ESC: Co2mpensating by planting

The Scout and Guide Association of Croatia (SGAC) is voluntary, non-governmental organization with main focus on nonformal education of children and youth. It is the largest organization for children and youth in Croatia with over 100 year’s old tradition of Scouting. The Association has over 3500 members and it gathers 67 local association's (local Scoutgroups) from all over Croatia. SGAC is one of the founders of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) which has over 50 million members across the globe. In 2019 SGAC had over 30.094 volunteer hours and our 67 local Scout groups made additional 200,000 volunteer hours with their volunteers. So, annually, SGAC and all the local Scout Groups make in average 250,000 volunteer hours which is 10% of all volunteer hours made in the whole country. For that reason and for the effort of organizing the largest voluntary reforestation campaign called Boranka, SGAC was awarded the 2019 National Volunteering Award. It also received the famous Ponos Hrvatske 2019 (Pride of Croatia 2019) award and many other marketing awards for the organization of the Boranka campaign including: Gold Croatia Effie, Mixx Best in Show, Grand Prix Effie Croatia. SGAC is the first organization (in business and non-profit sector) in Croatia and the whole Adriatic that won the Gold Euro Effie. It was awarded to SGAC in Bruxelles in October 2019 for the Boranka campaing and it is the most important European award for marketing efficiency. The Boranka campaign, organized by SGAC has become the most awarded Non-profit campaign in Croatian history. SGAC work is divided into four major programs: the SGAC Program and the national program activities; Training of scouts leaders; Youth Mobility and International Cooperation and Active in community. The SGAC program is divided into 4 parts: knowledge (acquiring factual knowledge, describing phenomena in nature, independent and progressive advancement in a certain area - camping, hiking, natural science, reconnaissance, rescue, survival and pioneering); skills (assigning special tags to the sets of knowledge and skills that is the adopted, e.g. Naturalist - Knowledge of wildlife and protection; Nature Keeper – knowledge elements of nature protection and possible threats; Mountaineer - knowledge of safe stay and movement in the mountains and highland areas; SGAC has a total of 35 recognized skills that it assigns to members); experience (monitoring member participation and advancement through consuming the program over many years) and at the wisdom (encouraging developing members' spiritual and emotional capacities, while respecting their choices and values). The SGAC program received a positive opinion from the Education and Training Agency of the Ministry of education and science. The education of the scouts leaders is reflected through the organization of one-year cycles of education for all levels of leaders / volunteers, training of assistants Section Leader, Section Leader, Program Leader, and Educator and Licensing Adult Leader by Woodbadge I, II, III international scout license. Courses, seminars and trainings are organized throughout the year, regionally (5 regions) and nationally, and are regularly attended by more than 350 participants - current and future leaders. Depending on age and the affinities of the participants in the education, the range of knowledge and skills, and the experience they gain in the education, consists of life and business skills and competencies: taking responsibility, planning, making arrangements and setting goals, organizing volunteer work, communicating with partners, the media, the local community and other actors relevant to conducting scout program and project financing. Youth mobility and international cooperation is a program of the SGAC closely linked to cooperation with other national scout organizations in Europe and the World, and some of the most important activities in 2019 are the departure of the Croatian contingent to the World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia (USA) and the organization of the 16th European Scout Conference, the most important gathering of representatives Scouting organizations of Europe, which was held for the first time in this part of Europe, and brought together over 500 participants. Through the Community Active Program, we encourage and educate young people for active participation in community life, society and the social processes. SGAC actively participates in the work of national advisory bodies regarding civil society, volunteering and work with children and youth. SGAC has active partnerships with relevant national institutions, as well as international partnerships and projects with other national Scout organizations.