By National Young Leaders Representative Lawrence Stanton
Once a Scout reaches the age of 18 their Scout advancement journey comes to an end. But this doesn’t need to mean that their involvement with the Movement should end too.
We understand that this transition coincides with many other changes, such as pursuing tertiary studies or a new career, sometimes this involved moving to a different province.
Within SCOUTS South Africa we value our youth and aim to retain our young men and women within our adult ranks, both as Rovers and as Adult Scouters.
Using our team of Regional Young Leaders Representatives and volunteers, we want to introduce our ex-scouts to new opportunities within Scouting, as well as to new Scout Groups and Rover Crews for those who are moving to new communities for work or study — in particular around the various major universities of South Africa.
We need your help to reach our 18+ youth
We need you to share with them a short survey that they can use to indicate their movements and their interests. We will use this information to match them to suitable roles in their area.
The survey can be found HERE or you can use this QR code:
It takes about 1min to complete.
Our Strategy
1. Identify Youth
In order to retain our youth, we will need a list of individuals and basic contact information. We are collecting this through:
- The survey.
- Our list of Springbok Award recipients.
- Our list of other Regional Award recipients.
- Other social networks within each Region.
2. Identify Receptive Scout Groups
The Regional and District Commissioners, along with other members of the Regional Team, are identifying suitable Scout Groups. The key criteria are:
- Is the Scout Group or Crew near where the youth is moving to?
- Does the Scout Group require more adult Scouters or Rovers?
- Will the youth enjoy becoming involved? What will they do?
3. Track Movement & Matchmaking
After the matric results are released and university applications roughly finalised, the Young Leaders Representative Team (YLRT) will consolidate the information gathered and match suitable youth and Scout Groups.
Ideally, 2 or 3 youths will be allocated to any one Scout Group (role as per their interest). This is primarily done to allow them to support each other in these new roles, and to foster a social group. This social group has proven to be a critical factor in order to successfully retain young Scouters and Rovers long-term.
4. Introductions
From mid-February to March 2022, the Regional Young Leaders Representative and other volunteers will personally accompany and introduce the youth to their prospective Scout Groups and ensure that they can participate in a Group meeting.
Typically, they should stay for either the full meeting, or for half of the meeting followed by an evening with the RYLR to discuss the visit and hopefully make further arrangements.
5. Adult Training & Other Regional Events
It is important that the Scout Group encourages the young Scouters or Rovers to get into Adult Training or other Regional events quickly.
Typically, these youths — especially the Springbok recipients — will be experts in all things Scoutcraft. The training is not about this. Rather, it is yet another networking opportunity where they can meet other Scouters and Rovers in the Region.
By May 2022, each youth should have attended at least 1 training course or Regional event – Covid permitting.
How to Help More
1. Help Introduce Scouts
In some Regions we expect to have a lot of Scouts to introduce. If you are keen to help us, please just let us know via the contact details below and we will be in touch.
2. Advertise Roles
- The beginning of the year can be great to recruit these youths for other roles besides just as Scouters and Rovers. Roles like training instructors, competition staff and event planning tend to go well with young Scouters and Rovers.
- Be sure to advertise these roles between February and March!
- If you would like us use our networks to recruit for such roles, just ask your RYLR and we should have someone in mind.
3. Share the Survey
Do share the survey with your WhatsApp and other Scouting communication groups.
4. DIY!
Convincing Scouts to become involved is key. It is most effective if people already close to these youths introduce them. If you are a Scouter and able to introduce your graduating Scout to new groups yourself, that would be most effective and will allow us to focus on others who cannot do the same.
5. Join the Team
Do you feel that you can help advance youth involvement on a more permanent basis? Feel free to contact the NYLR and we can see how to get you more involved in our team.
Contact Details
| Name | Region | |
| Lawrence Stanton | NAT | lawrence.stanton@scouts.org.za |
| Robert Hill | ECS | robert.hill@scouts.org.za |
| Lawrence Stanton | FS | lawrence.stanton@scouts.org.za |
| Justice Kgomo | GT | justice.kgomo@scouts.org.za |
| Mzamo Ncube | KZN | mzamo.ncube@scouts.org.za |
| Sharmaine Zitha | LIM | sharmaine.zitha@scouts.org.za |
| Lawrence Stanton | MPU | lawrence.stanton@scouts.org.za |
| Lesego Ramothwala | NC | lesego.ramothwala@scouts.org.za |
| Tumi Phele | NW | itumeleng.phele@scouts.org.za |
| Daniel Skriker | WC | daniel.skriker@scouts.org.za |