The most important people in Scouting are the scouts themselves.
From the youngest Squirrel Scout through to a Scout Network member, Scouts should have a say in how their scouting journey is run.
In recent years, Scouts from across the country have been empowering our young people and encouraging them to speak up and make change. Hampshire have been pioneers in this journey for some years so here are some of the ways in which we listen to our young people:
YouShape activity and award
YouShape gives volunteers lots of ideas to boost youth-led scouting and create inspirational opportunities for our young people.
They give hints and tips to programme ideas so it is a brilliant way to empower Scouts and give them a voice. There are lots of activity ideas to listen to the ideas and how to choose them.
Find out about the award and see the activity idea cards at this post on our website here.
Section forums
Many sections will ask their members how they want their programme will run. For the youngest sections this may focus on picking which games are played or what activities they enjoyed. Older scouts, such as our Explorers and Network, should take the lead on deciding what they want to do.
This may be done casually during a normal weekly scout activity. It could also be done through a more formal forum such as a Beaver Log Chew or a Troop forum. This will depend on the section.
Youth Leads
Hearing the voice of the scouts doesn’t stop at the end of the section meeting. Across the country, hundreds of district and county youth leads speak up for all scouts at the highest levels of the district and county.
In New Forest our youth lead is Vacant. As they speak up for the young people in the district at the highest levels, we’re eager to fill this role. If you want to find out more, you can do so on scouts.org.uk.
In Hampshire, our youth lead is Dee Wright. Alongside the Youth Team, he can be contacted on [email protected] and you can follow the team on Instagram.
The UK Youth Lead speaks up for scouts at a national level through speaking up at highest levels. The UK Youth Lead is Satvika Mishra. Find out more on the Scouts website.
Youth Council and Scouts Speak Up!
Hampshire Scouts run a youth council, comprised of representatives from each district, to feed back ideas to county and UK HQ. Plus they take part in lots of fun activities at their conferences. They’re held throughout the year at locations around the county. Keep an eye out for opportunities to go.