A lot of things are happening in 2027 – it’s the 120th Anniversary of Scouts, 20 years since the 2007 World Scout Jamboree in Essex and of course the 26th World Scout Jamboree in Poland will take place over the summer.
But something that might have flown under your radar is that the UK won the bid to host the 44th World Scout Conference, the first to be held in the UK since 1979 and the first in London since the first ever World Scout conference back in 1920.
Held every three years, the conference is an opportunity for the 176 National Scout Organizations (NSOs) to come together. Many resolutions will be proposed before the conference, covering important policies and standards to shape the future of the Scout Movement. But the conference also decides the host nations of future World Scout Events, including Jamborees and Moots.
Unfortunately, the World Scout Conference is a very exclusive party – with each of the 176 NSOs only allocated a handful of Delegates to vote on behalf of their nation. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can get involved!
The conference will, of course, need plenty of helping hands to make sure everything runs smoothly, so the team are looking to recruit volunteers for the delivery team over the next few months. If you’re interested and would like to find out more, you can express your interest here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ff02eb2a6997448e836ec6835905b039
The team also hope to make the 44th World Scout Conference the most inclusive and accessible yet, and so they’ve set up a solidarity fund to help support participants from other countries who may find attending the conference financially challenging. If you would like to donate to this fund, click here to find out more: https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/running-your-section/programme-guidance/international-scouts-and-events/44th-world-scout-conference/
If you donate more than £100 you can become a Friend of the Conference, with benefits including updates from the Delivery Team and an exclusive Friends of the Conference Pin Badge.
You can also donate cash – the team are collecting cash of any currency, old or new, which will be converted to GBP and used to support the fund. If you have any coins you would like to donate, speak to the team in the international tent, or send them an email at support@scouts.org.uk for more information.
If you’d like to find out more about the conference, Michelle invites you to have a go at their human fruit machine down in the international tent!