SCOUTING AND PARTNERSHIP

“An organization does not live in a world of its own”
Partners work with the Movement bilaterally for a particular project or multilaterally for the projects undertaken with several partners.
Importance of partners

a) Legitimacy-Partners give Scouting a legitimacy that it may not otherwise have in public opinion when it comes to working on themes for which the movement is little known e g fighting Drug Abuse with partners who are already known in this field, HIV/AIDS.
b)Visibility-They offer the opportunity to increase Scouting’s visibility through the media and the partners own regular audiences .In terms of public awareness, greater visibility is experienced in the context of a jointly organized event

c) Credibility- Partnership lend credibility to Scouting’s work either because the partners publicly supports Scouting action or because the partner involve Scouting in its own campaigns e g UN invites Scouts in their national Peace programme,ANNPCAN involves Scouts in their programmes that deal with rights of children etc

d) New Competencies –Partnership enables the Scout Movement to work in specialized fields through gaining competencies e g Fighting HIV/AIDS, Drug Abuse etc

d) New Resources –Partnership generate new resources for projects.

PARTNERS IN SCOUTING
At National level
Currently at National level, Scouting has public and private partners such as: The government through the ministry of youth and Sports, non-governmental Organizations like PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health), Ukweli Video Productions, International Organizations like Norwegian Scouts and Guides, Save the Children Canada etc

At local level
The Scouting is closest to Action. It is at this level that it initiates interesting new partnerships and develop the three qualities i. e Legitimacy, visibility and legitimacy. In most cases, local partners are usually organizations that are implementing projects in the districts, the town councils, Religious leaders, youth clubs, Men and Women groups etc

Scouting is an NGO: - that acts locally but also globally at world level

1. that takes concrete action in civil society in a general field (the education of young people) and in specialized fields when it works with partners to respond to clearly identified social needs
2. Supportive, actively caring about social issues
3. Responsible, able to keep commitments and complete what it undertakes.
4. Committed, affirms its values and mission and acts accordingly.

A global and a local movement

The famous slogan “Think globally, act locally” easily applies to the Scout Movement. The Scout Movement joins in the celebrations of the International events such as Women’s Day, Environmental Day, World Aids Day etc and thus affirms its unity, global nature, ability to take action locally and the universal nature of its values.

The Founder’s Day which takes place on 22nd February each year is used throughout the Scouting world to affirm the movement’s identity, values and action. The ceremony is organized to celebrate the birthday of the founder Lord Baden Powell and his wife Olive Powell .This is no doubt a display of respect towards the founder, but at the same time the Scouts exhibit this respect through peace activities such as planting trees to reduce man-animal conflict over water and other natural resources, carrying out community service with the support of the community, organizing Sports activities with the community etc

An actor in civil society
Scouting belongs to the civil society sector because it is recognized as a non-governmental organization acting independently of the sectors representing power or business.

The functions of a civil society are : Mediation, Counter- power that increases state responsibility ,An intermediary for the participation of citizens ,Promotion of social cohesion and the quality of society, Contribution to a sense of solidarity. Promotion of socialization learning, creating social capacities.

A Movement that is both a general and specialized actor
It is a general practitioner in terms of issues concerning childhood and youth. I t is a specialist when it comes to non-formal education e g peace education, education for citizenship, environmental education, activities geared towards improving the standards of the community etc. Thus because the Scout Movement is a non-governmental organization that acts locally as well as globally, it is not only a real actor in civil society in a general field (Youth Education) but also in specialized fields and contributes to social development .Moreover the movement affirms its role as a “social force.”

In several dimensions- economic, cultural, social, democratic, ecological etc.In B-P’s last message; he invited Scouts to leave this world better than they found it

Strengthening Partnerships is not just a matter of policy or economics. It is also a matter of making choices in terms of positioning the movement and affirming the social fields in which it is involved. It is a matter of leaving the world of Scouting to enter the real world and drawing scouting out of the routine. This clearly explains the reason why the Scouting movement keeps on expanding its horizon by increasing its partners.

Our Partners
Kenya Scouts partners with various Government Ministries and Departments such as Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Environment, International Organizations such as PATH, Save the Children Canada and Scouts and Guides Organisations such as Danish Scouts Council, Norwegian Scouts and Guides, Boy Scouts of America, Italian Scouts, Canadian Scouts, European Scouts, Australia Scouts, Germany Scouts, British Scouts... We also have joint activities with Eastern Africa Zonal countries- Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, and Africa Region Scouts through The World Scouts Bureau - Africa Regional Office.