By Kumba Leigh
The Gambia Scout Association was represented at the 18th Africa Scout Conference and 9th Africa Scout Youth Forum held from 25th to 28th August 2022. The conference was preceded by the 9th Africa Scout Youth Forum held from the 21st to 23rd August 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya on the theme: ‘Shaping Connected Futures’. The Gambia Scout Association was represented in the two events by Momodou Kuyateh, Secretary of The Gambia Scout Youth Forum and Youth Advisors’ Committee.
These events gathered 200 youth and adult leaders from 37 National Scout Organizations (NSOs) across Africa region and guests from outside the region to discuss their strategies to shape the connected future leaders in advancing scouting in Africa and the need for more inclusive youth participation in decision making processes across all levels of scouting in Africa.
The Youth Scouting Forum provides an opportunity for the young people of different backgrounds to collectively explore key issues like innovation, health and wellbeing, a better world framework, youth and leadership.
The theme highlighted their desire to support young people to re-imagine a future where their dreams and aspirations are intertwined individually and collectively as far as development of young people and sustainability of their planet are concerned.
It further expresses their commitment to working together to create lasting solutions to overcome the challenges of COVID-19 on young people, their communities, their movement and the world at large.
Throughout the event, delegations had the opportunity to share best practices with their national Scout organisations; learn about collaboration opportunities with partners and got inspired by impact stories of scouts across Africa.
Participants took part in education and capacity-strengthening workshops to engage and learn about a variety of topics including (GSAT) that bring Scout Associations to world-class standards, create a safe environment for scouts, strategy for scouting, WOSM initiatives, youth engagement in decision making, partnership and resources mobilization; financial management as a necessity for strong organizations, evidence-based programming, social impact monitoring and evaluation among others.
During the event, Momodou Kuyateh was awarded as COVID-19 Hero for his outstanding actions to support the community in the COVID-19 response and recovery event.
The event was graced by UN agencies and other partners; the World Scout Committee members, the Africa Scout Foundation, World Scout Bureau Africa Support Centre, the government of Kenya and Scout Associations and organizations across Africa and beyond.
In his remarks, Mr. Momodou Kuyateh expressed delight, praised the events for encouraging networking and connecting together young people as a region in shaping connected futures and decision making. He expressed the need for more inclusive youth participation in decision making across all levels of scouting in the African region.
