Scouting is a great way for everyone to spend your free time! You can join Scouting at one of the 1000 local units as a youth member if you are 5 years or older.
If you are at least 18 years old, you can sign up as a volunteer on a local, regional, national, or international level. Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken..
Scouting is more than one hundred years old! On the timeline below you can see important events in the history of Scouting.
1899 – 1903: Colonel Baden-Powell fights for England in the Boer War in South Africa. He returns to England and receives orders to set up a training program for army scouts.
1907: Baden-Powell organises a summer camp on Brownsea Island to test his ideas from his book 'Scouting for Boys'. This marks the beginning of Scouting.
1909: The first major meeting is held in London. 11,000 boy scouts attend. It was the forerunner of what would later be the 'World Jamboree'.
1910: The first Dutch Scout groups are established. In The Hague the group is called 'De Jonge Verkenners' meaning The Young Explorers', in Amsterdam a 'trial group' is started. In London, Scouting for Girls is introduced.
1911: Several Scout Groups for girls are established in the Netherlands. The most important three are 'De Nederlandse Padvindersorganisatie' (the Dutch Girl Scout organisation), 'De Eerste Nederlandse Meisjes Gezellen Vereniging' (The First Dutch Girls Social Club), and 'De Nederlandse Padvindersbond' (Dutch Girl Scout Association).
1920: The first World Jamboree is held in Olympia (London).
1924: The second World Jamboree is held in Copenhagen.
1937: The Netherlands are under the spell of the World Jamboree being held in Vogelenzang- Bloemendaal. Queen Wilhelmina opens the camp that 27,000 scouts from 54 countries are attending. At this fifth World Jamboree, at the age of 80, Baden-Powell takes his leave.
1941: Scouting is banned and all uniforms and materials are confiscated. The head board members are arrested and Robert Baden-Powell dies at the age of 83.
1945: After the liberation the Scout organisation turns out to still be very active.
1950: Queen Juliana is installed as a girl scout. In August she opens the National camp, held in honour of the organisations' 40-years of existence in the Netherlands.
1957: Golden jubilee of the worldwide Scout movement. It has been 50 years since Scouting was founded in England. The jubilee is celebrated with four world camps for boy and girl scouts and guides in Canada, England, the Philippines and Switzerland. In England, 32,000 scouts participate in the Jamboree Indaba- Moot.
1973: Scouting the Netherlands is founded. Scouting the Netherlands is a merger between several 'exploring' associations, with identities based on the dutch religiously segregated society. This means that Catholics, Protestants and boys and girls from other denominations play the same game at the same organisation, together. The different names for Scouting for boys and girls in the Netherlands are changed into 'Scouting'.
1991: The new game units are linked to their own themes in the new organisation. They are called "kabouters"(girls aged 7-10), "welpen" (boys aged 7-10), and "esta's" (boys and girls aged 7-10)'. Boys and girls aged 11-15 are called "scouts" and boys and girls aged 15-18 are called "explorers".
1995: The World Jamboree takes place in the Netherlands! With the help of 5,000 volunteers, Scouting the Netherlands builds a complete tent city in Dronten. 18,000 scouts from all over the world have the times of their lives for ten days. The theme is "The Future is Now". Queen Beatrix opens the Jamboree on live television. Scouting the Netherlands shows itself as a modern organisation by organising this event, an organisation where lots of young people have a great deal of fun.
2000: Scouting the Netherlands organises the first National Jamboree in Dronten, hosting 4,000 Dutch and international scouts and explorers. Friendships with scouts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Africa are tightened, giving Dutch scouts the opportunity to visit scouts in these countries.
2003: The government announces the discontinuation of government funding per 1 January 2004. Scouting the Netherlands organises several protests in The Hague, on the radio, on television and in the national press.
2005: Queen Màxima becomes the new patron of Scouting the Netherlands.
2007: Scouting celebrates its global 100-year anniversary. The World Jamboree takes place in England.
2010: Scouting the Netherlands celebrates its 100-year anniversary with a national event: Scouts2day. More than 20,000 scouts celebrate the anniversary year together. An impressive anniversary Jamboree is held in Roermond, with 12,000 national and international scouts participating. Scouting the Netherlands uses the opportunity to introduce the new clothing line "the Scoutfit", and to implement a number of innovations in the areas of game, programs and expertise furtherance.
The Scouting Nederland organisation consists of three levels:
The national counsil determines policy
Scouting Nederland is governed by a Board, made up of Scouting members who are democratically elected by the National Council
A Chief Executive, who is responsible to the Board, heads the Headquarters which has a staff of around 40 professionals,
Scouting Nederland Regional. The regions are in contact with the leaders and board members in their region and they organise meetings between and activities for the Scout groups. Leadershiip training is part of their responsibility. There are 46 regions in the Netherlands
The Scout groups are the core bussiness in the Scouting organisation. In the Netherlands there are 1000 Scout groups, all linked to the Scouting Nederland organisation. Children aged 5 and up are welcome at a Scout group. Volunteers provide for the programme and management of the local groups.
Scouting stands for challenge! Scouting offers fun and exciting activities that challenge girls and boys to develop themselves.
