The International Arena

The International arena

The Boy Scout movement was founded in 1907 on Bronzy Island, near Paul in Dorset, England, where Lord Robert Baden-Powell organized an outdoor Scout camp for 20 boys. From this event Scouting history has begun.

Since that historic event the movement has evolved and grew, and today it operates in over 170 countries and territories, with more than 60 million boy and girl Scouts.

Two global organizations manage the worldwide Scouting activities: the World Organization of the Scout Movement – WOSM and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts – WAGGGS. These world Scout organizations are the largest volunteer movements dedicated to young people around the world. The strengths of the organizations lie in informal education, leadership development, community activity, sustainability and social activism.

Each country having Scouts must officially belong to at least one of the two international organizations. Israel Scouts belong to both, WOSM and WAGGGS through the Israel Boy & Girl Scout Federation.

Both organizations divide the world into geographical regions of activity. Israel belongs to the Europe Region in both WOSM and WAGGGS.

In both world organizations each country member can have either one National Scout Organization/Association (NSO/NSA), like UK or USA for example or a Federation which consists of several NSOs/NSAs, like Israel, Germany and France for example.

The Israel Boy & Girl Scout Federation - IBGSF ('Hitachdut') is the umbrella organization for 5 Scout NSOs according to their denomination: Hebrew, Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox and Druze.

The Constitution of IBGSF states: "The Federation will maintain close international relations with boy and girl Scout organizations around the world, in order to foster among its members understanding and mutual respect between Scouts of different nations". Indeed, beyond keeping these values, IBGSF constantly works on mutual long lasting ties with Scout organizations around the world, promoting and nurturing youth delegations, jamboree events, and fruitful worldwide collaborative activities, for the benefit of informal education to the youth in Israel.

For this, two International Commissioners, a woman volunteer for the connection with WAGGGS and a man volunteer for the connection with WOSM, are responsible to all IBGSF international activities. Each of them works directly with the volunteers and staff of the Europe region in WOSM and WAGGGS, as well as with International Commissioners of many NSOs/NSAs around the globe.

The international arena includes many Scout activities throughout the year including, world and regional conferences, seminars, sending and hosting delegations, international camps and jamborees, and more.