Government Engagement in Supporting Scouting

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Contents 5

Introduction

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Government Engagement in Supporting Scouting: The Landscape of and Best Practices in Asia-Pacific Region

7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18

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GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

Status of Government Endorsement Partnership and Collaboration with Local Government Government Representative in National Board Financial Support Annual Audit Interacting with the Government Government’s Role in NSO’s Governance Others Conclusion Recommendations

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Government Engagement in Supporting Scouting: The Landscape of and Best Practices in Asia-Pacific Region Government is one of the major partners of Scouting. With support from governments – at national, regional and local levels – development of Scouting and membership growth will be facilitated.

The Asia Pacific Region (APR) Regional Plan 2018-2021 identified the importance of government engagement. In so doing, it pointed to the need to expand partnerships and new engagements with government and other organizations (Communication and Partnerships Action Step 1.3), make best practices available to National Scout Organizations (NSOs) as reference for policies and procedures for government engagement (Governance Action Step 2.6), and to share strategies in obtaining financial support from government agencies (Financial Management Action Step 3.2) In order to investigate and document government engagement in supporting scouting in the APR, the Governance Sub-Committee of the APR Scout Committee organized a regional survey, with the results to be shared with NSOs. The survey invited NSOs to tell us how their governments interact with them and in what way their governments support the development of the Scout Movement.

The sharing of experiences through the results of this survey will be useful to NSOs, which will be able to identify a range of approaches they could pursue to engage with national, regional and local government, as well as options for governance and financial arrangements. The survey results also identify the potential benefits of that engagement. These models of engagement may also be useful to the APR as a whole, and to WOSM. The survey invitation was sent to all APR NSOs in the third quarter of 2020.

Of the 29 NSOs in the Region, 21 responded (a response rate of 72%). The APR Governance Sub-Committee would like to express its appreciation to the following NSOs which responded: Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Bhutan Cambodia Scouts of China Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Republic of Korea Macau Malaysia Maldives Myanmar New Zealand Pakistan Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor Leste

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Status of Government Endorsement

1.

Does you government formally endorses your NSO in implementing its program for the youth?

Yes

-

16

(76.20%)

No

-

5

(23.80%)

When asked where their government endorses their NSO as a youth programme provider, the majority (76.2%, or 16 NSO) of NSOs replied yes.

Among these NSOs, we further investigated how their government endorsement work. The following table summarizes the findings:

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Level of Endorsement

Example of Endorsement

Integrated (NSO is part of the government, or Scouting is formally included as mandatory curriculum)

NSO C • Scout is a division of the Ministry of Education NSO P • Integrated into education system.

• Scout Units in all educational institutions NSO W • NSO is a part of the government.

Enforced (Government give direction or direct supervision on development of Scouting or NSO’s operation)

NSO A • Provision of financial support • Ministry of Education monitors Scout programmes.

NSO D • All schools must have scout units.

• Scouting is one of the schools’ performance indicators.

NSO K • Government orders schools to establish Scout units.

NSO Q • Formal order to request schools to establish Scout units.

NSO S • Government ordered to use Scout principles for education.

• Financially supported.

• Government representative in NSO’s Board NSO U • Government gives instructions to local government to support Scouting.

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

Supported (Government provide policy/financial support to Scout progammes)

•

NSO B - Provision of financial support

•

NSO G - Registered with government and relevant Ministry support scouting in schools.

- Government representative in NSO’s Board

•

NSO J - Provision of financial support

•

NSO L - Coordinated with specific government department.

- Government makes laws to facilitate scouting where necessary.

•

NSO Z - Support from the government.

From the above table, we find that most of the government endorsement are in form of policy and/or financial support (7 out of 16, or 43.75%); some governments give policy direction to national or local authority to support the scout movement (6 out of 16, 37.5%). Some governments even integrated scout programme into their education system and included NSO as part of the government (3 out of 16, 18.75%).

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Partnership and Collaboration with Local Government

Government Representative in National Board

2.

3.

What are the major areas of partnership and cooperation between your NSO and local government?

When asked where their government endorses their NSO as a youth programme provider, the majority (76.2%, or 16 NSO) of NSOs replied yes.

Among these NSOs, we further investigated how their government endorsement work. The following table summarizes the findings:

Partnership/Cooperation/ Support offered by Government to NSO Policy support – - Development [NSO P] - Incentives to leaders [NSO K, L, Q] - Project-based support [NSO D, R, U] - Provision of leaders and/or training.

[NSO B, C, W, Z] - Recognition of scouting as part of education/training system [NSO A, E, R, U] - General blessing [NSO T, U] Patronage by senior officials.

- [NSO X, M]

Partnership/Cooperation/ Support offered by NSO to Government •

Provision of youth training to non-scout. [NSO Y].

•

Involve in government policy creation. [NSO J, L]

•

Supporting scouting as part of formal curriculum [NSO E]

•

Theme-based scout programme development with government [NSO G]

Resource support – - Recurrent financial support [NSO C, G] - Project-based financial support - [NSO X, R, U] - Venue and other resources [NSO B, F, Y]

Yes (Number of Members, if specified) D (All members are officials) P (All members are officials) J (2 – Observer only) Q (1) A C G K S W

No

T (except the Patron and Chief Scout) U (except an ex-official member) B E F L M R X Y

Area Resource Education and Youth Development

10 NSOs (47.62%)

Regarding the benefits brought by government appointed members to the NSOs, the following is the summary:Benefit

The following table summarizes areas of partnership and collaboration identified by the NSOs.

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Government involvement in the governance of scout organization is not uncommon. With official members of the government sitting in the Boards and Councils of NSO, the development of these NSOs may be benefited but the orientation of the movement and programmes may be affected by the government policies. In this survey, we checked with NSOs in the Region whether their governments appoint representative(s) in their Board, and here is their answers:-

11 NSOs (52.38%)

Publicity opportunities [NSO J]

%

22

66.67%

6

18.18%

3

9.09%

Youth Policy

2

6.06%

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

%

6 5

35.29%

Foster mutual understanding between NSO and Government

4

23.53%

General blessing from government

1

5.88%

Provision of resources

Count

33

Count

Provide policy/operational support

Governance and Development Total

Does your government appoint a representative/s to sit on your National Board?

No benefit Total

1 17

29.41%

5.88% 100.00%

100.00%

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Financial Support

Annual Audit

4.

5.

Does your NSO receives financial assistance from the Government?

Like all other youth organizations, money is one of the crucial resources that required to maintain our services. As a well-recognized youth organization, most governments are willing to provide financial resources to support operation of scouting in their own countries, though level and mode of support is varied. The following table shows how the government provide financial support to our NSOs:

Model of Financial Support

Count

Fully Supported by the Government Annual Recurrent Support NSOs: P, Y, C, B, Z Annual Recurrent + Project-based Support NSOs: W, L, J, K, G, A, Q Project-based Support NSOs: M, X, F, E, R, S Nil

4.76%

5

23.81%

7

33.33%

6

28.57%

2

NSOs: T, U Total

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Audit is one of the mechanisms to ensure that the financial resource of an organization is well spend in accordance to the relevant rules and regulations, sometimes including the purpose of the organization. Some government demand NSOs to have their financial statement be audited, and the following summarizes the situation in the Region:-

%

1

NSO: D

Is your NSO subjected to government audits?

9.52% 100.00%

Among those receiving financial support from the government (disregarding the model of support), the proportion of government support to their annual budget is summarized as follows:% of Government Support to Annual Budget

Count

%

100% NSOs: D, W

2

10.53%

75%-99% NSOs: A, R

2

10.53%

50%-74% NSOs: P, C, Q, S

4

25%-49% NSOs: J, G, Y, Z

Count

%

Required: General standard and requirement NSOs: P, K, G, D, B, S

6

28.57%

21.05%

Required: Special standard/requirement/procedure NSOs: M, J, F, E, C, A, Q, U

8

38.10%

4

21.05%

Required: As a government agency/department NSOs: W

1

4.76%

10%-24% NSO: K

1

5.26%

Required: Standard not specified NSOs: L, R

2

9.52%

<10% NSOs: Y, M, E, B

4

21.05%

Not required NSOs: T, X, Y, Z

4

19.05%

Hard to say/irregular NSOs: L, X

2

10.53%

TOTAL

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Model of Audit

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GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

TOTAL

21

100.00%

100.00%

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Interacting with the Government

6.

Government’s Role in NSO’s Governance

Does your NSO have standard Policy, procedures and control systems to coordinate with Government?

Many NSOs have their own protocol for interacting with the Government. Some of these protocols are statutorily required, some are just internal rules (e.g. stated in NSO’s Policy, Organization and Regulations [POR]). The overall scenic in the Region is shown in the following table:-

Policy, Procedures and Control Systems on Government Coordination

Count

%

Yes: Legal/statutory requirement NSOs: P, W, B, U

4

19.05%

Yes: Collaboration arrangement/agreement NSOs: Y, J

2

9.52%

Yes: Internal rules and regulations NSOs: M, L, X, G, C, A, Q, T, S

9

42.86%

Yes: Not specified NSO: D

1

4.76%

No (but policy is being developed) NSO: R

1

4.76%

No NSOs: E, F, K, Z

4

19.05%

21

100.00%

TOTAL

7.

Does your Government play a vital role in the Governance of your NSO (e.g. appointment of key leaders, staff selection and appointments etc.)

Government of many countries involve in the governance and operation of NSOs. Reason behinds of such involvement vary country by country, and the following table shows the level of involvement of different government in NSOs in the Region:-

Count

%

Yes: Board/key members are (or selected by) government officials NSOs: P, D, B, Q, S, T

6

28.57%

Yes: Formal reporting/scrutiny relationship NSO: L, A, U

3

14.29%

Yes: Authority on appointment of key official(s) NSOs: J, F

2

9.52%

Yes: Leaders are selected by government mechanism NSOs: W

1

4.76%

Yes: Special rules on selection of board members NSOs: M

1

4.76%

Yes: Provision of financial resources NSO: R

1

4.76%

No NSOs: Y, K, G, E, Z

5

23.81%

Others NSO: C (Civil services rules partially applicable) NSO: X (Head of state as Chief Scout)

2

9.52%

21

100.00%

Government’s Role in NSO’s Governance

TOTAL

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Others Until to day we experienced that nearly all government institutions, agencies and private sector are considering scouting as important pillars in building human resources of Country P, therefore, recently the Government ministries , Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and Ministry of Environment Protection agreed and signed MoU to provide efforts and give land to Country P Scouts to building National Scouts Camp. In the areas of fundraising activities and increasing scout’s members we seeing the strong efforts from Government related ministries and agencies provided strong commitment to supports Country P Scouts with their possibilities.

X

Government grants the right of use of a government land for NSO X to use as headquarters.

Are there any other area/factors that you consider as Government Engagement with your NSO/Scouting?

8.

This part of the survey invite NSOs to provide other area/factor as they desire.

The following is the summary table of information provided by NSOs.

NSO B

D

E

Additional Comments Government must be brought into engagement when the NSO faces legal issues such as Land ownership, engagement with other ministries etc.

A character building campaign was closely engaging with the Government in 2020. Moreover, the Government does trust the NSO D to conduct the campaign again in 2021.

For better educational results, the Ministry of Education is encouraging to integrate the content of Scout education and training in High School Curriculum, but it is not compulsive.

K

All activities planned for every financial year

M

Y

NSO Y has a direct dialogue with the County Y government National Redress Scheme for the support (including monetary payment) of victims of institutional child sexual abuse. NSO Y also has a close liaison with the Country Y government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for supporting and advising on International Scouting travel, and, from time to time, with the Country Y Defense Force.

Our most recent National Jamboree also received funding from the a state Tourism Commission in recognition of the added economic benefit to the State.

The Head of State is the Chief Scout.

The Head of Government awarded Scouts earned the highest achievement of Scouts and Cubs.

Chairpersons of almost all National Events of NSO E are usually appointed High Profile Government Officers.

Ministers and high Govt. officials are often invited in various scout events.

J

L

14

P

While Scouting in County L is not considered as a National Uniformed Group which are essentially the Cadet Corps of military and paramilitary organisations. NSO L works very closely with the various ministries and statutory board to ensure our programme and policies are synergistic and supported.

Local government recognize top scout and guide achievers who qualifies for State Award and National Award through various incentives in the way of grace mark in Board Examinations, admission for higher education as well as recruitment in government jobs.

Similarly, adult leaders (teachers) who qualifies Wood badge or higher training is recognized by awarding incentives such as annual increments, Special allowances, etc.

The Country M Railway zones affiliated with the NSO regularly advertise vacancies under Scout & Guide category and recruit top scout /adult leaders achievers in railway services and many bona fide members of the association has benefitted from this recognition and it’s an ongoing process.

GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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Conclusion

Recommendations The APR Governance Sub Committee recommends that:

The responses to the survey indicated that governments play important roles in supporting the governance, finances and programs of the APR NSOs. Overall, 76% of national governments endorse the NSO in implementing its youth program, with 76% also playing a key role in the governance of the NSO. This includes over 50% where a Government appointee sits on the National Board.

A total of 90% of the respondent NSOs receive financial assistance from government.

The role of Government, and the specific governance arrangements vary between NSOs. This ranges from an integrated arrangement (where the NSO is part of the government, or Scouting is formally included as mandatory curriculum - 18%), enforced (where government gives direction or direct supervision on development of scouting or the NSO’s operation – 38%) or supported (government provides policy/financial support to scout programmes – 44%).

Partnership and collaboration arrangements with government involve provision of financial support, venues and resources, project support, publicity, provision of leaders and training and recognition of scouting as part of the education/ training system.

Many NSOs have significant involvement of Government in the governance of the NSO (over 50% through representation on the National Board, as well as through appointment of key leaders, staff selection and appointments). This can mean that the orientation of the Movement and Programmes may be significantly influenced by government, but it can provide benefits such as policy/ operational support, provision of resources, fostering of mutual understanding between the NSO and Government and general blessing from the Government.

•

National Scout Organizations continue to cultivate good relationships with governments at all levels, where existing arrangements are already in place.

•

Where government relationships have yet to be established, National Scout Organizations are strongly urged to actively explore such relationships.

•

National Scout Organizations to identify and promote to governments at all levels the benefits of the Scout program to local communities, including the development of leadership skills, resilient youth and, where appropriate, assistance at times of a disaster.

•

National Scout Organizations give priority to enhancing their governance and financial arrangements to ensure a well-run organization, and to promote confidence of Government to partner with Scouts, including to invest in its youth programmes.

Neville Tomkins OAM JP Chair APR Governance Sub Committee

Many NSOs have their own protocols for interacting with Government. Some of these protocols are statutorily required (19%), while some are internal rules and regulations.

Most governments are willing to provide financial resources to support operation of scouting in their own countries, as it is a recognized youth organization, though the level and mode of support varies. This includes those that are fully supported by Government, and those that receive annual recurrent support and project based support. Only about 10% of NSOs do not receive government financial support. About 80% of NSOs are required by government to have their financial statement audited annually.

In addition to direct financial support, benefits to effective engagement with government can include improving the profile of Scouting through involvement of Ministers and Heads of State, top Scout Leaders and Scout Awardees may receive benefits and incentives, and land may be made available for Scouting use.

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Acknowledgement The compilation and analysis of this survey report is a collective effort of the members of the Asia-Pacific Governance Sub-Committee (2018-2022).

The Asia-Pacific Region, acknowledges the work and contributions of the following: •

To our NSOs who have responded to the survey questionnaire

•

Mr Tam, Kwok- kuen Eddie, Member of the Governance Sub- Committee for the in-depth survey analysis and interpretation

•

Chairman of the Governance Sub- Committee Mr Neville Tomkins, for the review of the document and writing the introduction and recommendations

•

Governance Sub- Committee members for their feedback, suggestions and active contribution:

-

Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr.

Anbarasan Thuraimanikam, Vice Chairman Hassan Mohamed, Regional Youth Representative Paramasivan Palany, Member Settanun Ungkulpasvich, Member

•

Adviser to the Governance Sub-Committee Dr. Ie Bin Lian, Regional Scout Committee Member

•

World Scout Bureau/ Asia- Pacific Support Centre Organizational Development Team for coordinating the sub-committee work, Communications and Partnerships Team for editing, design and production, under the guidance of the Regional Director.

World Scout Bureau Asia-Pacific Support Centre October 2021 219 ODC International Plaza Building Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village Makati City, PHILIPPINES Tel.: +63 2 88171785 Email: asia-pacific@scout.org Web: scout.org/asia-pacific

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GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT IN SUPPORTING SCOUTING

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