Messengers of Peace

Messengers of Peace Initiative

Scouting is a force for good. Throughout its long history Scouts have championed skills development for young people to build and promote a culture of peace and to foster dialogue for mutual understanding. 

Through transformative initiatives like the Messengers of Peace, Scouts are actively building bridges across cultures and communities.

Since its launch in 2010, Messengers of Peace has engaged nearly all 176 National Scout Organizations and invested $27 million into more than 500 national, regional and global projects. These investments have inspired Scouts to undertake 16+ million projects and actions that have totalled nearly 3 billion hours of community service contributed towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Thanks to the generous support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Messengers of Peace has connected millions of young peace-builders together, and inspired Scouts around the world to take action as global citizens to achieve peace and sustainable development. 

On 13 April 2025, Scouts worldwide celebrated the renewal of a ground-breaking USD 50 million Messengers of Peace Fund that will support actions worldwide over the next decade. This generous funding from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will enhance Scouting’s core educational programmes and strengthen the capacity of National Scout Organizations to take action in promoting peace, dialogue, and community action.

As Messengers of Peace, Scouts are working to make their communities more peaceful and inclusive places to live, responding to natural disasters, fostering a culture of dialogue, promoting gender equality, welcoming refugees and so much more.

Along the way the global Scout Movement has also grown from 37 to 57 million Scouts through Messengers of Peace projects that have supported membership growth and strengthened the capacity of National Scout Organizations.

A decade of action and impact: Messengers of Peace evaluation summary

To celebrate the impact of the first decade of action and impact of Messengers of Peace, we commissioned an external evaluation of the initiative. The initiative underwent evaluation through qualitative and quantitative methods involving nearly 4,000 Scouts, leaders, and staff of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). The evaluation demonstrated significant participation from almost all National Scout Organizations (NSOs), with USD 27 million invested in over 532 projects, which inspired 16 million additional projects globally.

The Messengers of Peace initiative surpassed its initial goals, operating in 127 countries and reaching over 4.7 million beneficiaries, and doubling its intended targets. With the involvement of 28 million Scouts globally, it facilitated 1.92 billion service hours and contributed to the growth of Scouting membership from 37 to 54 million in the past decade.

A survey revealed that 93% of participating Scouts believed Messengers of Peace positively influenced their positive attitude towards life, while 92% noted its impact on their community contributions. 

Messengers of Peace has contributed to revitalising community service as core to Scouting, addressing various issues from environmental concerns to promoting diversity and assisting vulnerable populations. The capacity development and modernisation of NSOs were notable achievements, with 86% of surveyed leaders acknowledging its contribution to strengthening their organizations.

The initiative established an efficient grant management system managed by World Scouting and World Scout Foundation and, through its success, further attracted additional donors over the last years, displaying good value for money. Every dollar invested resulted in at least 71 service hours and approximately 30,000 non-funded projects were inspired per funded project. Read the full evaluation here and find out more on the World Scouting website.

Messengers of Peace History 

Messengers of Peace was inspired by World Scouting’s Gifts for Peace programme, which itself was developed as a fitting way to mark the Centenary of Scouting in 2007. Gifts for Peace saw over 10 million Scouts in 110 countries lead and share their own peace activities, from El Salvador’s outreach to provide alternatives for young people to violent street gangs, USA Scout's post-Hurricane Katrina disaster relief and Lebanon’s Phoenix operation, to Rwanda and Burundi’s inter-ethnic peace education, Irish Scout’s bridge-building between Catholics and Protestants and Haitian Scout's earthquake rescue, relief and rehabilitation. Gifts for Peace enabled World Scouting to share and showcase impactful Scout action on a global scale. 

In 2007, World Scouting underwent a brand refresh, adopting the slogan: “SCOUTS Creating a Better World” and at the subsequent World Scout Conference, shared the results of the centennial Gifts for Peace programme with the world, underlining the impact of Scout-led community action. 

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the King of Saudi Arabia, observing the performance of Scouts and their considerable impact on communities worldwide, called on Scouts the world over to be “Messengers of Peace” and to extend their work. The King of Sweden, as Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, added His support to further inspire and enable Scout action for peace around the world.

The Messengers of Peace Initiative was accordingly developed and formally launched by the two Heads of State at a ceremony in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 28 September 2011, with two main goals:
•    To recognise the contributions of Scouts throughout the world to the development of global peace;
•    To provide the support, motivation and resources, which might be needed to encourage Scouts worldwide to expand their impact on global peace.

On 13 April 2025, a ground-breaking USD 50 million in renewed Messengers of Peace funding from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was signed at the Human Capability Initiative event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between HE Yousef bin Abdullah al-Benyan, Minister of Education of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and President of the Saudi Arabian Scout Association, and Siegfried Weiser, Board Member and Chair of the Messengers of Peace Oversight Committee of the World Scout Foundation.

The agreement was signed in the presence of the World Scout Foundation Executive Committee and HH Princess Sama Bint Faisal Al Saud, WSF Board Member, HE Faisal bin Abdulrahman I. Almuaammar, WSF Board Member, John Geoghegan, Special Advisor to the WSF Board, and Mark Knippenberg, CEO and WSF Board Member. World Scouting’s leadership was represented by Daniël Corsen, Chairperson of the World Scout Committee, Christine Pollithy, Member of the World Scout Committee, and David Berg, Acting Secretary General of World Scouting. A delegation of World Scout Bureau staff and Messengers of Peace Heroes also attended the signing ceremony.