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 Organization of the Scout Movement is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 174 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOSM was established in 1922, and has its operational headquarters at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and its legal seat in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the counterpart of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).
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 coeducational Organization of the Scout Movement of Kazakhstan was officially founded in 1992, and received World Organization of the Scout Movement recognition on January 16, 2008. In 2011, it had 1,223 members.
Scouting in Kyrgyzstan was founded in November 1994 and is not yet a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, but is working toward WOSM recognition. Kyrgyzstan has multiple Scout associations, several of which are members of Kyrgyz Respublikasynyn Skaut Kengesh, the Kyrgyz Republic Scouting Union.
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 Ukraine received World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) recognition in July 2008. The Eurasian Region headquarters is located on Ukrainian territory.
The Bhutan Scouts Association, also known as Druk Scout Tshogpa (Dzongkha:འབྲུག་ཨིསི་ཀའུཊ་ཚོགས་པ་), is a coeducational organization that is part of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. As of 2021, it has a membership of 76,876 members. The association is committed to the education of young people through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law, with the aim of building a better world where individuals are self-fulfilled and play a constructive role in society.
The Vietnamese Scout Association is a youth organization that was established in Vietnam and active between 1930 and 1975. The association was recognized by the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1957 to 1975.
The National Association of Cambodian Scouts is the national Scouting organization in Cambodia. It was founded in September 2005 through the merger of the Scout Organization of Cambodia and the Cambodian Scouts and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) on 1 July 2008. The coeducational association serves 5,404 members as of 2011.
Scouts of Syria is the national Scout and Guide organization of Syria. Scouting in Syria was founded in 1912; Guiding started in the 1950s. The coeducational association serves 9,358 members and is a member of both the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
The Bangladesh Scouts is the national Scouting organization of Bangladesh. Now The Chief Scout of Bangladesh is MD Shahabuddin. Scouting was founded in 1914 in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, as part of the British Indian branch of The Scout Association, and continued as part of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association until the country's divided sections split in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Following its independence, in 1972, the Bangladesh Boy Scout Association was officially formed as successor of the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association. Bangladesh became an independent member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1974. The organization changed its name to "Bangladesh Scouts" in 1978. The organization has 2,261,351 members as of 2021.
The Scout movement in Belarus consisted of 1200 members when it joined the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in 2010. There are at least five nationwide associations as well as some regional associations. In addition, there were at one time Scouts-in-Exile in metropolitan areas of the United States, and there are presently international Scout units in Belarus.
Richard Francis "John" Thurman OBE JP was a British Scouting notable and Camp Chief of Gilwell Park from 1943 to 1969 and scouting’s first International Director of Adult Leader Training
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.
Tin Tun is a formerly jailed Burmese political dissident, Olympic boxer, and one of the pioneers of the now-extinct Scouting movement in that country, imprisoned under the Publishing and Printing Act in July 1993 for possessing a copy of the Khit Pyaing Journal, a banned news magazine published by exiled activists.
There are various controversies and conflicts that involve the Scouting movement. Scouting has sometimes become entangled in social controversies such as in nationalist resistance movements in India. Scouting was introduced to Africa by British officials as an instrument of colonial authority but became a subversive challenge to the legitimacy of British imperialism as Scouting fostered solidarity amongst African Scouts. There are also controversies and challenges within the Scout Movement itself such as current efforts to turn Scouts Canada into a democratic organization.
Myanmar Girl Guides is the national Guiding organization of Myanmar. The organization was founded in 2014 and is currently an associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It serves 29,067 members.
Scouting 'Round the World is the seminal work on world Scouting, a publication of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, updated every three years, with details on all WOSM member-nation organizations. The equivalent publication of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is Trefoil 'Round the World.
