| Shoqata e Guidave dhe Skoutëve në Shqipëri | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Association of Guides and Scouts in Albania | |||
| Country | Albania | ||
| Founded | 1998 | ||
| Membership | 350 | ||
Shoqata e Guidave dhe Skoutëve në Shqipëri (ShGSSh, Association of Guides and Scouts in Albania) is one of Albania's Scouting and Guiding organizations. The coeducational organization was founded in 1998 and recognised by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts as a country working towards membership. [1] The association served about 350 members in 2006. [2]
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeast Europe on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea within the Mediterranean Sea. It otherwise shares land borders with Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, North Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast, and a maritime border with Italy to the west.
Scouting or the Scout Movement is a movement that aims to support young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society, with a strong focus on the outdoors and survival skills. During the first half of the twentieth century, the movement grew to encompass three major age groups for boys and, in 1910, a new organization, Girl Guides, was created for girls. It is one of several worldwide youth organizations.
Girl Guides or Girl Scouts is a movement found worldwide, which was originally and still largely designed for girls and women only. This organisation was introduced in 1909, because girls demanded to take part in the then grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
The association's development was supported by the Belgian Guides Catholiques de Belgique and the Italian Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani. [1] In 2011, the collaboration with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was terminated.[ why? ]
Guides Catholiques de Belgique (GCB) is the French speaking Catholic Girl Guiding movement in Belgium, open to all from age five since 1979. In most sections it is girls-only, and it is active mainly in the Walloon region and Brussels.
It is one of the WAGGGS affiliates which also accepts boys as youth members, [3] without being also a World Organization of the Scout Movement member.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 170 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have over 50 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 membership badge of Shoqata e Guidave dhe Scoutëve në Shqipëri incorporates the double-headed eagle of the arms of Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg featured on the emblem of Albania.
In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the Roman/Byzantine Empire, whose use of it represented the Empire's dominion over the Near East and the West. The symbol is much older, and its original meaning is debated among scholars. The eagle has long been a symbol of power and dominion.
