Month: October 2020

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2020-Oct-31 (Sat) HALLOWEEN – Outdoor Activity at Candlebark Park

Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters
❝ October 31st was always a weird day for a picnic, it was more of a day for bonfires and costumes. The Philberts hadn’t thought about the close relationship between apples and Halloween – you would have thought that bobbing for apples was a clue – and they chose an old apple orchard to meet for their family picnic. When early European colonists brought the first apple trees to Australia as seeds, they brought the fruit’s Halloween-specific tricks and treats with them.
On this night ancient Celts burned huge bonfires and tied apples to branches, gifts of fruit and nuts were offered to the gods. At Samhain, the barriers to the Underworld were temporarily suspended and this allowed ghosts and mischievous spirits to visit the living.
Yes, it was a bad day for a picnic … ❞
Ghosts? Apples? What have we got ourselves into this time Venturers?

DETAILS:
MEET: 1:00 pm at the Lenister Farm carpark.
Homestead Road Eltham (South of Eltham Lower Park) – see map.
Arrive before 1:00pm so that we can start at 1:00pm (thanks for voting on the preferred time).
PICKUP: 3:00 pm at the Lenister Farm carpark, Homestead Road Eltham (below Eltham Lower Park)
LOCATION: The activity will take place in Candlebark Park, Hohnes Hill Reserve and Lenister Farm
ORGANISED BY: 🎃 This will be organised by the Leaders so that you can get out and have fun. 💀
[Darren to complete the Scouts Victoria Out and About]
BRING: Personal hand sanitiser. Dress for the expected weather conditions. Halloween costumes would be good, but are not required. Wear comfortable shoes for walking.

RSVP:
If there are more than 10 Venturers interested we will have 2 Patrols.
Please respond on the relevant UiC Facebook or Teams page that you are attending.

From October 28 in Metropolitan Melbourne:
● Groups in Metropolitan Melbourne can undertake face-to-face outdoor Scouting as a whole section but must be split into Patrols or small groups limited to 10 participants. A reasonable distance between each Patrol or small group must be maintained at all times
— COVID 19 update (2020-Oct-28) Scouts Victoria

We are following the Scouts Victoria – Generic COVIDSafe Plans for Scouts Victoria activities:
Physical distancing and Personal Hygiene requirements
The following requirements must be implemented at all times:
• 1.5-metre separation
• Face coverings are worn unless an exception applies.
• No shaking hands or hugs
• Hand sanitiser to be available to each participant and used at the beginning, end and regularly throughout the activity
• Cleaning of equipment before and after use
• No sharing of equipment during activities
• No sharing food or drink
• No one is to participate if they are unwell, especially if they have cold-or flu-like symptoms
• Transport in family groups only, no shared transport. Venturers are dropped off and picked up from a car park location, parents/drivers do not leave their cars.
• The Unit records the attendance of leaders, and youth members.

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This Week 2020-Oct-28 (Wed) Fright Night

All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, Hallowmas, the Feast of All Saints, …

Silar, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

RSVP:
There is a limit of 10 youth members attending this activity.
Please respond on the relevant UiC Facebook or Teams page that you are attending.

From October 28 in Metropolitan Melbourne:
● Groups in Metropolitan Melbourne can undertake face-to-face outdoor Scouting as a whole section but must be split into Patrols or small groups limited to 10 participants. A reasonable distance between each Patrol or small group must be maintained at all times
— COVID 19 update (2020-Oct-28) Scouts Victoria

Wednesday Night:
MEET: 7:30 pm at the carpark at the Anthony Beale Playground in Greensborough/St Helena Rd.
PICKUP: 9:30 pm at the carpark at the Anthony Beale Playground in Greensborough/St Helena Rd.
LOCATION: Anthony Beale Playground
ORGANISED BY: Lead: Robert / Assist: Mary / Support: Darren
[Darren to complete the Scouts Victoria Out and About]
BRING: Personal hand sanitiser. Dress for the expected weather conditions.

We are following the Scouts Victoria – Generic COVIDSafe Plans for Scouts Victoria activities:

Physical distancing and Personal Hygiene requirements
The following requirements must be implemented at all times:
• 1.5-metre separation
• Face coverings are worn unless an exception applies.
• No shaking hands or hugs
• Hand sanitiser to be available to each participant and used at the beginning, end and regularly throughout the activity
• Cleaning of equipment before and after use
• No sharing of equipment during activities
• No sharing food or drink
• No one is to participate if they are unwell, especially if they have cold-or flu-like symptoms
• Transport in family groups only, no shared transport. Venturers are dropped off and picked up from a car park location, parents/drivers do not leave their cars.
• The Unit records the attendance of leaders, and youth members.

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This Week 2020-Oct-21 (Wed) a ​BIG Adventurous Journey

Planning for a ​BIG Adventurous Journey – includes intro to “Our Program” – Outdoor Adventure Skills & Adventurous Journey. eg. a 4 day trip on the Glenelg River Canoe Trail, hiking the six day Overland Track or a much longer adventure on the Australian Alpine Walking Track.

START: 7:30 pm
FINISH: 9:30 pm
LOCATION: Online – Zoom
ORGANISED BY: Cale / Support: Darren
CHALLENGE AREA: Adventurous Journey
Bring your own campfire and s’mores

Adventure?

An Adventurous Journey for Venturer Scouts should present a real adventure – something new and exciting that helps set the scene for the experiences to come in the program.

Why you Should go Travelling…

What’s Stopping your Adventure?

📒 Adventures for Young People, by Alastair Humphreys and Elise Metcalf (PDF)

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BIG THINK – 3.) The Better World Framework

3.) The Better World Framework

But wait, there’s more…
Education for active citizenship
The Better World Framework was conceptualised in 2015 to integrate established World programmes and promote the engagement of young people in community development. Soon after it was endorsed by the World Scout Committee and shared with National Scout Organizations (NSOs), it became a common approach to support young people and succeeded in boosting actions in local communities.
🌏 https://www.scout.org/better-world-framework
🌏 https://sdgs.scout.org/betterworldframework

i.) Messengers of Peace
A flagship educational programme that engages Scouts in building a global culture of peace and justice through millions of individual and community service actions. Developed in partnership with Alwaleed Philanthropies.
🌏 https://www.scout.org/Messengersofpeace

ii.) Earth Tribe
The Earth Tribe is a global movement of young people who are passionate about the environment and actively engaged as global citizens to preserve and protect our planet. Whether young people are involved in Scouting or not, they are able to become members of Earth Tribe and contribute to conservation and environmental action.
🌏 http://earthtribe.scout.org/

iii.) Scouts of the World Award
A voluntary service award programmethat engages Scouts aged 15 to 26 years old in a local project to explore and take action around a social, environmental or economic issue impacting their community.
🌏 https://www.scout.org/swaward

iv.) Dialogue for Peace
An educational program that invites Scouts to become ambassadors and advocates for peace through intercultural, interreligious, intergenerational, intergender and socialdialogue. Developed in partnership with KAICIID.
🌏 https://www.scout.org/Dialogue4peace

v.) Patrimonito Scout badge
A programme designed to raise awareness and mobilise young people around World Heritage preservation and promotion, challenging young people between the ages of 15 and 26 to carry out their voluntary service at a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Developed in partnership with UNESCO.
https://www.scout.org/patrimonito

vi.) HeForShe
A campaign that invites Scouts to become advocates for gender equality and make the HeForShe commitment to take action against gender bias, discrimination and violence. Developed in partnership with UN Women.
🌏 https://www.scout.org/heforshe

How does this work for me?

These programmes give a great framework for you to develop projects for your Special Interest Areas (part of the new program). For a Venturer Peak Award (Queen’s Scout) you complete 6 activities across at least 3 areas, with 12 hours duration for each SIA.
Selecting from these topics and projects that meet your interest and developing them into your SIA project is a great way to align with the Better World Framework goals, while achieving your personal pathway.
🌏 https://scouts.com.au/blog/2019/02/27/unpacking-the-special-interest-areas/

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BIG THINK – 2.) Earth Tribe – the new WOSM environment program

2.) Earth Tribe – the new WOSM environment program

The current World Scout Environment Badge (WSEB) is being replaced by a new series of exciting environmental Challenges.
The Earth Tribe is World Scouting’s new educational initiative launched on 5 June 2020 that unites young people in a global youth movement for environmental action. The new initiative focuses on developing the key competencies needed to enable young people to become environmental leaders.
As members of the Earth Tribe, young people can develop the skills and leadership to better understand their personal impact on the environment, and take action in their communities to tackle climate change, promote sustainable consumption, and connect with nature. The Earth Tribe will be offered as a complementary component of Scouting’s Youth Programme, and is part of a wider collective mobilization through Scouts for SDGs to engage young people in making the world’s largest youth contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
(Note: see how the SDGs tie into the process)
Scouts Australia is still working on a National roll-out that will replace the World Scout Environment Badge with the Earth Tribe badges.

Earth Tribe has three Challenge streams;
1.) Champions for Nature Challenge
2.) Tide Turner Plastic Challenge
3.) Scouts Go Solar
https://earthtribe.scout.org/
These challenges are linked with specific SDGs, and have age appropriate progressions based around learning objectives using a very similar format to our Plan > Do > Review system.
Each of the challenges has an Implementation Manual and a Challenge Action Kit that are available to download from the Earth Tribe web site. There is also an overall Earth Tribe Implementation Manual.


An overview of Earth Tribe using a word cloud. You can see the areas being targeted by the challenges.

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BIG THINK – 1.) SDGs are Sustainable Development Goals

Over the last weekend Scouts Australia held their Big Think- IN, and World Scouting held sessions during the JOTI framework relating to several program global Scouting Program features that we at the Unit level might not have heard about. I’ll give an introduction to some of these in a couple of threads.

1.) Scouts for SDGs

What is an SDG? SDGs are Sustainable Development Goals.
These are linked to our new program, and are outlined in our new Scouts Australia Program Handbook on pages 24-25;

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals, identified by the United Nations (UN) as the most important goals for making our world a better place. They were finalised in 2015, are accepted by most countries of the world, and build on years of work by the UN. The SDGs aim to achieve sustainable outcomes – things that won’t just be a short-term fix, and instead will continue to be better for a long time.

The SDGs are:
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10.Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14.Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

The SDGs in your Program
As the SDGs are global and accepted by governments as universal action areas, they can provide a great stimulus for our Scout program.
Have a think about where the SDGs fit in your program
• How can you make sure the things you’re doing are having a global impact?
• What ways can you help others in line with the SDGs?
• What projects could you do? – maybe these could be recognised as a Special Interest Area project as well.
• What issues are you interested in learning more about?
• How could you tie the SDGs into the planning of your next program cycle?

Scouts Australia has a Scouts4SDGs page where you can investigate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
https://scouts.com.au/blog/2019/05/29/scouts4sdgs/
This gives Scouts ideas of activities Scouts can do to help address or raise awareness of the issues involved. You can share what you’re doing and get ideas from others.

The World Scouting – Scouts for SDGs web site https://sdgs.scout.org/ is another great source of information.
( This page also hints at the next post topic – Earth Tribe, where we see direct links from the SDGs into our badge work. )

Educational Resources
Education is fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Scouting’s unique Youth Programme is designed to enable young people to be active global citizens and take action around the most pressing social, environmental and economic challenges facing our communities.
Here you will find a range of educational tools, training and resources developed to support National Scouts Organizations. These materials explain the vision behind Scouts for SDGs, and provide practical guidance for how National Scout Organizations can align their Scout Youth Programme, and initiatives under the Better World Framework, to offer new learning opportunities that engage and educate young people about global issues.
https://sdgs.scout.org/guidelines