Scouting and Guiding in Western Sahara

This article is missing information about Sahrawi Scouting in displaced person camps. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2008)

Scouting exists in Western Sahara both as part of the Fédération Nationale du Scoutisme Marocain as well as independent groups.

• Scouting (Scouts de Sahara (Arabic: منظمة الكشاف الشعبي) is being developed in Laayoune with the assistance of Scouts from the Association of Scouts of the Canary Islands.
• Spanish Scouts have established contacts with the Moroccan Scoutisme Hassania Marocain, a member of the Fédération Nationale du Scoutisme Marocain. [1], [2]
• The Youth Union of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro has decided to start a Scout movement, but it is unclear if any groups exist: [3], [4]. This movement is collaborating with the Organización Juvenil Española, a Spanish Scout-like organization [5].
• Saharan Scouts are also purported to exist in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria. The embassy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Algeria uses "Movimiento de Exploradores saharaui" and translates this as "Scouts" [6]. .
• Les Guides de France, the French Girl Guiding movement, organized an international forum in 2001 about the major problems in society and today's world. Alongside the Italian, Welsh, and Polish delegations, and associated organizations including the Comité catholique contre la faim et pour le développement, Khadidja Hamdi, Saharawi parliamentarian in charge of information and culture in the National Union of Sahrawi Women, as well as Régine Villemont, general secretary of the French Association of Friends of SADR, took part in leading a discussion on peace. The Guides de France from Aix en Provence welcomed a group of eleven Saharawi children in 2001." [7]

The Scout Motto is Kun Musta'idan or كن مستعدين, translating as Be Prepared in Arabic. The noun for a single Scout is Kashaf or كشاف in Arabic.