Scoutisme Béninois is the national

Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

organization of

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

. Scouting in Benin started around 1930 and became a member of the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest international Scouting organization. WOSM has 173 members. These members are recognized national Scout organizations, which collectively have around 43 million participants. WOS ...

in 1964 under the previous name

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...

. Its

Girl Guide Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

branch, the Guides du Bénin, is a member of the

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS ) is a global association supporting the Girl Guides, female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organizations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, ...

. The coeducational Scoutisme Béninois has 5,259 members as of 2008. In 1977, Ernest Mehinto was awarded the ''

Bronze Wolf The Bronze Wolf Award is bestowed by the World Scout Committee (WSC) to acknowledge "outstanding service by an individual to the World Scout Movement". It is the highest honor that can be given a volunteer Scout leader in the world and it is the ...

'', the only distinction of the

, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting.

Activities

Scouts carry out literacy campaigns and offer courses in

childrearing Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a b ...

. They are involved in community projects such as digging wells, anti-

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

campaigns, building village schools and developing modern farms where children may spend several weeks learning to read and grow food. The Market Center of

Ouidah Ouidah () or Whydah (; ''Ouidah'', ''Juida'', and ''Juda'' by the French; ''Ajudá'' by the Portuguese; and ''Fida'' by the Dutch) and known locally as Glexwe, formerly the chief port of the Kingdom of Whydah, is a city on the coast of the Repub ...

, which was established by the Scouts more than 20 years ago , trains young people in agricultural skills, thus helping to reverse the exodus towards the cities. Benin Scouts have also engaged in a cattle farm project in the southern forest region of the country, raising healthy cattle despite the threat of disease spread by

tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glo ...

. A workshop has been held on "

New Energies The Greens and Left Alliance ( it, Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, AVS), is a left-wing political alliance active in Italy, which was launched on 2 July 2022 as a federation of two political parties, Italian Left (SI) and Green Europe (EV). The AVS is ...

". As a result, Scouts are now building and showing others how to build cooking stoves that use 90 percent less fuel than open fires.

Sections

*Louveteaux/Louvettes - ages 6 to 12 *Eclaireurs/Eclaireuses - ages 11 to 16 *Compagnons/Compagnes - ages 15 to 19 *Routiers/Guides - ages 18 to 35 The

Scout Motto The Scout Motto of the Scout movement is, in English, "Be Prepared", with most international branches of the group using a close translation of that phrase. These mottoes have been used by millions of Scouts around the world since 1907. Most of t ...

is ''Sois Prêt'', ''Be Prepared'' in French.

References

External links

* World Organization of the Scout Movement member organizations Scouting and Guiding in Benin Youth organizations established in 1932 {{Benin-stub