At Scouts, young people learn how to speak up and take the lead. That’s what the new YouShape Award is all about. And now on Tuesday 5th October 2021 UK Scouting is laughing YouShape Awards
The badge is made up of 4 parts and has varients for Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers.
Central badge
This badge is all about thinking creatively, working together and planning some exciting activities for your programme.
Plan
This badge is all about thinking creatively, working together and planning some exciting activities for your programme.
Lead
Now it's time to take the lead – think supporting others, delivering your programme and nights away.
Represent
Think about how you’ll represent your group – you could engage your community, invite some friends to join the fun or chat with your Executive Committees.
Full Resources are now available to view online at: https://www.scouts.org.uk/youshape
What is youth shaped?
Scouts is all about young people, and youth shaped Scouts is our way of reminding everyone to keep young people at the centre of everything we do.
We know that Scouts empowers young people. They learn to ask the big questions, play their part, and think for themselves. It can help them to build confidence in themselves and stand up for what they believe in. As Scouts evolves, we want young people to take an active part in shaping their activities, getting involved with governance, creating a culture, and being the face of Scouts.
How can we be youth shaped?
You’re probably already halfway there. For Scouts to be youth shaped, we need to continue helping young people develop the skills they need to give it a go.
Youth shaped is about embracing diverse views, new ideas, and opportunities, and building trust between generations.
As young people are developing their skills, it’s up to you to -:
provide them with accessible and inclusive opportunities to plan their own programmes.
encourage them to take the lead on elements of that programme.
empower them to represent their views and ideas so that, ultimately, every decision we make has their best interests at heart.
The importance of youth shaped
Scouts is a movement for and about young people, and each young person in our movement has a lot to offer the world. As a volunteer, you have the unique opportunity to support them to develop the skills they need to succeed; youth shaped Scouts is the best way to do that.
The UN’s first priority for their Youth 2030 plan is to ‘Amplify youth voices for the promotion of a peaceful, just and sustainable world’. We believe in our young peoples' voices: youth shaped is the best way to make sure they're heard.
Young people are the future of the world and they’re already making a difference. As an organisation, we’re committed to helping our young people get ready to become our future leaders.
If you have any questions then please do get in touch. I hope you are all as excited as we are about this exciting new award for young people!
Nirav Patel
Kent Scouts County Youth Commissioner
nirav.patel@kentscouts.org.uk