Scouting Movement

The scouting movement is a global youth cultural and socialization institution founded in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell in Britain, built around outdoor skills training, uniformed troop structures, a system of ranks and merit badges, and an explicit code of values expressed through the Scout Promise and Scout Law. The movement spread rapidly into national scouting organizations across the world during the twentieth century, coordinated internationally through the World Organization of the Scout Movement and, for girls' and women's scouting and guiding, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. As a socialization institution, scouting has functioned to transmit civic and moral values, practical skills and group belonging to millions of young people across many different national and cultural contexts.