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2007 marks 100 years of Scouting - 100 years of enormous achievements and making a difference to the lives of millions of young people and their communities. Scouting has a lot to celebrate, but most importantly we must look to the future and see how we can best use this unique opportunity to improve Scouting for the next generations.

The Centenary belongs to every Scout - everyone should have the opportunity to be involved in the 2007 projects and activities. To mark this each Scout Association was asked to come up with a Gift for Peace to show how we are continuing to work towards peace. As the topic ‘peace’ is an incredibly large area, three specific working areas have been identified that are relevant to young people and that would truly constitute a valuable contribution to world peace. These areas are:

1. Managing conflict without violence.
Peace and conflict resolution, including problem solving, negotiation and mediation skills, anger management.

2. Challenging prejudice.
Identifying and challenging prejudices and stereotypes, for example: racism, religious intolerance, bullying and gender.

3. Encouraging greater solidarity.
Solidarity with underprivileged groups, for example: refugees, internally displaced people, asylum seekers, street children and ethnic minority groups.

The UK Scout Association has decided on three Key Gifts at national level. These build on our good record in the past and enable us to do things at national level and to encourage local action too.

Creating a more peaceful world
We will refine our Member Programme to include greater focus on personal values and peace, emphasising the Promise and Law. This will ensure that our Programme remains relevant to young people. We will work with others to devise appropriate educational methods.

Encouraging greater solidarity
We will build upon our international contacts and networks and encourage more young people to form partnerships with Scout communities across the world, using as a basis the Marrakech Charter. We will also improve our sharing of such experiences throughout our Association.

Challenging prejudice
We will widen the diversity of our UK Membership and reach out to displaced groups and indigenous minority groups. By being more diverse, the Movement will be more relevant to local communities, drawing upon the widest range of views and experiences. This mirrors the aim of Scouting in providing opportunities for all young people in our communities.

more about The UK's Gifts for Peace...

To help members develop Gifts for Peace, WOSM has produced a resource called ScoutPAX (www.scout.org/scoutpax) which includes a lot of information and encouragement there. Locally, the District and Area/County can help and we shall be delighted to hear about all your activities so that we can share then with others all around the world of Scouting - both here and in other countries.

more about ScoutPax...

Several European Scout Associations have already declared their "Gifts for Peace" projects. They are varied and cover issues like integration of immigrants, peace education or building schools in Uganda. The European Scout website (http://www.scout.org/europe/) includes a list of other ideas.