The Fédération des Scouts de la République démocratique du Congo (FESCO), the national federation of eleven

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

organizations of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, was founded in 1924, and became a member of the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest and, after the Order of World Scouts (formed in 1911), is the second-oldest international organization in the Scout Movement, having been established in 1922. It has 176 members. ...

(WOSM) first in 1963 and again in 1981. The coeducational Fédération des Scouts de la République démocratique du Congo has 71,486 members as of 2010. Scouting was banned in the Congo in 1967 by the government, and was restarted in the late 1970s. In 1981, the ''Organisations des Eclaireurs du Zaïre'' (OEZA) was readmitted to the WOSM. In 1990, the OEZA changed its structure and was renamed ''Fédération des Scouts du Zaïre'' (FSZ), the direct predecessor of the present FESCO. The FESCO consists of eleven regional national Scout associations, reflecting the structure of the country. There was a general meeting in 2004 of all the Scout Associations with the intention of helping pave the way for creating a single national Scout association.

Program

The federations works in four branches: * Louveteaux (

Cub Scouts Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with some Scouting, Scout organizations, for young children, usually between 8 and 12, who are too young to be Scouts and make the Scout Promise. A participant in the program is called a Cub and a gro ...

) — ages 6 to 12 * Scouts — ages 13 to 17 * Aînés (Senior Scouts) — ages 18 to 20 * Routiers (

Rover Scouts Rovers or Rovering is a programme associated with some Scout organizations for adults, originated by The Boy Scouts Association in the United Kingdom in 1918 to provide a programme for young men who had grown up beyond the age range of the Boy ...

) — ages 20 to 25 The Scouts are service-oriented. They are a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

organization and open to all youngsters. Scouts have promoted primary

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

and

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activist ...

. Scouts have built

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

s and buildings, repaired

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

, cleaned dispensaries and organized

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

and

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

campaigns. 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 ''Uwe Tayari'', ''Be Prepared'' in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

, and ''Sois Prêt'' (Be Prepared) or ''Toujours Prêt'', ''Always Prepared'' in French, depending on the organization. The Scout emblem incorporates an earlier variant of the coat of arms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Regional associations

Among the regional members of FESCO are: * Association des Scouts du

Sud-Kivu South Kivu (; ) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Bukavu. Located within the East African Rift's western branch Albertine Rift, it is bordered to the east by Lake Kivu, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania ...

(ASSK) * Association des Scouts du

Nord-Kivu North Kivu () is a Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital city is Goma. Spanning approximately 59,483 square kilometers with a population esti ...

(ASNK)

Scouting in Katanga

Scouts existed in the breakaway

State of Katanga The State of Katanga (; ), also known as the Republic of Katanga, was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Republic of Congo (Léopoldville), Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moïse Tshombe, leader of the local CO ...

prior to its reabsorption into Congo in 1963, but it was never recognized by WOSM.

Literature

References

External links