Community Engagement - Scouting

Serving to grow

Community engagement is a fundamental pillar of scouting. It involves putting scout values into practice through concrete actions in service of society. This dimension of scouting develops civic sense, empathy, and social responsibility in young people while allowing them to actively contribute to improving their environment.

"Try to leave this world a little better than you found it."

- Robert Baden-Powell, founder of scouting

Foundations of scout engagement

■
The daily good turn: Founding principle encouraging each scout to perform at least one good deed per day, however modest it may be.
■
Selfless service: Acting without expecting reward, for the simple pleasure of helping and contributing to the common good.
■
Local action: Starting by improving one's immediate environment before thinking about broader actions.
■
Active solidarity: Being attentive to others' needs and acting concretely to respond to them.

Types of community actions

Environment and nature

• Cleaning natural sites
• Tree planting and reforestation
• Environmental awareness raising
• Protection of flora and fauna
• Creating community gardens

Social solidarity

• Visits to isolated elderly people
• Food and clothing drives
• Entertainment in hospitals
• Help for people with disabilities
• Academic support

Heritage and culture

• Restoration of local monuments
• Organization of cultural events
• Transmission of traditions
• Volunteer tourist guides
• Documentation of local history

Emergency and prevention

• Help during natural disasters
• Prevention campaigns (health, safety)
• First aid training
• Assistance at public events
• Awareness actions

The community project approach

Steps to a successful project

1.
Needs identification: Observe your environment, listen to the community, identify problems to solve.
2.
Collective planning: Involve all scouts in project design, define objectives and means.
3.
Partnerships: Collaborate with local associations, authorities, other youth groups.
4.
Implementation: Execute the project by actively involving all participants.
5.
Evaluation and celebration: Measure impact, learn lessons, celebrate successes.

The impact of community engagement

For scouts

• Development of sense of responsibility
• Strengthened self-esteem
• Acquisition of practical skills
• Opening to the world and its realities
• Sense of usefulness and accomplishment
• Learning teamwork

For the community

• Concrete improvement of living environment
• Creation of intergenerational bonds
• Awareness of various issues
• Youth mobilization
• Positive examples for other groups
• Strengthening local social fabric

Inspiring examples

"Clean Forest" Operation

Scouts regularly organize forest cleaning days, raising public awareness about respecting nature while collecting several tons of waste each year.

Builder Companions

Older scouts participate in the construction or renovation of community facilities: schools, dispensaries, social centers in disadvantaged areas.

Light of Bethlehem

Every year, scouts distribute the peace light from Bethlehem to isolated people, the sick, or those in need, creating moments of sharing and fraternity.

Engagement, a school of citizenship

Through community engagement, scouts learn that everyone can contribute to making the world better, at their own scale. They develop acute social awareness and understand the importance of collective action. These experiences forge responsible citizens, aware of their role in society and ready to engage throughout their lives.

Values in action

Community engagement allows scouts to concretely live the movement's values: fraternity, solidarity, respect, self-transcendence. It is by serving others that they grow and discover the deep meaning of the scout motto: "Be prepared!"