What is it? The SW Award is to develop ‘world citizens’: people who actively work together to create a better world for all at a local level.

Who can apply? Venture and Rover Scouts, or those between the ages of 15 – 26. The SW Award is a team award: A group of friends may collaborate for the award, or a Scout may support an existing project launched by WOSM or another organization (SVP, UNESCO, etc.).

Time Commitment:  21 hours minimum explore workshop, 80 hours minimum  discovery service project, discovered reflection

1. Plan – explore stage 
One of the first tasks Scouts undertaking the award will encounter is the SW Discovery workshop. Scouts will walk away from the workshop with an outline plan for their SW Award Voluntary Service project. The workshop lasts for a number of days (minimum of 21 working hours).

Workshop Objectives:

• Familiarise Scouts with the stages of the SW Award.
• Discover and explore a challenge, related to a global issue, faced by the Scouts’ community. This challenge must be associated with one or more of the award’s three aspects – development, peace, and/or the environment.
• Research the identified challenge and its effect on these Scouts at both a personal and a community level.
• Begin planning a service project to address this challenge.
  
  2. Do – action stage
  The next stage in the SW Award is implementing the Voluntary Service project which must be: 

• a long-term endeavour of at least 80 working hours (e.g. a fortnight (the average) to over a period of months, depending on the requirements for each project)
• in alignment to your chosen theme of development, peace, or environment agreed upon in the SW Discovery
• thought out and achievable (e.g. fundraising may be necessary)

Not eligible: a period of work driven by private motives (such as a company internship) does not qualify as an SW Voluntary Service – in other words, it has to be from the heart.

Tip!  Demonstrate long-term thinking; sustainability and follow-ups post project-completion can be considered equally important as the project itself.

3. Review – reflect stage

Reflection and evaluating your work is an essential component of active citizenship. The review should:

• showcase how Scouts have acquired a new capacity to serve the community by gaining valuable knowledge, attitudes, motivations, skills, values
• demonstrate the long-term sustainability and monitoring of the project over the coming months and years to follow

In summary to get the SW Award you need to:

• Register: Contact your NSO’s SWA Coordinator
• Plan: Complete an SW Discovery
• Do: Complete an SW Award Voluntary Service
• Review: Evaluate your SW Award Discovery and Voluntary Service
• Submit: Send your report into the SWA Coordinator and report on scout.org about your SW Award
• Celebrate your achievements; and ensure the sustainability of the project!

What is it?  A badge to support the development of environmental education across global scout bodies.

Who can apply? Beavers, Cubs, Cubs Scouts, Ventures and Rovers (adapt resources as needed for section)

Time Commitment: minimum 21 hour service project

 1. Plan – explore stage 

Complete a few activities to explore a the following 5 areas for a better world:

• Clean water and air for all people and natural systems
• Sufficient natural habitat exists to support native species.
• The risk of harmful substances to people and the environment are minimised.
• The most suitable environmental practices are used.
• People are prepared to respond to environmental hazards and natural disasters.

Top tip!  Use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an activity prompt! Thes SDG act as guideline for the award – so best to demonstrate how you used them. Try to cover as many of the 5 areas as possible over the course of their project. The programme encourages Scouts to have a holistic awareness of the natural world and how their everyday actions can impact upon this, progressively building a sense of personal responsibility for the environment.
Participation in the programme follows a simple structure:

`2. Do -discovery stage 

Decide on what actions you could you do in your community to increase sustainable habits in the environment. Projects should demonstrate:

• alignment with specific SDGs and their targets
• partnership with other organizations
• long-term thinking for sustainability (e.g. can the project be repeated to maximize effort?)

Top tip! Working in collaboration with others who might have expertise in an environmental issue or who require support in actioning projects could be worthwhile investigating for your own project.

3. Review – the reflect stage 

Reflection and evaluating your work is an essential component of active citizenship. The review should:

• showcase how Scouts have acquired a new capacity to respect nature by gaining valuable knowledge, attitudes, motivations, skills, values
• demonstrate the long-term sustainability and monitoring of the project over the coming months and years to follow

A summary of how to earn the World Environment Badge: 

1. Register: A section or small team registers to begin the programme
2. Plan: Using activities, explore and reflect on each of the five areas in the programme – Clean water and clean air, natural habitats, risks of harmful substances minimised, suitable environmental practices, and environmental hazards and natural disasters.
3. Take Action: Complete an environmental project based on your exploration of the issues and which helps the local environment.
4. Review: Evaluate your project and each scout reviews their role.
5. Submit an application for the World Scout Environment Badge which records all your exploration activities and the environmental project.

Here is a link to additional resources
Exploring Nature Habitats

What is it? The Messengers of Peace Award was established to inspire youths of all nationalities to take an active role in the preservation, propagation and perpetuation of world peace. Any Scout project that brings a positive change in a community – its health, environment, social circumstances, safety or addresses conflict – is a Messengers of Peace project. Since 2012, Scouts across the world have been sharing their community service initiatives online on scout.org. To date, more than 620,000,000 service hours have been registered in over 40,000 community service initiatives.

Who can apply? The badge may be awarded to any Scout whose voluntary involvement in a community service project has exceeded 10 hours. This may be a local or international community. Once again, it is required that groups follow the SDGs as a project guide, and make use of the ‘explore, reflect, local action’ method throughout the project.

Time Commitment: minimum 10 hours service project

Participation in the Award follows a simple structure:

 1. Plan – explore stage

Complete a few activities to explore various social issues in your community, local problems, people in action who you can look up to  and good practice examples of projects you can take inspiration from.

2. Discover – action stage
Identify your motivation and talents. Choose a field of action. Select useful knowledge, skills and ideas to apply. Plan your actions, execute, monitor, evaluate and report.

3. Discovered – reflect stage

Reflection and evaluating your work is an essential component of active citizenship. The review should:

• showcase how Scouts have acquired a new capacity to serve the community by gaining valuable knowledge, attitudes, motivations, skills, values
• demonstrate the long-term sustainability and monitoring of the project over the coming months and years to follow
• highlight how you shared you project and raised awareness about the social issue in the wider community in and outside of scouts

Summary of how to earn your Messenger of Peace Award:

1. A section, small team or an individual registers for the Award.
2. Plan: Learn about a local social issue and decide on the ways in which you can help
3. Do: Complete a community project with minimum of 10 hours contributed
4. Review: Evaluate your project and each scout reviews their role and submit an application for the Messengers of Peace Award.
5. Celebrate your achievement and share your results!