Uganda Scouts for Safe Water Project

Thanks to your support, access to clean, safe water is no longer out of reach for thousands of people across Uganda.

In many rural communities, families have long faced the daily burden of walking long distances to collect water — often from unsafe sources — at the cost of young people's health, education, and household income.

Today, that reality is beginning to change.

Through the Uganda Scouts for Safe Water Project in 2025, you helped bring clean water closer to home. Driven by their commitment to service and local action, Mercy Scouts constructed six protected spring wells in some of the country’s most overlooked communities.

Funded through the Scout Donation Platform and building on the success of earlier initiatives which impacted over 6,000 people in 2024, this renewed effort not only delivered essential infrastructure; it empowered young people to lead sustainable, community-driven change.

The impact of your support can be felt in thousands of lives. One of them is Dorothy’s.

Dorothy's Story

Growing up in Eastern Uganda, Dorothy’s childhood was defined by hardship. She was often sick, weakened by various waterborne diseases.

Each day, she walked nearly two kilometres to fetch water, only to return with water that was dirty and unsafe, but the only option her family had. The journey was exhausting. It left her little time or energy for school. She arrived late, struggled to keep up, and her performance suffered.

Over time, the weight of it all — illness, distance, and fatigue — began to take its toll.

Then, things began to change, thanks to Scout supporters like you.

After a successful fundraising campaign on the Scout Donation Platform, Scouts came to Dorothy's community and built a protected well.

For Dorothy, it felt like an answer to her prayers.

With clean water just steps from home, the long walks stopped. Her health improved. She began attending school regularly, able to focus, learn, and participate.

But what stayed with her most was not just the clean water. It was the example. Inspired by the Scouts who transformed her community, Dorothy chose to become one of them.

As a Scout, Dorothy found purpose. She now helps clean and maintain wells, takes part in environmental conservation through tree planting, and works alongside others to improve life in her community.

She also gained vocational skills, learning to make bracelets, wristbands, and bottle designs. These provide her and her family with an income. Through this, she can help pay her school fees and support her family’s essential needs.

You can even find some of these bracelets at the Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland.

“The best part of being a Scout”, she says, “is working together with others to serve the community and impact other people.”

Because of you, Dorothy is no longer walking long distances in search of water.

And she is helping ensure others don’t have to.

Her story is no longer just one Scout's story. It is a ripple of hope in her community.

Video and photography by Ray Moses Majanga.

Building a More Equitable World in Argentina

In communities across Argentina facing deep social and economic vulnerability, access to safe spaces, education, and opportunity can no longer be taken for granted. Through ScoutAR: Building a More Equitable World, Scouting has become a bridge, connecting children, families, and community leaders to hope, belonging, and the skills needed to navigate an uncertain world. 

In 2025, the project established and strengthened educational Scout units in vulnerable contexts, using the Scout Method as a tool for inclusion, protection, and personal development. Originally designed to reach a few communities, the project expanded organically in response to local demand, ultimately supporting five Educational Scout Units across the country, evidence of both community trust and relevance. 

Through regular weekly meetings, camps, and community activities, 300 children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds directly took part in Scouting for the first time, gaining access to structured learning environments that foster life skills, teamwork, leadership, and a sense of belonging. 

The impact extended well beyond those directly involved. Through knowledge sharing, institutional learning, and national outreach, the project reached an additional 4,260 people in the community, embedding new approaches to inclusion and community engagement across Scouts of Argentina. 

Crucially, ScoutAR did more than deliver activities; it helped shape systems for long‑term change. The project led to the development of a national policy proposal on Scouting in vulnerable contexts, strengthened partnerships with local governments and universities, and introduced psychosocial support through collaborations with academic and professional institutions, ensuring that Scouting could respond safely and effectively to complex social realities. 

The result is a scalable, community‑rooted model: Scouting not as an occasional intervention, but as a sustained presence where it is needed most.

Mónica’s Story: The First Indigenous Scouting Group in Argentina

For Mónica Rodríguez, Scouting is not an abstract idea. It is justice, protection, and love made visible.

Mónica is the leader of Kaa Oiko — “Living Nature” — the first Indigenous Scout group in Argentina, based in the Guaraní community of Arakwa Iya, meaning “owners of knowledge.” Before Scouting entered her life, Mónica was looking for an opportunity to be a leader, driven by injustice and an inspiring sense of responsibility toward her people and culture.

A mother of eleven, Mónica saw a quiet emergency unfolding in her community: young people drifting toward substance abuse, violence, and hopelessness. She knew something had to change, but she also knew it could not happen without safe spaces, education, and dignity.

When she first encountered Scout leaders in Orán, she made the choice to join the Movement, seeing it as a vehicle to create change in her community. What she found in Scouting was listening and respect, a method that resonated deeply with Indigenous values: care for nature, responsibility to others, and learning by doing. That led to the beginning of Kaa Oiko.

Today, Kaa Oiko is more than a Scout group. It is a place where being Indigenous and being a Scout go hand in hand — with pride.

Through Scouting, Mónica has woven Guaraní culture into the Scout Method. Activities alternate between traditional Scout ceremonies and cultural preservation: learning the mother tongue, making crafts by hand, dancing the pim pim, and reconnecting with nature as a source of medicine, knowledge, and identity. They sell goods outside the community, interact confidently with others, and wear their neckerchiefs proudly.

For Mónica, “Always Ready” means being prepared for life’s hardest moments: defending the rights of young people, preserving culture, and creating pathways where none seemed possible. 

Today, when Mónica speaks about Scouting, she speaks from both the heart and the soul. For her, Scouting is respect. It is love in action.

And through ScoutAR, leaders like Mónica are proving that when Scouting enters vulnerable spaces with humility, trust, and partnership, it does more than include: it transforms communities.

Video and photography by Emiliano Nadal.

The Emirates Scouts Innovate Project

Across the United Arab Emirates, thousands of young people are discovering that innovation is not just about ideas; it is about action. Through the Emirates Scouts Innovate project in 2025, funded by Accenture, Scouts learned to identify real challenges in their communities and design practical, sustainable solutions that make a difference in everyday life.

Thanks to Accenture's support, an Impact Innovator Challenge badge was developed, as part of World Scouting's LifeLeaders educational initiative. The badge aimed to equip a generation of young people with innovation and creative problem-solving skills for life, encouraging them to take meaningful action in their communities to solve problems for people and our planet. The actions facilitated by the partnership with Accenture aimed to equip Scouts with the skills and knowledge to address locally identified social, cultural, and economic challenges, thereby advancing the Sustainable Development Goals through educational initiatives and capacity building.

Over 12 months, more than 1,750 Scouts took part directly in structured innovation activities, while a knowledge sharing model enabled their learning to reach far beyond Scout halls and classrooms. By sharing what they learned with peers, families, and schools, young participants helped extend innovation skills to over 17,500 young people, creating a powerful multiplier effect across the country. 

This momentum translated into action. Youth teams developed and delivered 130 community innovation projects, each aligned with real local needs and global frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals. These projects ranged from environmental solutions and education tools, to creative approaches to waste reduction and sustainability, demonstrating how Scouting can be a driver of community-led innovation when young people are trusted as changemakers. 

The result is a national model where innovation is no longer abstract. It is practical, youth-led, and rooted in service, powered by young people who believe they can find innovative solutions to real-world problems.

Rakan’s Story: Turning Food Waste into Growth

For Rakan Hesham, innovation began with something simple, and powerful.

A Scout for two years at Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Private Charity School, Rakan joined Emirates Scouts Innovate through his Scout group. Like many young people, he enjoyed learning new skills, working in teams, and finding ways to help others. But it was through an innovation project that those values came together in a very tangible way.

Rakan and his team noticed how much food waste, especially fruit and vegetable leftovers, was being thrown away every day. Instead of seeing it as waste, they saw an opportunity. Together, they launched a composting project that upcycled organic waste into nutrient-rich compost, helping plants grow while reducing food scraps sent to a landfill.

Through the project, Rakan learned how everyday actions can have environmental impact. He gained practical skills in upcycling organic waste, collaborated closely with his teammates, and experienced what it means to solve a real-world problem: not in theory, but in practice. Just as importantly, the project raised awareness among other students, encouraging them to think differently about waste and environmental responsibility.

What Rakan values most is not just the outcome, but the role he played in making change happen. As he puts it, being a Scout means taking something unwanted and turning it into something useful.

Innovation, for Rakan, is not always complex. It is about creativity, teamwork, and the confidence to act. With the support of his Scout leaders and school, he discovered that young people can make a real difference when they are given the tools, trust, and opportunity to lead.

Video and photography by Ahmed Samy.