REPORT OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL WOSM
39TH WORLD SCOUT CONFERENCE – BRAZIL 2011
1. INTRODUCTION
When I had the privilege to present my report to the World Scout Conference in July 2008 in Jeju,
Korea, I told you that it was the first time, and also the last time, that I was addressing the leaders
our Movement as Acting Secretary General of WOSM. We indeed all knew that the process of
appointment of a new Secretary General was to start soon and though I had secret hopes, as you can
well imagine, nothing was decided. Today, it is again a privilege to report to the shareholders of our
Movement in what I would call a more “comfortable” position.
This was a busy short triennium, quite exceptional in terms of operations, since, for the first time in
the history of the World Scout Bureau, we had to recruit in such a short time three new Regional
Directors to fill three vacancies in the Africa, Eurasia and Interamerican Regional Offices and organize
the move of two Regional Offices, the Eurasia Regional Office from Gurzuf to Kiev and the
Interamerican Regional Office from Santiago in Chile to Panama.
Since we last met in Korea, I have attended six Regional Conferences, three Regional Summits, at
least two meetings of each Regional Committee in all Regions but one, and have visited a number of
National Scout Organizations.
On each occasion, I took opportunity to share with those present:
• why I believe that the World Scout Bureau has demonstrated over all these years a rather high
capacity to think strategically, to generate global goodwill, to contribute to the conception and
delivery of policies and methodologies, to produce quality materials and tools and to develop
competence at all levels, and why I considered it was important to preserve the capital of the
Bureau which is human capital,
• why also the Bureau has slipped into some internal dysfunctions aggravated by external
dysfunctions inherent to large organisations like ours,
• why I believe that WOSM must transform itself and create the conditions for change to better
support NSOs with one objective: be able to respond to NSOs' requests at the nearest level with the
best expertise available,
• why I believe that we must redefine the levels of competence and responsibility within the World
Organization: the world level needs to identify needs from the Regions/NSOs and push support as
requested down to NSOs with a competence of co-ordination, think tank and clearinghouse; the
regional level needs to develop a competence of consultancy and support: and the national level
needs to assume its responsibility in the delivery and implementation,
• and how this reflection had shaped my own objectives for the Bureau, which for those of you who
were in Korea and listened my address will not come as a surprise since these are a continuation of
what I expressed then.
2. WHAT ARE THESE OBJECTIVES?
Briefly my objectives until Brazil and certainly beyond revolve around:
• developing a customer focused mentality in the WSB staff to better serve our National Scout
Organizations through a reinforcement of, and better collaboration with, our volunteer and
professional regional structures, including inter-regional cooperation, to respond to the needs of
NSOs in a more targeted and focused manner which implies new way of delivering support through
“consultancy” in addition to more traditional methods we are used to.
• assisting our NSOs to identify their needs and mobilise appropriate human knowledge, expertise
and competence as well as material and financial resources within and outside WOSM to respond to
these needs, to make sure that the needs expressed by NSOs have been well and systematically
identified and correspond to “real needs” and not “wants”.
• encouraging, facilitating and motivating quality and quantity membership growth in our NSOs,
Report of the Secretary General WOSM Page 1
because it is our collective constitutional obligation as members of WOSM “to foster the Scout
Movement throughout the world”.
• better communicating our success stories inside and outside the Movement, to further build the
visibility and credibility of Scouting as being relevant to the issues facing young people in today's
world and a reliable partner to attract further support.
• further strengthening relationships with the World Scout Foundation, to look for synergies, avoid
duplication and confusion in roles and responsibilities and maximize our respective unique
comparative advantage.
These objectives have been my “red thread” in relation to the Triennial Plan 2008-2011, revolving
around the Strategy, which was developed by the World Scout Bureau Central Office in co-ordination
with all Regional Offices, adopted by the World Scout Committee at its November 2008 meeting and
circulated to all NSOs in January 2009, then further refined with the inclusion of indicators of
achievement which have been approved by the World Scout Committee at its meeting in March 2009
in Geneva.
3. WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR TO RESPOND TO THESE OBJECTIVES?
Responding to these objectives is a permanent task of the daily work in all Offices of the Bureau and
you will certainly have learned a lot about what has been achieved by the World Scout Committee and
Regional Committees as well all Offices of the World Scout Bureau in the mid-term report on the level
of implementation of the Triennial Plan for 2008-2011 circulated to all NSOs with our Circular 12 of
May 2010.
I would nevertheless like to share with you some examples of how these objectives have been
addressed during this short triennium.
3.1 With regard to developing a customer focused mentality in the WSB staff to better
serve our National Scout Organizations through a reinforcement of, and better
collaboration with, our volunteer and professional regional structures:
3.1.1 Executive Directors Team meetings
The Executive Directors of the WSB (i.e. the six Regional Directors and the two Central Office
Executive Directors responsible for Education, Research & Development and General Management)
usually meet with me twice a year. The same group met five times since Korea, and on two occasions
were accompanied by other executives in all WSB Offices with responsibilities in the areas of
Educational Methods and Scouting's Profile – a total of some 40 people.
The overall objectives for these meetings are to work with the Secretary General on his vision for the
WSB; to strengthen relationships between staff in all Offices of the WSB to build one WSB team; to
explore new ways of working to support the Movement with a more customer-focused mentality; to
establish sustainable ways of co-operating following the meeting; to share work and working methods
in the areas of Educational Methods and Scouting's Profile.
During the week, separate meetings of the executives supporting Educational Methods and Scouting's
Profile, as well as a meeting with the World Scout Foundation to strengthen relationships, are usually
held. The objectives for these meetings were to share a common vision, common goals, common
responsibilities and common commitments as WSB staff; to build a global map of our plans, actions
and resources; to define a set of quality criteria in our core business as well as recommendations to
better implement our tasks; to help each member of staff to identify his/her competencies vis-à-vis
the key areas of our core business; to create a personal development plan and to agree learning and
support processes to achieve the plan; and to explore the connections between departments/offices
(best practices and challenges).
Though this is an expensive exercise, these meetings were judged to have been very successful and
this method will continue.
3.2 With regard to reinforcing, and collaborating better with, our volunteer regional
structures:
3.2.1 Recruitment of new Regional Directors for the Africa, Eurasia Regional and
Interamerican Regional Offices of the WSB.
Following fully open processes carried out in total collaboration with the Africa, the Eurasia and the
Interamerican Regional Scout Committees respectively, and in full agreement with these three
Committees, I have appointed Mr. Frederic Tutu Kama-Kama, from the Democratic Republic of Congo
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(DRC), as new Regional Director of the World Scout Bureau, Africa Regional Office; Mr. Iurie Emilian,
from Moldova, as new Regional Director of the World Scout Bureau, Eurasia Regional Office; and Mr
Raul Sanchez Vaca, from Mexico, as new Regional Director of the World Scout Bureau, Interamerican
Regional Office.
The novelty in the recruitment process was by involvement of volunteers through:
• agreement of the respective Regional Chairman on the job description and the call for candidature
before it was launched,
• agreement of the respective Regional Chairman in the selection of shortlisted candidates,
• participation of the respective Regional Chairman and of a member of the World Scout Committee in
a panel to interview the shortlisted candidates.
Our (volunteer and professional) collaboration throughout this new approach of a fully open and
transparent process has been exemplary from the beginning to the end. Volunteers have subtly and
diplomatically let me assume my managerial responsibility for recruiting staff whilst I enjoyed and
valued their contribution and assistance throughout the process.
3.3 With regard to better serving our National Scout Organizations:
3.3.1 Consumer satisfaction and Net Promoter Indicator survey of NSOs
All Regional Offices of the Bureau continue to be active in serving NSOs in the field through
workshops, seminars, and the Central Office is busy supporting colleagues in Regional Offices.
Though we are well aware that our presence in the field is expected, it would have been difficult to
embark in any direction without knowing the expectations of NSOs and their level of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with the services already provided by WOSM, i.e. our volunteer and professional
structures at world and regional levels.
The need was felt that a series of dashboard indicators should be identified and developed to measure
the “Drivers of Change” identified by the World Scout Committee at its meeting in November 2008 and
one of these relates to the driver “Support to the Regions (Better Scouting)”.
A consumer satisfaction and Net Promoter Indicator survey was launched at the end of August 2009
with a target group of around 1,000 leaders with national appointments in NSOs. Three WOSM
Services Satisfaction Surveys have been undertaken to date, each one with an interval of 6 months
between them. The first survey was conducted in September 2009, the second in February 2010 and
the latest one in October 2010, which shows a significant improvement in the satisfaction with WOSM
services and in the Net Promoter Score. You can find all results on the World Scouting website at:
http://scout.org/en/about_scouting/facts_figures.
3.3.2 World Scout Environment Programme and the Scouts of the World Programme
Still in terms of practical services offered to NSOs, we have two very successful programmes: the
World Scout Environment Programme and the Scouts of the World Programme.
At the 2008 World Scout Conference in Korea, the World Scout Environment Programme was launched
to offer tools, resources and initiatives to help Scouts all around the world to work together for the
good of the local and global environment.
We have seen 36 National Scout Organizations respond to the call to adopt the programme. Very
successful partnerships have been developed with the world's leading environment organisations
including the United Nations Environment Programme, WWF and Clean Up the World, who have
showcased the many ways in which Scouts are demonstrating leadership in their communities to
tackle the greatest environmental challenges of our time.
WOSM was present as an Official Observer at COP 15, the United Nations Climate Conference in
Copenhagen, and at COP 16 in Cancun, Mexico, where we showed that Scouting as the world's largest
youth movement is taking the lead in engaging young people in environmental education and
preparing them to tackle the challenges of the future.
I thank you all for your support for these environmental initiatives and the many creative ways in
which you are applying them in your country. We look forward to working with you further to develop
resources and opportunities for Scouts to work together for the good of the local and global
environment.
The Scouts of the World Programme has been requested and supported by two World Conference
Resolutions, two World Scout Youth Forum recommendations and two Regional Conferences
(Interamerican and Europe) Resolutions. Out of a potential of 3.8 million members in 150 NSOs (some
NSOs do not declare membership in the senior age sections), the Scouts of the World Award has been
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formally adopted by 24 NSOs but 40 (27% of NSOs) picked up elements of it. Altogether there is a
potential of 1.9 million users of that programme (50% of the Scout population of that age range).
Some of the NSOs which have picked up this programme have made of it their own programme for
that age section.
While the programme started modestly with some 1,000 young people in 2006, it increased at the
rate of some 1,500 more young people every year. It is hoped that with further actions the
programme will increase exponentially. As a matter of fact, for example, in Bolivia by using the Award
the Rover Branch has increased by 38%. An official Scouts of the World Facebook group is very active
with more than 1,000 Scouts, while there are other Facebook groups locally with more members: Arab
Region (800 members), Colombia (250 members), Singapore, Bolivia, United Kingdom, Egypt, Costa
Rica and Uruguay. Scouts of the World Seminars have been held in various Regions.
The Scouts of the World Partnership provided a concrete space for NSOs to share resources and
experience. For example, United Kingdom and France are working closely in the development of the
programme; and Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are collaborating together in the development of
projects at local level.
Regions and NSOs are constantly requesting assistance in developing the programme and an
international Scouts of the World Discovery was held in Kandersteg International Scout Centre in
September 2010 with the support of the European Scout Office. Brazil has requested to organize a
South American Scouts of the World seminar early next year. France is ready to collaborate in the
development of the Scouts of the World Network (involving young people who have already obtained
the award) by providing resources. More projects have been reported that are available at the news
section of the website www.scoutsoftheworld.net. Educational material to support NSOs are available
in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Serbian, Portuguese, Chinese and Greek (in process).
3.3.3 World and Regional Events
The Bureau is also supporting NSOs in the area of world or regional events.
At world level, we have worked in good partnership with our friends from the Organizing Committee of
the 39th World Scout Conference/11th World Scout Youth Forum in Brazil and of the 22nd World Scout
Jamboree in Sweden in 2011. A very significant support was extended to our friends of the Organizing
Committee of the 13th World Scout Moot which took place in Kenya in July 2010.
3.3.4 More financial and human resources for the Regions
Also in terms of supporting the Regions, an unprecedented effort was made for the 2009-2010 budget
developed and approved by the World Scout Committee around the following principles:
• pushing human and financial resources to the Regions,
• streamlining and strengthening the staff structure in the Central Office in Geneva,
• reducing staff costs and the global budget of the Geneva Central Office.
Pushing financial resources to the Regions has been achieved through an increase of Regional
Allocations (paid from the Central Office budget) of 16% in US dollars, which is their operational
currency. Over two budget years (2008-2009 and 2009-2010), Regional Allocations in US dollars will
have increased by over 30%! These two consecutive yearly increases in Regional Allocations are the
highest that ever seen in many years with the World Scout Bureau.
Transferring human resources to the Regions has been achieved through the transfer of three Unit
Manager positions from the Central Office to three Regional Offices in the Africa, Asia-Pacific and
Interamerican Regions by March 2010, which was the middle of our 2009-2010 fiscal year. Funding for
a large part of their staff costs has also been financially transferred to these three Regional Office
budgets. The idea is that, in addition to increasing human resources in Regional Offices, the staff in
these positions will bring stimulation and this is also an opportunity for them to widen their scope and
develop their potential. Their continuing relationships with the Geneva Central Office will be handled
through a matrix management system.
Streamlining the staff structure in the Central Office in Geneva has been achieved by definitively
suppressing from the structure the position of Deputy Secretary General (my former position), a
senior executive position hierarchically no longer needed in a small structure such as ours in Geneva,
though the corresponding workforce is missing.
In the process the Central Office renounced to three staff positions and even though two new positions
have been authorised in the budget we are still understaffed for what is expected from us and for our
ambitions. For the sake of comparison, and though I admit that the environment is much different,
several years ago the Educational Methods department had nine executives, five of director level and
four of assistant director level. Today, the same department – now called Education, Research &
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Development – counts only four executives, three of director level and one unit manager level.
The staff in that department has been reinforced by recruiting a Director of Youth Programme: Mr
Jared Abayo, former Director Adult Resources, Director Youth Programme and Deputy National
Executive Commissioner of the Kenya Scouts Association, a mature, experienced person who, together
with Anne Whiteford (head of Department) and Saad Zian (Director Adult Resources), will have the
responsibility to lead in the area of Youth Programme and support, motivate and stimulate staff in
charge of Youth Programme in Regional Offices to deliver better services to NSOs.
We still have an opening for an assistant in the area of Administration, Finance & Personnel to support
the Director, Jean-Bernard Rebord, who is now alone in a sector where I used to support him a lot
when I was still Deputy Secretary General/Acting Secretary General.
Altogether, after re-allocation of resources and reduction in staff costs, the 2009-2010 budget of the
Geneva Office came CHF 202,000 (4.1%) lower than that of the previous year. I believe that we have
for the time being reached the minimum critical mass in terms of staff positions.
3.4 With regard to assisting our NSOs to identify their needs and mobilise appropriate
human knowledge, expertise and competence as well as material and financial
resources within and outside WOSM to respond to these needs:
3.4.1 Assessing needs in NSOs
Assisting NSOs to mobilise resources to respond to their needs pre-supposes that what we refer to as
needs of NSOs have been well and systematically identified in each and every NSO.
This can only be done:
• with the involvement of the NSOs themselves through a process of self-assessment,
• through a systematic, methodical and rigorous large-scale consultation at the level of each Region
to put strengths in common and overcome weaknesses together.
In this respect, I am pleased to report that we heavily and actively supported the Africa Regional
Committee to implement such a process with the organisation of a Summit in mid-April 2009 in the
Africa Region specifically dedicated to a needs analysis and search for best ways to respond to these,
including through large-scale partnerships.
This Africa Regional Summit, which brought together top leaders from 36 of the 37 NSOs in the
Region, was made possible thanks to grants obtained by and channelled through the World Scout
Foundation for the World Scout Bureau. It provided an opportunity to review progress in the Ten Year
Development Plan for Africa, adopted in 2001, and identify the key needs of the Region to be
addressed in the next two years. The adapted NSO checklist1 has proved to be a useful tool in
obtaining feedback from NSOs and providing an overview of Scouting at regional level.
The interesting aspect lies in the new methodology using the adapted NSO checklist to help NSOs
assess their own situation, strengths, weaknesses and needs, a real bottom-up method. For the first
time we have a precise mapping of the needs of NSOs at the level of a whole Region, as well as at the
level of each individual NSO which is a pre-requisite to develop tailor-made support targeted to each
NSO to respond to their needs.
A similar process of needs identification was carried out in the Eurasia Region, and is presently being
carried out in the European Region and the Arab Region. The Asia-Pacific Region is doing it its own
way through the Committee NSOs Visits. The Interamerican Region has done it through the “Route to
Excellence”. Hopefully in the course of 2011 we will have a worldwide mapping of needs which will be
of critical assistance in developing tailor-made support.
3.5 With regard to encouraging, facilitating and motivating quality and quantity
membership growth in our NSOs to fulfil our constitutional purpose to foster the Scout
Movement throughout the world:
3.5.1 Membership statistics
Here again it would have been difficult to embark in any direction without knowing where we exactly
stand in terms of membership.
The identification of a dashboard indicator was also felt necessary to measure the “Drivers of Change”
identified by the World Scout Committee at its meeting in November 2008 in the area of “Growth
(More Scouting)”.
Membership statistics have been recorded over the past 20 years and there is a lot of information
from which dashboard indicators can be determined and measured now and in the future, including
information on the gender split and the number of young people in the countries in relation to the
Report of the Secretary General WOSM Page 5
different age ranges in Scouting in that country (density rates).
A number of dashboard indicators have been identified to be measured to follow the progression of
membership. It has been agreed that the most recent membership figures will be published on the
scout.org website so that the membership of each NSO and the date of last reporting to WOSM is
more public with the objective that NSOs will be encouraged to provide more accurate information on
their membership figures.
3.5.2 Membership mangement tool
In terms of services to NSOs, the work on a long promised and overdue membership management
tool is completed. Developed from a database which has been implemented by Lietuvos Skautija with
some financial support being provided from the European Scout Region, a new generic version has
been created that can be customised by other NSOs to respond to their particular needs in relation to:
• the different organisational levels in a Scout association,
• the different languages used – it can be customised for a wide variety of languages,
• the number of age sections in a Scout association and the names used to identify these.
The internal structure of the tool provides potential for extending its functionality.
The software will be made available free of charge to all NSOs interested during a workshop to be held
at the 2011 Brazil Wold Scout Conference.
3.6 STILL WITH REGARD TO ENCOURAGING, FACILITATING AND MOTIVATING QUALITY
AND QUANTITY MEMBERSHIP GROWTH IN OUR NSOS:
3.6.1 The Growth of the Movement through a revisited Strategy for Scouting
The Strategy for Scouting has been and still is the global framework within which the growth of the
Movement – “Better Scouting for more Young People” – shall be conceived. The tools produced for
“Action for Growth” continue to be widely used, particularly in Regional Offices.
The evaluation of the Strategy has shown that the Strategic Priorities are still relevant for NSOs, with
their current strategies or plans based on all seven strategic priorities; however it is suggested as
useful but not absolutely necessary to exercise some form of prioritization, focus on fewer priorities
and possibly identify a new thematic driving force.
The main challenge that the global Strategy faces is its actual capacity to facilitate implementation
and delivery of local Scouting. More support and resources therefore need be made available to
support national implementation of strategies and plans and ensure that these impact Scouting at
local level in NSOs.
We should also now acknowledge that there is a distinct difference between the Strategy for the
Movement and the Strategy for the World Bodies (the World and Regional Committees and the World
Scout Bureau Central and Regional Offices). When we talk about how we create a better world, we
focus on the substance of Scouting, which corresponds to the Movement. On the other hand, when we
discuss the way to ensure that the final goals are achieved, we refer to the operational level, that is,
the World Bodies. Although both levels are intrinsically related, the mixing of them may lead to
confusion.
The new approach to the Strategy that we are proposing to the Conference covers both these levels:
• the Strategy for the World Bodies with an operational dimension through the concept of
consultancy. This concept of consultancy is a new direction which is being proposed to develop new
working methods aiming at helping to better respond to NSOs' needs in a more targeted,
customized and focused manner. It consists in having people with expertise assisting people who
need that expertise to respond to their own needs. There is little new in the idea which draws its
essence from the concept of partnership at which Scouting has demonstrated that it is good (I am
referring here to the initial Marrakech Charter and to the Bangalore revised edition) combined with
the concept of a lean organization focusing on consumer satisfaction. There is also something
already existing in term of structure since we all know the existence in some Regions of networks of
leaders specialized in certain areas.
What would be new is that all these elements would be put together to work out a global system
enabling the redistribution of knowledge by people who have been identified as possessing a certain
expertise, irrespective of their geographical location, to people requiring such expertise, also
irrespective of their geographical location. In other words an organized worldwide system of
knowledge distribution capitalizing on the Movement’s capacity to enhance its self-development
where everyone at every level, and NSOs in particular, could become a consultant if he/she has
expertise and knowledge to share.
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• the Strategy for the Movement will also be the object of proposals aiming at re-energizing it
through the development or re-development of the concept of leadership and at repositioning it by
the adoption of a “Cause” which better expresses our unique comparative advantage.
Special mention must also be made here of the work of Registration Fee Task Force (RFTF) which
acknowledged that having a registration fee system based on per capita fees was an obstacle to the
development of membership since the result of every additional member registered is an increase in
fees, and there is therefore no financial incentive for any NSO to grow.
The RFTF also acknowledged that any registration fee system is bound to respect the constitutional
provision that “each Member Organization shall pay an annual registration fee at an agreed per capita
rate …” (WOSM Constitution, Article XXII.1.)
Wanting to contribute positively to the drive on membership increase/development, the RFTF agreed
that nothing would prevent the WSC/World Scout Conference from freezing the annual fee over a
period of time, provided that the first basic annual fee is calculated on the basis of the per capita
membership. The RFTF therefore recommended to the World Scout Committee, which accepted it, to
maintain the current fee system for the next 9 years. That proposal is being brought to the World
Scout Conference for approval.
3.7 With regard to better communicating our success stories inside and outside the
Movement to further build the visibility and credibility of Scouting as being relevant to
the issues facing young people in today's world and a reliable partner to attract further
support:
3.7.1 Communication strategies and policies
In this area a wealth of supporting and training material has been disseminated to NSOs to help them
develop their own communication strategies and policies. Special tailor-made support has been
extended to some NSOs who called on WOSM expertise in that field.
Very successful Regional Communication Forums have been organized in all regions throughout 2009-
2010. In the same vein, a very successful seminar on Intellectual Property and Brand Management
was held in 2009 in the Asia-Pacific Region.
3.7.2 Branding
As of today, 16 NSOs have subscribed to 'Brand Pack 2' which is the package enabling a full use of the
WOSM brand. Kenya, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the United Kingdom have also received the
Pack 2 Agreement for past and future World Scout Events. More NSOs are using the Brand but have
not yet signed the Pack 2 Agreement. The Arab Region has issued a recommendation to NSOs to
adopt Pack 2.
3.7.3 Library section on www.scout.org
As part of the communication efforts and also as service to NSOs, I would like to mention here the
Library section of the website scout.org.
The World Scout Bureau has been working on a project that consists of developing an online library. In
effect the library permits the Bureau to make available all of its documentation and publications
directly from the website. In this section you will find the latest documents, materials, toolboxes and
books provided by the Scout Movement. The library is easily accessible and fully searchable and the
publications are organized into thematic areas such as Adult resources, Communication, Skills and
Activities, Age range and many more. So far only a limited number of documents are available in the
library but expect its size to grow as the uploading process continues and is extended to the Regions
and NSOs. An invitation goes out to NSOs to nourish the content of the library. If there are any
publications that NSOs would like to see added to the library please get in touch with us
3.7.4 Social networking sites
Also, to be up to date with new technologies and as social networking sites and communities continue
to grow, WOSM also acknowledges the opportunities that social networking has to offer. In that
respect WOSM through scout.org offers the possibility of connecting with others on 6 main social
networking platforms which are:
• Issuu is the leading digital publishing platform delivering exceptional reading experiences of
magazines, books, catalogues, reports, and more. It allows individuals, companies, and institutions
to publish their documents across all digital platforms.
• YouTube is the leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original
videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share
video clips and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email. World
Report of the Secretary General WOSM Page 7
Scouting has a special section on YouTube.
• Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application. On Flickr
Scouts around the world can have access to photos and galleries in high resolution from events in
the Scouting arena.
• Google Maps is the famous application by Google that allows you to visualize the world right from
your desktop. We have made a specific Google map which shows the locations of past events,
forthcoming events and even historic sites.
• Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and
read messages known as tweets. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short
Message Service (SMS) or external application and you can follow World Scouting.
• Facebook is a global social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook,
Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify
friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school,
and region. Within Facebook WOSM has a group dedicated to World Scouting and events. A place
where Scouts can connect, interact and discuss issues.
3.7.5 Sharing bar
In the same vein as the social networking bar, it is now possible to directly link articles from the
scout.org website to your profiles and websites. A new plug-in has been added to the site and is
available on every page. It allows you in a few clicks to add your favourite articles to your profiles and
share it with your friends and the larger community of Scouts worldwide. Popular sites such as Twitter,
Facebook, Digg, Delicious and MySpace are amongst the over 153 ways you can share with your
communities.
These are only some of the changes which have been implemented to the website during the period
under review.
3.7.6 Statistics
It is interesting to note that in early September 2010:
• the scout.org website is now close to 100,000 unique visitors per month, that it registers an
average of 132,000 visits per month and that 31 NSOs are now using their accounts on scout.org to
access restricted areas,
• the WOSM Facebook account created in November 2009 counts as of today more than 52,000
members, WOSM Twitter has more than 1,500 followers and the 84 documents uploaded on WOSM
Issuu account have been viewed more than 68,000 times!
3.7.7 World Scout Parliamentary Union
Since it required a heavy investment in time and a lot of work from the Central Office, special mention
must be made here of the revival of the World Scout Parliamentary Union (WSPU) under the able
leadership of Hon. Chung Eui Hwa, Vice-Speaker of the Korea Parliament, President of the Korea Scout
Parliamentary Association. Hon. Chung Eui Hwa was elected Chairman of the WSPU at its 6th General
Assembly held in Seoul, Korea, on 1-4 November 2010. Scout parliamentarians from around the world
joined together to discuss and debate the role of parliamentarians in supporting Youth and the Scout
Movement. Amongst the subjects that were broached during this event were also the rights of Youth,
Youth participation, Equal education and equal access to education for youth and more difficult
thematic discussions on poverty, disease, exploitation and the human trafficking of youth.
Cooperation between the World Scout Committee/World Scout Bureau and WSPU has been reactivated
for the good of Scouting worldwide.
3.8 With regard to further strengthening relationships with the World Scout Foundation
and looking for synergies:
3.8.1 World Scout Foundation meetings
Representatives of the World Scout Committee have regularly taken part in meetings of the Executive
Committee and of the Board of the World Scout Foundation in a very cordial atmosphere. The Board of
the World Scout Foundation is also now permanently represented by a non-voting member of the
World Scout Committee.
Relationships have been further strengthened by regular contact between the Director of the WSF and
the Secretary General of WOSM and by the creation of a joint Resource Mobilisation informal group
where challenges and opportunities are shared and the work coordinated.
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4. OTHER INITIATIVES UNDERWAY
My enumeration would not be complete if I were to miss mentioning all the work achieved in other
sectors or areas which is strongly contributing to the institutional strengthening of WOSM and
therefore to its institutional credibility. I am thinking here of:
• the work carried out by the Registration Fee Task Force (RFTF) chaired by Gregory Sanchez,
• the work carried out by the Governance Review Task Force (GRTF) chaired by David Bull,
• the very important sort of “background” work on the development of an Internal Control System
(ICS) for all Offices of the World Scout Bureau as required by Swiss law, the introduction of a new
accounting norm Swiss GAAP FER “True and fair view” which significantly improves the
transparency of financial statements and the rigour of accounting operations, and the just started
work on Risk Management at global level, i.e. at the world level of the whole WOSM. Though of no
direct benefit to NSOs the implementation of the ICS will greatly contribute to enhancing our
financial governance and further strengthen the credibility, reliability and confidence in that area. It
can also be used as expertise to be shared with NSOs interested.
5. TO CONCLUDE
As you will have noted from this report, a lot of time has been dedicated to further stabilizing the
Organization at all levels and to preparing the structure, the mentalities, the processes and a new
operational concept to facilitate the necessary changes that WOSM as an Organization has to go
through. It is our unique chance and opportunity, but also our obligation.
I said not so long ago that I was convinced that if we want to succeed, we will definitively have to
invent new operational ways of working, to think “out of the box” and beyond the geographical
boundaries. At the start of this Conference, I believe I can say we have gone a long way in that
direction.
I will repeat here that my ambition is that every actor in Scouting at every level becomes a giver and
receiver, a contributor and a beneficiary: giving and contributing his/her expertise and knowledge,
receiving and benefiting from the knowledge of others.
Not a heavy worldwide hierarchy but rather a large spider-web, where each and every one at every
level has his/her own ownership in the progress and development of the Organization and of the
Movement.
The road is not easy and the challenges are there. I, for sure, commit myself – and so do my staff
whom I heartfully thank on this occasion – to have this sort of dream become a reality. Not only to
better support our NSOs, but also to continue to witness a lively and vivid Scouting at grass roots
level, to continue to read fun, joy and excitement on the faces of the many young people whom I
meet around the world on the occasion of my travels, young people who continue to experience
Scouting and through those experiences develop values which will serve them throughout their lives.
Luc Panissod
Secretary General WOSM
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