Growing Venturers and Rovers: A Vision

Here's a go at sharing a "growing idea". As much as there are concrete examples of programs that I and others have developed, as it is shared here it's really just the idea. It's ideas that change the world though and I really believe that we're in need of some change. Here goes...

In my head the key for growth of our movement, both in terms of numbers and in terms of building public recognition, is two things:

1. Meaningful leadership development across all sections.

2. Increased support and attention placed on Venturers and Rovers, especially:

2 a. the transition/inclusion of these youth to/in leadership teams for other sections, and

2 b. stronger programming support and options for these two sections.

Here in Northern Lights we're working on #1 with the five course plan (Golden Arrow, SIT, etc. see my post in the Youth Leadership Section), but #2, as much as it is an important part of #1, still needs work.

Here are my thoughts and vision about how to make this happen...

(Please prepare for a mild rant. It's not directed at anyone, just an expression of frustration over what has become our collective unconsciousness as an organization)

Venturers and Rovers are the only sections that can save us as a Scouting Organization. Without them we are lost. We'll have a program, it just won't be a Scouting program in anything but the name.

Let me explain.

If I look around the world at other Scouting Organizations, especially those outside North America, I see a shocking difference in how they market themselves and who they present their membership as including. In brief, Scouting in other countries starts at 14, here in Canada it ends at 14.

Go ask people on the street when someone is too old to be in Scouts anymore. I guarantee that the overall response will reflect this.

"So what? The vast majority of our youth are not in Venturers and Rovers! We need to build from Beavers on up. John, this is crazy."

No. Think of it this way. The largest Beaver Colony in the world isn't going to inspire anyone to stay in Scouting and become a Scout for the rest of their lives. And I mean "Scout" in the sense that someone identifies themselves as being a part of Scouting such that they would freely declare it and do so with pride.

We can't keep trying to push young people through Scouting by having big Beaver and Cub programs and think they're going to stay or that we're making a difference in their lives. We need to pull them forward through the program. (I can't help but think of the wisdom shown in the skit where the kid keeps pulling a rope along the ground until asked why. The response? "Have you ever tried to push a rope?"). This type of gravitational effect can only come from positive and effective role models.

What do I mean by positive and effective role models? I mean other young people having a great time doing challenging activities and acting as leaders for other youth. You want people to stay in Scouting? Put two TRAINED Venturers or Rovers in every section leadership team and make sure that the Venturer and Rover programs they are involved in beyond being leaders are FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. There aren't enough sticks in our Canadian forests (what's left of them anyway) to beat back the tide of youth that will be clamoring to be a part of Scouting.

The young kids will stay (and come in droves) because they want to be with, be like, and eventually BE the Venturers and Rovers. The Venturers and Rovers will stay because they are having a great time making a difference in the world AND leaving a legacy of future world changers.

An added bonus to strong Venturer and Rover programs that are woven back into leading other sections is that youth Leadership on this scale will solve many challenges about finding and training leaders. I don't care how much training you give a parent, they'll never quite be on par with someone who has come up through the program. Besides this, the leader that came up through the program isn't going to disappear in a few years when their kid leaves because Scouting stops in Canada at 14. A Venturer or Rover who has been incorporated into a section leadership team in a meaningful way may leave to start a family or a new job, but they'll be back.

How do we get these Venturers and Rovers now? We start by asking. Then we train them. Then we showcase them. Then we do it again. Through all this we keep ramping up their program with more meaningful challenges and broader support. To quote a WOSM video Scouting is, "Fun with a purpose." We need to give them both the fun and the purpose. International aid trips, helping with a geographical survey, recording wildlife sightings to aid in research while on a hike in a remote area, (re)building a local shelter, joining their city's emergency response plan. These are the sorts of adventures that 14-26 year-olds would love to do. All the more so if they can do it with friends. We need to train both our Youth and our Leaders to think on these grand scales AND give them the support to make such ideas possible.

But getting them isn't the problem, it's keeping them. Until we see Venturers and Rovers as something more than "Beavers with drivers licenses" we're sunk; we won't trust them to be leaders and we won't offer them anything more than a Beaver program on steroids. Worse still, they'll continually meet our expectations by simply being Beavers with drivers licenses and that doesn't help them or the image of Scouting. Changing the minds and habits of our current leaders is going to be the biggest challenge that we face.

If you've made it this far, perhaps you'd be willing to go a little further. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this issue. For, against, or completely tangential.

I can't understand the complexities of the issue if I only see the world through my own eyes.

-John

There haven't been any bona fide Rovers in Thunder Bay for many years. I'm working on reactivating the Lakehead University Crew...I've got two local Venturers who will be going to Lakehead in the fall, are keen to see Rovers in town, and are just starting into their Squireships.

Biggest problem that I've seen with Rovers in recent, well decades, actually, is that where there are Rovers, there is rarely an actual Rover program. More often than not, what I've seen is a couple of young adults who were keen as Scouts and Venturer, who want to continue with the program, but lacking any guidance end up as assistant Scouters rather than Rovers...they register as Rovers so that they can continue to wear their Chief Scout Award, but they aren't doing the Rover Program. Which brings me to me new mantra:

It takes more than red epaulettes to make a Rover

What I've told my two Squires is, if you want to be a Leader, great, we need you. But don't sign up to be a Rover unless you want to carry out the Rover program. There's no reason you can't do both, but being a Leader and being a Rover are NOT the same thing.

I could go on at length about this, but I have other rants to develop!

YIS

Steve Bobrowicz
Thunder Bay

Agreed.

I'm looking to restart the 25th Rover Crew within the next few months and the issue of programming weighs heavy on my mind. The current Rover handbook is, well, junk. I'm seriously considering dusting off the pre-revision program (the one with the red square with the four little coloured squares that fit inside it) as a starting point.

My hoped for four cornerstones of the revised, revamped, rejuvenated, and reborn crew are as follows:

1. Developing and carrying out a challenging personal self-development quest. Things they are already good at or working on for school or work don't count. These are dream personal development goals that they wouldn't do otherwise.

2. Providing a significant service to the local Scouting community on an ongoing basis. This could mean being a leader for another section, but this is certainly not a necessity. It could be running the annual Kub Kar Rally and fixing the roof of a cabin at a camp in the summer or organizing an ongoing recruitment drive or organizing something like Scouting University or running a training weekend for Patrol Leaders (aka Golden Arrow) or...

3. Participating in an international aid project (or a National project of similar scope/scale). We need to look up from our local communities and see how we can positively affect the rest of the world. I guarantee that doing so will positively affect us.

4. Attending an international Scouting event, preferably a moot or world jamboree. We need to play together at the world level.

This said, it will be up to the new crew to decide on their own program, but these will be the benchmarks by which the IMPACT of their program will be measured. Anything less would be, well, uninspiring and they deserve to be challenged.

(BTW - I assume this isn't just "Steve in Thunder Bay" but "Steve in Thunder Bay Who Ran a Golden Arrow Course", pleasure to finally make your acquaintance!)

John,
As we discussed elsewhere, I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts here. Venturers and Rovers are the future lifeblood of our organization and the current lack of program or purpose for them really seems to leave many groups floundering.

In Tri-Shores Council, we are currently working on our second international develoment project. I'll post more on the topic under Youth Leadership Development but suffice to say that the work being accomplished by our core group of Rovers is nothing short of amazing. There will be more coming out of this concept in the near future but I see this kind of effort as being just one 'hook' to keep our youth involved, developing them into extraordinary leaders and truly expanding our concept of community.

Eventually, I see this kind of effort, at a Council or national level as becoming the Canadian equivalent of the Peace Corps.

Eventually, I see this kind of effort, at a Council or national level as becoming the Canadian equivalent of the Peace Corps.

CUSO-VSO already laid claim to the title. Still, there's every reason why we should be doing similar work, or linking with them to the benefit of both programs.

Katimavik does community projects in Canada.

I'm hearing (reading?) lots of stuff along the lines of "Rovers should be providing great service to Scouting." That's certainly one of the purposes of the Rover Program...it was what BP referred to as 'The Quest of the Younger Brother. But the Quest of the Younger Brother was only one of the Ten Quests, one small component within the broader scope of Service.

With my Rover Squires, I'm specifically tasking them with completing a service project outside of the Scout Movement. Why? Because service projects for Rovers within Scouting are easy...there is an emotional safety net, and plenty of over-ambitious adults to tap into. Helping out with a Beaver Colony, running a Cub camp...these are things that my Rovers have already been doing (and continue to do) as Venturers. The Rover Brotherhood of Service demands more.

Likewise, I don't see sending Rovers to some third world country to build a school as a particularly nobel thing to do either. "Everybody" is doing it...it's the latest trend in what I've heard referred to as Volentourism. Do a Google search for "build a school" - see how many hits you get. Projects of this kind don't require any creative thought or community involvement...pay your money, go on a trip, come back feeling good about yourself. Instant gratification. Of course, the criticism of such projects is that these projects aren't typically set up in the really depressed parts of the countries in question, and the voluntourists end up taking jobs away from the people who would otherwise be building the schools.

I digress.

So I've asked my Rover Squires to come up with a service project, outside of Scouting, but within our community. Preferably one that deals with real people, not just picking up garbage or dealing with an ambiguous entity like a food bank. Those are good and necessary projects to be sure, but when you can look a person in the eye and see that you've made a difference, that's Service on an entirely different level.

Oooh Steve, that cuts deep....

I'll admit to a couple of points here. First, I've been a Venturer advisor for four years and have started working with Rovers in the last two years. I'm taking my Crew part one in two weeks so I don't 'fully' understand the program. I'm sure that's a problem for a significant portion of the Scouting population. If you could direct me to some good sources, I'd love to be prepared for my training.

Second, many groups outside Scouting treat international development projects as ecotourism. Working on our second project, we have learned a lot and have a lot more yet to learn. One of the lessons includes the fact that providing labour to a project in a poor community is not what these people need. They can provide lots of labour. They need instruction, financing for the projects, infrastructure, etc.

However, our projects are far from "pay your money, go on a trip, come back feeling good about yourself". Our team members pay a small portion of the trip costs, 75% of it is fundraised. They are required to provide presentations to local groups including Scouting groups, service groups, their churches, anyone who will listen to them. The youth have organized and run Focus training camps, Global Development Ambassador camps and now Discovery Bases for the Youth of the World program. We have been working for two years on this effort and it's not a simple 'pay as you go' program.

For the Madagascar project, we will be travelling to the community of Ambato Boeni (look it up in Google Earth) which is about as remote as we can get in vehicles (10 hour drive from the airport). We did a preview trip there last summer and the people we will be helping literally live in grass huts on the flood plain. The wells they have are on the flood plain and are contaminated with polluted water every rainy season. The site was selected with the help of a Malagasy priest who happens to be studying for his PhD in Canada.

My daughter has volunteered on a voluntourism project in Chile. It was an archaeological dig and was valuable to her because that's her program in university in September. It was completely different from what we are doing in Madagascar.

Like anything we do in Scouting, comparing our international development projects to what i-t-oi or Me To We offers is like comparing camping in Scouts to Camp Queen Elizabeth. I would never suggest that we want to be associated with voluntourism. In fact, far from it because our programs are 'designed' to develop character in the leaders of tomorrow.

[Warning: This post contains extreme soap boxing. It didn't start this way, but this is how it turned out. =) ]

Voluntourism, eh? Interesting, I'd never thought of it that way before...

I agree that this is something we want to avoid. I don't think that staying home is the best way to accomplish this though. That would be like saying "We don't want anyone to get hurt so we're taking down all the monkey bars and no one is allowed to play tag anymore and nobody is allowed to bring their goldfish to a Beaver meeting, etc." Which is the kind of slippery-slope reasoning that is so insane that nobody would EVER fall prey to it. Er, wait, ahhh, ummmm... Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Seriously though, going international does offer a lot of benefits that can more than outweigh the costs if the inclusion of an international trip or project to the program is well thought out. I would even go so far as to venture that Scouts Canada NEEDS more internationally experienced youth and leaders, particularly where this experience has exposed them to other Scouting programs. Ours is not the only way and, given the current state of affairs that we are finding ourselves in with regards to membership numbers, programming, and training when compared to other NSOs, it certainly isn't the best way. We can't know how to be better unless we look around and---more importantly---ensure that the next crop of leaders have had a look around as well. This means stepping out of the shadows of our own past and that of our largest neighbour and venturing into the broader world, looking for help as much as to give it.

This said, actually making this happen is easier said then done. It is my experience that most of the groups in my council are uneasy interacting with the other groups in their areas in a meaningful way, let alone reaching out to receive and give support across continents and oceans.

When did our vision become so insular?

We are part of the largest youth organization on the planet. We are (as far as I know) the only youth organization that has consultative status with the UN. Given our mission and principles we are a peace movement 10x larger than any army and larger than many countries to boot. We need to remember this. We need to remind other people of this. We are the not only the original CUSO-VSOs and Katimaviks, we can do it better. We offer a way of life, not just a resume line-filler or a crutch for fragile world views or a lamination for paper-thin beliefs regarding our efficacy.

Steve's point about the Ten Quests is bang on.* My two cents is that when done right, each of these quests makes a heavy impact on the person carrying them out and/or the world at large---this is how we fulfill our mission of creating a better world. International connections, appropriately conceived and in the proper context as Bernie's seem to be, are a powerful way to make such impacts and we should be wary of ignoring them. We don't need less international exposure, we need better international exposure; and we need to do it without forgetting about our own communities. Nor can we forget about our own selves and those around us.

Sounds hard? It is hard. But this is precisely the challenge we need to offer our older youth. If we don't, they'll just go find it elsewhere. Pfft, who am I kidding. There is nowhere else where they can find this challenge, at least not en masse. The more likely fate is that they simply fail to find anything at all, wallowing forever in a sea of mediocrity; a multitude of heroic potential rusting in disuse. THAT is our great tragedy. Let's not perpetuate it any longer. It is time for the return of Venturers and Rovers; it is time for the return of heroes.



*Not sure what the Ten Quests are? Check'em out at http://scoutdocs.ca/Documents/Rover_Quests.php. Thanks again for building such a great resource Liam!

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a trip half-way across the world to undertake a project (of any kind) is not a valuable exercise for young people. And I whole-heartedly agree that that an important part of building character in young people is spending some time anyway other than where you grew up. (For me that was three years in the Army in Hawai'i...but that's another story.)

I guess my point here is that the service projects that Rovers (and Venturers) seem to fall to one of two extremes...either they're massive projects that take years of fundraising and an enormous amount of planning (and therefore tend to dominate the Crew's time and possibly detract from other components of the program), or on the other extreme, they're very small, very local projects that don't invoke much in the way of creativity or effort (garbage picking, packing food at the food bank, helping with the local Cuboree). I don't want to detract from the value of the actual work that is done in those kind of projects, but they aren't very inspiring.

Anyway, Scouting seems to have lost the middle ground in regards to service projects. Whatever happened to blitzing the neighbourhood in the fall to rake leaves for senior citizens, to painting the local church, to repairing old toys and distributing them to poor families at Christmas? If you ever get a chance to read some of the old "With the Boy Scouts" syndicated newspaper column from the 20s (the precursor to the Scout Leader magazine), you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. One of my big pushes is to get Scouting back into the communities that support us...to pay back those people who pay 50 bucks for a tin of popcorn. I'm shamelessly borrowing a page from our friends to the south, and trying to set up a "Good Turn For Thunder Bay"; a cooridnated weekend event where all the local Scout groups go out and do people-oriented service projects.

As to the voluntourism, CBC radio did an hour-long expose about it a month or two ago. The thing that I found most interesting is that, while Canada sends lots of voluntourists to Africa to build schools and dig wells, voluntourists from Europe are most interested in coming to northern Canada to do the same on remote First Nation communities. Physician, heal thyself.

I'll close with my other mantra that I've been preaching for the past couple of years:

Scouting is not a service organization for youth. It is a service orgainzation by youth.

Have a great weekend!

Steve

I'm 22. I've been a Rover for four years and have had a very active Rover Crew for all four years. In fact in our first year we were the Rover Crew of the Year in PCC. Which for us, was pretty impressive.

How you ask?

By not asking too much of youth that are already doing ten million other things. Most new Rovers are starting college or university or other post-secondary training. They're thinking of moving out with some friends and maybe travelling and getting a job. So rather then pushing them into roles that they may not have time for or necessarily want, let them chill for a couple of years. Have them come into a Scout troop and teach axe safety or something of that sort. Have them or a few Rovers come camping as a separate "patrol" to a troop camp, just to show the scouts that these older kids are having tons of fun doing the same mundane camp skills as they are. That's how much time they really have and it keeps them around the movement for when they are able to settle down and take a real commitment. Let them find their place in the world and then start phasing them in at around 23-26. At that point, most have done school, have a place to live, have a job that allows them to go off on weekends with the scout troop or take a week off in the middle of the summer.

The whole point of the Rover program is to develop young adults into very productive members of society. Whether that's in Scouting with taking control of the cub pack and getting their Woodbadge or becoming a lawyer and going for school for many years. But most of all it's a place to come where everything else just drops away and having a good time with good friends. We have weekly meetings. We have at least one meeting per month outside, we have a business meeting every month as well and we try to go camping every other month. We try to do our best with doing service, but part of the service is doing a service to ourselves in bettering us so we can be better to help others. And that's the key that people forget. Yes, the Rover Motto is Service, but that includes service to yourself.


We have 13 registered Rovers this year. About half are currently leaders in some capacity. And they are some the best people I know.


As for Voluntourism. I can understand how that would appeal to people, but I've found in a couple instances that people will go through the steps of fund raising and all the planning and training and all that. Do the event, and then the group will splinter and die. Program has to be ongoing, especially if your dealing with Vents and Rovers.

Makr, I think your vision of Rovers as leaders is the right one. Just get them in front of the other sections and let them interact in a fairly natural way without worrying about jamming a whole lot of training and administration onto their plates. They'll sell the program just by loving it, by doing it. Who wouldn't want to be the cool guy or gal who taught you how to use an axe safely? Straight up role-modelling is the only real sales pitch we need.

To have this happen on a wide scale though we need to break free of the "Two Role System" that we commonly see ourselves as inhabiting: You're either an adult leader OR a youth member and there is NOTHING in between. While this is (basically) true from an administration perspective and useful for the various legal realities, it serves us poorly when it comes to building future leaders. Instead of cultivating leadership slowly over a long window of experience we end up pushing people into administrative positions they either do not want or are not ready for, regardless of training. No good comes of this.

Makr, what are your thoughts on the kinds of training, programming, experiences, or support that Scouts Canada could offer Rovers to add SERIOUS value to the program?

Actually, I'm going to go make a new thread for this topic...

In my area I've made some excellent baby-step progress since taking my Rover WB1 to weeks ago. I now have a Deputy AC specifically for Rovers who has a one year assignment to start a new crew in our area. He'll help the new crew get mentored by an existing crew and help them on their way. He'll then help train his own replacement and I'll appoint one of the new or existing Rovers as my DAC.

Second, all the local Rover crews in my city will be invited to a dinner get together next month so we can chat, visit, discuss the future and how I can not only support those in my area but use my position to influence changes in the council. After the visit and the eating we will have invited senior Venturers come to an open house to meet the Rovers, learn about the program, possibly get hooked up with an existing crew or invite them to join the new crew.

Mostly, I want to sell them all, Rovers and Venturers, on the vision, on what they can accomplish.

Jumping into the middle of the conversation.

I see most of the Venturers and Rovers join Vocational groups and not the traditional Scouting group. This leads to many different types of service. But it seems to leave out some of the ideals of Scouting, and Rovering in particular. Then where is the vision to really link with your younger brother, or be the international diplomate, or finding yourself on that ramble. Is this the step to getting a job, and taking care of self not of other?

Godwin

Yes, that is a concern; a very serious one.

The only way to combat it is to make it the case that the vocational aspect is only ONE PART of the Venturer or Rovering program. The only ways I know how to do this are:

1. to train advisors how to avoid this possibility (and what to do about it when it arises);

2. make sure that there are lots of other attractive and meaningful activities for them to participate in;

3. have a community of Vents and Rovers that can act as role models for any group that has lost their way.

-John

I have heard these types of comments before, about Themed/Vocational Venturers& Rovers.

Have to say, they always seem to surprise me. I have had the chance to see many youth from these programs and would never think they are lacking something? I might extend that to say many youth in "traditional" companies/crews are lacking something?

Certainly with themed programs there is a specific focus on the vocational aspects. That does not mean there is no other focus. Certainly, advisors must take care that a "job" doesn't become the only reason. I really don't see much difference between these and say, "Sea Scouts". Use the theme to draw them in, use the theme to encourage them to learn new skills, use the theme to encourage community service, use the theme to offer up outdoor experiences.. sounds pretty much like what we want, isn't it?

Not wanting to annoy anyone but it has been my experience that those who belittle the vocational programs really haven't had a close look at what is going on. Different does not mean bad, different might not appeal to all, but for those who do, let it go! I've been told there are actually youth out there who really don't like camping, if you don't camp, does that mean you aren't learning something? I have to think for many people coming to this country, the idea of spending weekends out living in a tent and cooking over a fire and using a hole in the ground to .. (you know what I mean!), might not sound "new" or "better". They might prefer another activity for their weekend, don't you think?

just my two cents..