committee’s role is critical to the growth and development of Scouting and hence such inspiration would go a long way in giving them impetus to fulfill their mandate,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, the Secretary General of WOSM.

Central to the committee’s work over the 2017-2020 triennium will be to continue the work of leading the movement towards the achievement of Vision 2023 which anticipates that "By 2023 Scouting will be the world’s leading educational youth movement, enabling 100 million young people to be active citizens creating positive change in their communities and in the world based on shared values." Through this Scouting will achieve growth, unity, impact and influence.