Workshop: Our Relevance - How do we make a difference in Society? Peter Stubkjær Andersen 6th Forum on Youth Programme and Adult Resources Obidos, Portugal, March 2009

Aim of the Workshop The aim of this session is to discuss Our Relevance as scouts at different levels – and relate our relevance to societal challenges Objectives of the Workshop Understand the concept of relevance better Analyse societal challenges in relation to scouting Undertake simple SWOT analyses

Example: A patient suffering a well-defined disease such as Scurvy* caused by lack of vitamin C The concept of Relevance * In French - Scorbut; In Portuguese – Escorbuto; In German – Skorbut; What is the relevant medical treatment?

The concept of Relevance Relevance is a term used to describe “how pertinent, connected, or applicable something is to a given matter”. “A thing is relevant if it serves as a mean to a given purpose”. Relevance defined: Something (A) is relevant to a task (T) if it increases the likelihood of accomplishing the goal (G), which is implied by T. (Hjørland & Sejer Christensen,2002)

Our Relevance – what is it? It’s relevant ~ “it works” Purpose ~ ”an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions” Vision ~ ”defines the desired or intended future state of a specific organization or enterprise in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction”. Mission ~ “defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, basically describing why it exists.” Values ~ ”beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive an organization's culture and priorities.”

Our Relevance – do we get it? What is Our Relevance as Scouts?  It has to do with… Creating a Better World Educating young people Preparing young people for adult life Encouraging young people to take active part in society Getting the leaders of tomorrow … Click here for a hint

Scale of Relevance Global Relevance National Relevance Local Relevance ~The vision As a global Movement, making a real contribution to creating a better world. ~The mission of Scouting is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law, to help build a better world where people are self- fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.Scout Promise and Law - Differences depending on scale?

Relevant to whom? Statement: “One of the most urgent task for the Scout Movement is to make a clearer connection between what we want to achieve (our purpose) and what we do (our programme). In doing this we should keep in mind that besides being relevant to society we have to be relevant and attractive to the youth of today taking national, regional and local differences into account.” Keep in mind who the ‘audience’ is!

Is Our Relevance clear? Differences in how we as individual scouts or NSO/NSAs see Our Relevance Differences in how society see Our Relevance Differences in how young people see Our Relevance Differences in Our Relevance depending on the scale we are looking at… We are a relevant Movement but it is not clear what our relevance is!

Society Problems ”Youth spend the majority of time indoors” ”The degradation of the natural enviroment” ”Crime and violence amongst teenagers increasing” ”Inter-generational Dialogue suffer” (generation gap) ”Materialism is God” ”Discrimination of minorities” Etc. A search on Google: What else?

Workshop group tasks: 1.In relation to the identified sociatel problems choose one that you find particular interesting 2.Perform a simple SWOT Analysis focusing on how Scouting can work with this problem in order to increase its relevance in society:  Strengths of us as scouts in dealing with this problem  Weaknesses of us as scouts in dealing with this problem  Opportunities for us as scouts in working with the problem  Threats for us as scouts in working with the problem 3.Formulate a brief suggestion on how we as scout can deal with this problem in a relevant way at either global, national or local level (or all levels)

SWOT analysis SWOT analysis: a strategic planning method used to evaluate:  Strengths  Weaknesses  Opportunities  Threats involved in a project or business venture

Significance in the SWOT Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? Suggestions for dealing with the problem?

Relevance and IMPACT IMPACT and relevance:  World level ~ creating a better world  National level ~ educate youth to active citizenship  Local level ~ the local leaders of tommorow? Clear Relevance: When the IMPACT we have on the outside world is the impact we want it to be!

Thank you for you attention