Following the training Bridging communities in the Balkans, through Peace Dialogue, Diversity and Inclusion and Project Management that took place in May 2019 in Zenica (Bosnia), and with the help of a small grant received after the project, the Scout Organization ‘’Josif Pančić’’ from Niš (Serbia) successfully supported the founding of a new Scout Group in rural Serbia.

The newly founded Scout Group ‘’Dr. Milenko Hadžić’’ from the town of Svrljig was registered in October 2019 and it already has 29 cub scouts (15 boys and 14 girls), 33 (16 boys and 17 girls), 8 rovers and 5 adults (3 women and 2 men).

Read the stories of two participants below.

Dule: The first steps that we’ve taken were numerous meetings where we prepared to enroll new members and discussed how we will promote the new Scout Group on Social Media and amongst parents. The second step was to enroll new members and we have talked to the interested children via Social Media, through local media and in person. We held two successful parents’ meetings. We used those occasions to promote the Group and invite interested people to sponsor the Group. We monitored the situation and the work of the newly founded Group regularly. We also helped train members and leaders of the new Scout Group. It was great to see how everyone came together and supported the project. The newly founded Scout Group ‘’Dr. Milenko Hadžič’’ already participated in more than 10 scouting activities in Serbia. The Scout Group is currently working on becoming an official member of the Scout Organization of Serbia and they implement the official programme of the Scout Organization of Serbia.

Ana: This has been another adventure that enriched my scouting experience. It’s been a real challenge as I have never worked on a similar project before, but I have enjoyed it very much. It’s been great working along with my fellow scouts and adults who didn’t have a lot of previous knowledge about scouts and scouting. I was very pleased to see that most members of our Scout group ‘’Josif Pančić’’ wanted to help and support the newly founded group. I think everyone really enjoyed it and I’m always happy to support new people who are just starting to discover the magical world of scouting. I really enjoyed our joint activities and I think that our two groups, ‘’Josif Pančić’’ and the new group ‘’Dr. Milenko Hadžić’’, grew close and I can’t wait for new camps and new opportunities to learn and grow together.