Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth social movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and encouraging equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organisations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It is the counterpart of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). WAGGGS is organised into five regions and operates five international Guiding centers. It holds full member status in the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which operates within the Council of Europe and European Union areas, and works closely with these bodies.
The European Scout Region is one of six geographical subdivisions of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with a satellite office in Brussels, Belgium.
The Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston, the national Scouting organization of Tajikistan, was founded in 1993, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) on April 18, 1997. The coeducational Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston has 511 members as of 2011. Tajikistan is the only one of the three Persian nations thus far whose Scouting is recognized by WOSM.
The Asia-Pacific Scout Region is the divisional office of the World Scout Bureau of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with satellite offices in Australia and Japan. The Asia-Pacific Region services Scouting in the land area of Asia south of Siberia and east of Central Asia, eastern Eurasia including Russia and the bulk of the Pacific Basin, with the exception of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau, which are under the Interamerican Region by way of the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Eurasian Scout Region was the divisional office of the World Scout Bureau of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, headquartered in Kyiv, formerly located at Gurzuf near Yalta-Krasnokamianka, Ukraine, with a branch office in Moscow. All the formerly communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Soviet Union have developed or are developing Scouting in the wake of the renaissance in the region. These include most of the successor states to the Soviet Union, in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The 1996/99 Triennial Report of the World Scout Committee/World Organization of the Scout Movement shows that WOSM is aggressively pursuing the organization of Scouting activities in the countries of the former Soviet Union, according to its own vision.
Scouting in Uzbekistan was founded in 1995, and is working toward World Organization of the Scout Movement recognition. In 1998, Scouting was limited to two Scout troops with a total of 15 members. Since the increasing presence of the United States military in the region after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Scouting is beginning to develop more thoroughly, and the fledgling organization, Kidirib Topubchi O'zbekiston, the Uzbekistan Union of Scout-Explorers, has issued insignia, considered to be a large step for nascent Scout organizations.
The WAGGGS Europe Region is the regional office of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which supports Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting in Europe, including the former Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as Cyprus and Israel.
The Girl Guides Association of Cambodia is the national Guiding organization of Cambodia. It was founded in 1996 and became an associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 2002 and a full member in 2011. Membership stood at 4,551 as of 2012.
The International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF) is a worldwide organization of adults in support of Scouting and Guiding.
Established in 1927, the World Board, originally World Committee, is a governing board for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Today, it is made up of seventeen active members of WAGGGS, all of whom are elected democratically by all member organizations at the World Conference. Of the seventeen, five are representatives of each of the five regions of WAGGGS - the Arab Region, the Western Hemisphere Region, the European Region, the Africa Region, and the Asia Pacific Region. These regional representatives are elected at the Regional Conferences.
Sangam World Centre is one of the five World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), located on the banks of the Mula River in Pune.
Religion in Scouting and Guiding is an aspect of the Scout method that has been practiced differently and given different interpretations in different parts of the world over the years.
Non-aligned Scouting organizations is a term used by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and their member national organizations to refer to Scouting organizations that are not affiliated with them. See List of non-aligned Scouting organizations.
Scouting in Hong Kong was begun by The Boys' Brigade in 1909. There is also a record of Chums Scouts and the British Boy Scouts in Hong Kong. Later, the St. Joseph's College Scouts were formed in 1913 and registered with The Boy Scouts Association of the United Kingdom in 1914 as its 1st Hong Kong Troop. The Boy Scouts Association's Hong Kong Branch was formed in 1915 and after 1967 was renamed The Scout Association, Hong Kong Branch. In 1977, The Scout Association of Hong Kong was formed.
Nuestra Cabaña, is an international Girl Guide centre of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) located in Cuernavaca, Mexico, It opened in July 1957 as a Baden-Powell centennial memorial. The centre can house over 100 guests.
The Vietnamese Girl Scout Association was the organization for Girl Scouts in South Vietnam. Girl Scouting began in Vietnam in 1928. In April 1957, the Vietnamese Girl Scout Association was established. In 1966 the Vietnamese Girl Scout Association was recognized as a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, last mentioned in 1973.
The World Conference is the governing body of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and meets every three years. If a country has more than one association, the associations form a federation for coordination and world representation.
The Girl Scout organization in Iran was known as Dokhtarān-e Pīshāhang-e Īrān or Fereshtegān-e Pīshāhang-e Īrān,. The Iranian Scouting Girl Scout Section is a former member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, last mentioned in 1979.
Girl Guides is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909, when girls requested to join the then-grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
