AGM and democracy

Autumn is ATM time. First for all groups, then districts. The observer who came last year, who is also on the national committee, criticised us for the lack of motions from the active.members. It hit home, and we felt a bit ashamed: Every year we ask the scouts to sit in on the AGM and also vote. They are usually not particularly amused. So this year we decided to do something new.
The first couple of weeks this term I visited the older Cubs, the scouts and the Challengers. I explained the structure of the movement and the scouts wrote motions: The younger ones on big pieces of paper, some with illustrations, the slightly older ones on ordinary writing paper, and the challengers sent their by e-mail. Some of the leaders took the opportunity to write some too. All in all 14 motions were handed in to the committee.
At the AGM we took care explain the lingua and the proceedings as they happened. The scouts were much more active and questioned, voted and discussed the motions and the budget. The AGM lasted for almost 2 hours, but at the end of it we had a new vice chairperson (27) and two other members under 18. We also decided to build a tree house at our campsite (motion from the older Cubs), to buy some new tents (motion from the Scouts), to start sorting the rubbish at the hut in fractions for recycling (motion from the Challengers) and to buy an electrical chain saw for the campsite (motion from the Rovers).
Now I'm on the train to my first WSJ meeting. Exiting!

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District AGM

It's not a huge affair, but it takes a bit of organising, and a few worries before hand.



I've restricted my distric activities to training. So I was there partly as a delegate for the group, partly as training officer, and also to inform our delegates about how the AGM works. Our group were hosting the meeting, and we were in place at 8.30, with 80 french rolls, and 70 marsipan cakes (We went out for lunch) Our delegates ranged in age from 13 to 42.

The chairman of our group, talking to the retiring chairman of the District

Generally, scouts in Sweden use a method we call, directly translated "influence market", but a better translation is probably "discussion square". The method was invented by The Swedish Scout Association, and has now been adopted by several organisations and political groups, among others Swedish Red Cross, Attac, and Student organisations in Sweden.

All propositions and motions, including budget and action plans are posted in a room outside of the plena. After the meeting has elected chairpeople and secretaries (two of each to make sure everything gets handled correctly) Representatives from the committee, and if possible the person who has written the motion are in place to answer any questions. The delegates move around to listen and discuss the documents. Observers are allowed to comment and listen too, but only delegates are allowed to leave written comments. You use a green note to second the motion, a yellow note to second with changes, and a red note to negate.

When the Discussion square is closed, all the notes are collected by the committee, sorted and documented, and often after lunch, the meeting continues. One by one the propositions and the motions are presented and so are any comments. If a person wants the meeting to discuss his or her comment and take it into the meeting, the issue has to be woken. Sometimes they aren't, because the delegate might have hade a change of heart or been persuaded not to wake the issue.

This is a lenghty buissness, but it assures that everyone has the chance to say their piece of mind and it is a great way to make the text come to life and get everybody involved. It is used both on a group level and in large, national gatherings. How do involve your scouts in the democratic process?

This time, there wasn't anything controversial and the meeting came to a friendly end about 4pm.