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Scouting's overiding aim to improve the quality of life for all young people has never been more relevant, in a socially and financially-divided nation where the gap between the haves and the have-nots remains unacceptably large. In a powerful speech in January to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, Prime Minister Tony Blair warned of a society "where rules and values count for nothing, respect for others dwindles, where money matters more than humanity."

He added: "This is not what people want. It's a vision that the British people reject. In its place, people yearn for a society that heals itself, a politics that reduces division, intolerance and inequality."

Scouting tackles the different issues facing today's society by providing young people with tools to build self-respect and self-reliance - challenge them to be better - and preparing them to contribute to society.

With some 500,000 young members - male and female - and 100,000 adult members, the Scout movement has never been better placed to help shape the fabric of society. Working together with powerful bodies - government, big buisness, national organisations and major institutions - Scouting is making a difference in young people's lives and helping the most vulnerable in society - minority groups, young offenders, refugees, children in poverty.

Young people never cease to amaze me.

As I travel around the United Kingdom and further afield, it is inspiring to see what they achieve, not just for themselves but so often for others. It's their example that has pointed the way to the theme for this review of grass roots Scouting: Making a Difference.

" The basic principles of Scouting encapsulated in our Promise and Law are alive, well and totally relevant to modern life. "

The following pages detail some of the ways that the girls and boys who are Scouts have demonstrated that the basic principles of Scouting encapsulated in our Promise and Law are alive, well and totally relevant to modern life.

Having identified the theme of this report, our challenge has been choosing from the mountain of stories and achievements that deserve to be told. That there are so many is a tribute not only to the young people but also to the many thousands of adult volunteers who give their time to provide the opportunities and resources necessary for a modern youth movement.

At the start of 1999, I joined 34,000 young people from more than 150 countries at the 19th World Scout Jamboree in Chile. Even the Olympic Games do not unite so many people from so many countries for so long.

What did they do?

They went out and worked in local communities. They explored concepts of global development, shared religious experiences and learned about commitment to each other and particularly what it means to belong to the world-wide family of Scouts. They learned to live together and respect each other.

Reading this report reminds me that we do not have to travel halfway round the world to see these things happening. They can be found in the activities of the 10,000 Scout Groups in the United Kingdom; places where ordinary young men and women come together to discover how to 'Make a Difference' to themselves, their environment and to their communities.

It is such young people who, in the years ahead, will make our world a better place.

George Purdy
Chief Scout

Left: Chief Scout George Purdy is leading the UK Scout movement into the new millennium.

		Scouting's great strength lies in its grass roots. It is here at the local level, in nearly 10,000 Groups, that Scouts are best able to identify and work directly with those young people most in need. Scouting offers bridges to a world of social involvement and inclusion through education and physical activity. The excluded Robert Baden-Powell started the Scout movement to give poor inner city children a second chance. By taking them out of the city slums into the country, he helped them create a new set of experiences, a new sense of themselves and consequently a new view of the world. This commitment remains central to Scouting today.
"The Essex Experience made me feel good about myself" Mercedes Harrison, Essex Experience participant

One of the most impressive examples of the Association's work with the disadvantaged is the Essex Experience. This innovative, award-winning project by Essex County Scout Council is designed to help meet the developmental needs of young people who have educational difficulties, have one or both parents unemployed, have a troubled home life, suffer from economic deprivation or are excluded from school. A few have physical disabilities.

Now in its third year, the Essex Experience facilitates weekend activities for disaffected young people, in order to increase self-esteem, build confidence and help develop social skills. During 1998 some 115 youngsters from 15 Essex schools took part, all of them referred either by their school or social service agencies. Activities such as raft building, canoeing, and quad biking generated an atmosphere in which new friends were made, confidence was enhanced and team work was fostered.

Peer group workshops on sexual health and drug education will be held during the 1999 Essex Experience weekend by a youth group called SHADE (Sexual Health And Drug Education).

Teachers of the young participants report positive changes in their pupils including increased enthusiasm for schoolwork and improved self-confidence. They say that the Essex Experience is an effective way to help prevent young people from becoming involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.

The Essex Experience also demonstrates the ability of modern Scouting to work with volunteers from other organisations such as The Corporation of London Epping Forest, BP Coryton Refinery, and Basildon District Council.

Among volunteers are a number of police officers from the Basildon Police Force who praised the experience: "The event gave officers some insight into the kids. Direct orders don't always get best results. You need to explain why something is being done." said one officer. Another said: "There was a definite change in the kids' attitudes during the course of the weekend. For example, at the beginning, one boy said to me, 'If I don't get my breakfast, I'll smash your head in.' At the end it was 'Thanks for your help mate.'"

People are often shocked to learn that children as young as ten years old are already being excluded from school. The Star Challenge in Kent was set up to help a group of such children. This project was started by the Kent Scouts Development Team who offered the Association's services to the South Kent Education Authorities, Working with the Kent County Council, a six-week programme was developed, offering nine children nine hours a week of educational instruction. Any adventure and fun activity had to be earned by achievement and good behaviour. Staffing of the project included one full-time and two part-time tutors, a youth worker, an educational welfare officer and a project worker from the Kent Scouts. By the end of the programme all the youngsters were in mainstream secondary school. Parents and teachers reported an improvement in the confidence, attitudes and behaviour of their children - particularly co-operation and tolerance towards others. The project has been running for three years and all of the young participants have remained in school.

Programmes like the Essex Experience and Star Challenge exist throughout the country, taking children off the streets and out of harm's way, redirecting their interest and energy into activities which benefit them and their communities.

The national Sikh leadership and The Scout Association have joined forces to bring Scouting to young people in the Sikh Community

Children in hospital Scouting has been going to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children for more than 40 years. Each week eight leaders work with children between the ages of 6 and 16 years old, offering games and crafts, map and compass work, cooking and camping skills. The children are also taken on field trips in a minibus specially adapted for wheelchairs. The one-and- a-half-hour sessions help to take the children's minds off their illnesses and provide a much-needed break for parents and staff. In a four-month period last year some 200 young people attended the evening sessions. Many of the young patients leave the hospital eager to join a Scout group. Minority ethnic communities Scouting in the Sikh community is becoming increasingly popular thanks in part to the enthusiasm and active participation of the national leadership of the Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj - a national Sikh organisation. In 1997 Akaal Purkh Ki Fauj approached The Scout Association to discuss the provision of youth programmes in the Sikh community. As a result of this initiative three new groups were established in Greater London, Middlesex and Berkshire and work is underway to establish groups in other parts of the country.

During the past year The Scout Association has been active on the national scene, working for positive change in partnership with major business, parliamentarians, government, and national organisations. Business The business community has begun to look to Scouting for assistance in staff development. The Scout Association runs regular training courses for major businesses such as BT, BritVic and others who turn to the Scouts for guidance in team building and skills development.
	Above: Scout training officer Emily Hodges is helping business people to be more effective team members and leaders.

British Telecom is using Scout expertise to help their staff to be more effective team members and leaders. During the training sessions the company expressed a clear preference for active and practical methods which also posed intellectual and physical challenges for their members - an almost perfect brief for Scouting.

The work with BT helps to integrate new people into teams, breaks down barriers between members of different BT groups and provides an opportunity for staff to get to know each other better and generally build more effective team work.

With the support of six major UK water companies, Scouts raised £22,000 to help the international charity Water Aid provide safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

Scouts also work with business to help raise public awareness regarding important issues. This year six major UK water companies worked with The Scout Association to teach young people about water conservation both in this country and abroad and to raise money for an international charity. More than 200,000 Cub Scouts raised a total of £22,000 for the international agency Water Aid.

Government

The Association works with government in a variety of ways, occasionally contributing its expertise to consultations and sometimes lobbying the government on legislation affecting the Association's work.

The Scouts have taken a leading role in urging changes to a government plan to establish a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) which will operate on a fee paying basis. The Criminal Records Bureau will allow organisations to check, for a fee of £10 each time, whether adults volunteering to work with young people have a criminal record.

The Association welcomes the government's initiative which will further assist the Scouts' commitment to child protection and keeping young people safe from harm. The Criminal Records Bureau will add a valuable additional check to the Association's well-established system of vetting potential volunteers. However, the Association is asking the government to exempt voluntary organisations from paying the fee which would amount to an additional cost of some  750,000 each year for The Scout Association alone.

Through its existing vetting system, the Association carries out more than 65,000 checks a year at a cost of approximately £100,000. The additional burden imposed by a cost for CRB checks would have a knock-on effect, seriously hampering the Association's ability to offer services to the community and potentially resulting in fewer adult volunteers to support and work with the nation's children and young people. The net result could be more young people placed at risk and an increase in social exclusion.

Parliamentarians

One channel Scouting uses effectively to get its message across to government and parliament is the All Party Parliamentary Scout Group. This cross-party group of MPs provides a unique and valuable opportunity to make the voice of Scouting heard by decision-makers. The All Party Group has been particularly active in helping the Association press for changes to the proposed plan to charge for Criminal Records Bureau checks. In the months leading up to the December 1998 World Scout Jamboree in Chile, the All Party Group worked on behalf of the Association to find a solution to the travel problems created by the arrest of former Chilean leader General Pinochet. The Scout Association values its relationship with parliamentarians and will continue to work to strengthen these ties.

The Scout Association is working constructively with other major voluntary organisations, parliamentarians and government representatives to make the government's proposed Criminal Records Bureau an effective facility for protecting children which will not place a devastating financial burden on voluntary organisations.

National organisations

The Scout Association believes that the voice of the voluntary sector is made stronger by building coalitions and forming partnerships with other national organisations. The Association is currently working with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the Society's Full Stop Campaign aimed at ending child abuse, and is involved in an environmental project with the Conservation Foundation.

Because of The Scout Association's vast experience in working with young people, it is able to make a major contribution to the development of National Standards for Youth Work. The National Youth Agency was commissioned by the government to produce a set of standards which will act as a guide for all organisations working with young people. A senior volunteer of The Scout Association has acted as the chair of the working group responsible for producing the final document due for release this year.

The Kosovo Clothing Appeal was an overwhelming success, filling 50 planes with clothing. Children brought their teddy bears, elderly people brought their warm winter coats, and Scout Groups nationwide supervised the collection.
	The Links of friendship created by Scouting internationally shows the organisation at its very best. Last year saw more than 10,000 UK Scouts visit 36 countries, heLping local communities and bringing back valuable lessons learned. UK Scouts also made a valuable contribution to the international community from right here at home.

Kosovo

This war-ravaged province has needed as much help as possible from the international community and the Scouts rose to the challenge. Working with The Express newspaper and British Airways, the Scout movement collaborated in an April Kosovo Clothing Appeal which proved an over- whelming success.

Scouts provided more than 100 centres where members of the public could drop off their donations of emergency clothing and blankets for victims of the conflict in Kosovo. The public response was overwhelming and soon the centres were bursting at the seams. Children brought their teddy bears and elderly people their warm winter coats. No less than 50 plane loads of material were collected by May 1, three weeks after launching the project.

Local examples illustrate the success of the Appeal. At Bentley Copse Camp Site in Shere, Surrey, a classroom was filled to the ceiling with black plastic sacks of clothes and bedding. In all, some 5000 bags were collected at this one site.

The collection point organised by the 2nd Amersham Common Scout Group collected enough donations to fill a 7.5 tonne lorry three times.

The three Warrington venues at Lymm, Penketh and Orford all received a massive response from the public resulting in around 8,000 sacks of clothing, bedding and shoes.

One elderly gentleman explained that he wanted to give what he could because 60 years ago he was a refugee from Poland and he knew just how much the Kosovo refugees would appreciate the help.

The Penistone Scout Group from South Yorkshire worked with the Dzolo-Gbogame community in the Volta region of Ghana to construct a village school serving 500 young peopLe. The Scouts helped by raising money for building materials, worked on the construction itself and provided educationaL materials for the school. At the end of the project, the group had enough money left to establish a library in the new school and to help the newly formed Scout troop get off the ground by providing material to make uniforms.

Scouting is also providing help of another kind to the victims of the Kosovo War. A Scout Group in Glasgow is helping Kosovo refugees living in that city by providing a programme of Scouting activities.Ten young men and women have joined the 22nd Glasgow Scout Group where they have made new friends and quickly been made to feel part of the community. The work of the Glasgow Group has been helped by the Northern Ireland Scout Council which has generously donated money collected in a television fundraising appeal.

Developing countries

Putting something back has been a tradition with British Scouts. They have long contributed to the community in developing countries by building schools, clinics, hospitals, providing training and creating social programmes for 'street children'

The Scouts of Barnet District, north London are currently working with The Gambia Scout Association to develop a skills training centre for the development of young people - teaching them office practice, computing, maths and English

UK Scouts have provided financial support for the Street Scout Project in Kenya, which aims to give street children a better chance in life, and groups from Northern Ireland have run a jamboree for a few hundred of these disadvantaged children As a result of this worthwhile project, run jointly by the Scouts and Cadbury Kenya, many street children have been rehabilitated and given a better chance in life.

World Scout jamboree Two thousand UK Scouts attended the ten-day World Scout Jamboree in Chile in December acting as ambassadors of the United Kingdom; coming home enriched by the experiences they shared with 34,000 Scouts from 150 countries.

Despite initial warning from the Foreign Office of the possible dangers following the arrest in Britain of General Pinochet, UK Scouts decided to make the journey and in the end had what many described as the "experience of a lifetime"

One of the great benefits of any jamboree is the fact that those involved learn a variety of important lessons about tolerance, sharing and cultural understanding, helping them develop as citizens of their national and international communities.

In Chile, UK Scouts also had an opportunity to make a difference to the lives of local people by working on development projects such as painting a village school.

Scott Sheldon, a Scout from Andover, said "You become high on meeting so many different people It was absolutely brilliant." Johnathon Thorne, a Scout from Knowle said: "The jamboree taught me that there is always a way to make friends with someone else, even if they speak a different languag.e"

The experience of the Chile Jamboree was one that made a difference for many people - enriching their lives, creating new friends from around the world and teaching them valuable lessons that last a lifetime.

The Scout Association looks forward to welcoming the world to the UK in 2007 for the World Scout Centennial Jamboree.