Interamerican Scout Region (World Organization of the Scout Movement)

The Interamerican Region is the divisional office of the World Scout Bureau of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, headquartered in Santiago, Chile. The InterAmerican Region services Scouting in the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America. Until the 1960s, the Region serviced only Mexico, Central and South America, with Canada and the United States serviced through the then-named "Boy Scouts International Bureau" in Ottawa, Canada. Even today, the Interamerican Region exists more for the benefit of countries south of the Rio Grande, as evidenced by the website being only in Spanish until 2011; consequently, the United States and Canada do not participate as vigorously in regional activities as do other national organizations around the world.

The headquarters of the InterAmerican Region has moved progressively southward since its inception, starting in Havana, Cuba, from 1946 to 1960; moving briefly to Kingston, Jamaica, in 1960; immediately relocating to Mexico City, Mexico, between 1960 and 1968; then to San José, Costa Rica, between 1968 and 1992; Santiago, Chile, from 1992 to 2010, most recently relocating to Ciudad del Saber, Panama.

The Scouts of the nations in the Caribbean basin host their own subregional jamborees.

The InterAmerican Region contains one of the five countries with no Scouting organization, Cuba, due to political constraints within the country.

This region is the counterpart of the Western Hemisphere Region of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS).

Regional Scouts administered directly by WOSM

The needs of Scout youth in the Region in unusual situations has created some interesting permutations, answerable directly to the World Scout Bureau. For years there was an active Boy Scouts of the United Nations with several troops at Parkway Village in New York City, with but 14 members in 1959. Also directly registered to the World Bureau were the 900 member International Boy Scouts of the Canal Zone.^[1]

Pan-American Region Scout Jamborees

The Region has run or sponsored region-wide jamborees in its member countries. Past Jamborees include:

• 1st Pan-American Jamboree-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1965
• 2nd Pan-American Jamboree-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1966
• 3rd Pan-American Jamboree-Bogota, Colombia 1974
• 4th Pan-American Jamboree-Porto Alegre, Brazil 1981
• 5th Pan-American Jamboree-Kingston, Jamaica 1985
• 6th Pan-American Jamboree-Villarrica, Chile 1989
• 7th Pan-American Jamboree-La Calera, Colombia 1990
• 8th Pan-American Jamboree-Brazil 1992
• 9th Pan-American Jamboree-Cochabamba, Bolivia 1994
• 10th Pan-American Jamboree-Muxbal, Guatemala 1996
• 11th Pan-American Jamboree-Iguaçu Falls, Brazil 2001
• 12th Pan-American Jamboree-San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina 2005
• 13th Pan-American Jamboree-Mexico July 2010 (delayed due to concerns over the 2009 flu pandemic)

Interamerican Scout Conferences

• 1980 Chile
• 1982 Bahamas
• 1984 Brazil
• 1986 Trinidad and Tobago
• 1988 Argentina
• 1990 Uruguay
• 1992 Costa Rica
• 1995 Colombia
• 1998 Mexico
• 2001 Bolivia
• 2003 El Salvador
• 2007 Ecuador

Pan-American Moot

• 1st Pan-American Moot-Cochabamba, Bolivia 27 December, 2008 to 4 January, 2009

Youth of the Americas Award

The Youth of the Americas Award is the only award conferred by the Interamerican Scout Committee. The award is given to persons who have made an impact at the international level.^[2]

See also

• Caribbean Scout Jamboree

External links and references

• Facts on World Scouting, Boy Scouts International Bureau, Ottawa, Canada, 1961
• Patches and memorabilia of the Caribbean Scout Jamborees

References

1. ^ Wilson, John S. (1959). "The International Bureau Goes on the Road". Scouting Round the World (first edition ed.). London: Blandford Press. p. 134. ""At Balboa we met up with Gunnar Berg and Ray Wyland of the B.S.A., also on their way to Bogota, and had a conference about the question of coloured Scouts in the Canal Zone, who claim British and not Panamanian nationality. It was agreed that they should be taken under the wing of the Canal Zone Council of the Boy Scouts of America, but ten years later they were transferred directly under the International Bureau as the International Boy Scouts of the Canal Zone."" 
2. ^ Convocation of nominations for the Youth of the Americas Award. World Scout Bureau, Interamerican Region. http://www.scout.org/en/content/download/19918/184118/file/Circular06_en.pdf.