Accra, Nov. 2, GNA - The Ghana Scout Association (GSA) would host the 14th Africa Scout Conference and the fifth Youth Forum from November 4 to November 12.

The conference, the first ever to be hosted by Ghana on the theme: "Empowering Young Lives, Creating a Better world" would attract delegates from 37 African countries and representatives from Brazil, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Japan, the USA and Britain. Ms Jemima Nartey, Deputy Chief Commissioner of GSA, told a press conference to highlight activities that the forum would be held at Gomoa Fetteh from November 4 to November 6, followed by the Africa Scout Conference from November 9 to November 12 in Accra. She said the forum would create a platform for the youth to discuss and draw up an agenda that would advance the activities of the Scouting movement.

Ms Nartey said there would be experience sharing sessions through presentations in plenary and displays on the 'Wall of Wonders'. "All the presentations would be based on one of the following topics - Youth Involvement or Empowerment, Environment Education, Reaching Out and Youth Programme to depict any achievements in the selected topics," she said.

She said the Africa Scout Conference (ASC) was the governing body that met every three years as a platform to interact and share commitments towards implementing several projects and activities with other Associations/Institutions with a similar vision of helping the youth. Ms Nartey, who is also a member of Africa Scout Committee, said apart from raising the profile of GSA locally and internationally, the conference would increase investment and tourism potentials in the country. The Scout Movement is a voluntary, non-political educational movement for young people opened to all without distinction of origin, race or creed, in accordance with the purpose, principles and methods conceived by Baden Powell, the Founder of the movement.

She said the purpose of Scout Movement was to contribute to the development of the young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.

Ms Nartey said the movement was based on three principles, namely, duty to God, duty to others and duty to self and was the biggest youth Non-Governmental Organisation in the world with 28 million members in about 160 countries.

She said the activities of the Scout movement worldwide had always been taken for granted perhaps because the society never really took time to get to understand what members did do. "The Scout Movement in Ghana for instance is always attributed to marching, camping and hiking and nothing more. However, we are more than that and want to use this medium to tell all a little about ourselves," she added. Ms Nartey announced plans to revive scouting in schools up to tertiary levels and also train teacher trainees to develop interest in their activities to sustain the programme.