Every day, starting with the 9th of August, assigned patrols (one patrol was made out of 8 scouts) would come to visit the Global Development Village and have workshops of their choice. All the 12 partners had workshops at the same time. There were two workshops per partner scheduled every day, from 9.30 until 11.30 and from 1.30 to 3.30. Later on, from 3.30 to 5 pm the Global Development Village would again be open to everyone.

Workshops delivered by the Peace Revolution team

Under the name of ‘Peace In, Peace Out’, the Peace Revolution team delivered a total of 10 workshops of 2 hours each, to a number of 142 scouts. During the workshops, the participants had the chance to explore both the theoretical and practical aspects of meditation: they were introduced to the concept of inner peace, what it is, how it affects outer peace and world peace. The benefits of meditation were also emphasized and, lastly, both a yoga and a meditation session were led.

Firstly, we did a round of introduction in the group, also trying to find out why the participants were in the session. Most of them were new to meditation and curious about the topic. After introducing the trainers (Anca and Pramy in the beginning, or Anca and Helen later on) we went into what mediation is, how it works and why we should meditate. Correlations were made between the peace and serenity the Scouts already feel when being in the nature with their friends. Extracts from scientific studies, showing positive correlations between meditation and stress, eating disorders, smoking, were also brought forward. We discussed about how meditation is a practice which could be done by everyone, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, etc.

A very good exercise we did was to ask ‚When do you feel most peaceful?’.The group, as Scouts, would generally reply ‘in the nature’, ‘next to a campfire’, etc. Then I asked them why they thought they felt most peaceful then – was it the nature? Was it because of having less thoughts? About allowing the mind to be more still? - and we made the correlation between stillness of the mind and inner peace.

The conversations went smooth and it was a learning lesson with each workshop given. However, even though we were in the nature, it was challenging to find quiet space for the meditation session – there were either cars, bikes, people around, or it was too cold. However, we can say that even though the meditation itself did not happen in the best environment, we managed to send across the idea about what it is and how it works. Also, we did emphasize on the importance of taking the practice into a quieter and safer environment, as the participants returned home.

Interactive stands

Every day, from 3.30 to 5 pm, the Global Development Village was open for drop in, for whoever wanted to find out what the stands were about. In this way, we managed to send out an approximate number of 700 flyers and present the project to whoever dropped by – Scouts, leaders, volunteers, Heads of contingent. Our tent had banners and stickers with Peace Revolution, as well as flyers, brochures, albums with the Fellowships – European and Thai ones.

Challenges & Lessons learned

A Rally was scheduled for the first day of the MOOT, aiming to bring all 2000 participants to discover the site of the Global Development Village and to find out what each partner organization’s role was. A significant drawback for the success of the Global Development Village in the MOOT was the fact that the Rally was cancelled. Thus, the partner organizations who were presenting in the Global Development Village, including Peace Revolution, were announced in the morning that all activities for the GDV for that day were cancelled. This led to a under promotion of the Global Development Village for the MOOT, as participants did not know what exactly was happening there. This brought the need to find another way of reaching the Scouts who rarely came to visit the MOOT – during the day off for the Global Development Village, in the middle of the program, which was also the Intercultural Day with a big show for the rest of the camp, Anca went to countries’ tables and distributed flyers and talked to Scouts about Peace Revolution’s presence in the Global Development Village. Also, in the last day, together with Global Development Village partners, it was decided to create informal and drop in sessions for passers-by, as well as partners. A round with presentations for each partner organization was done, aiming to raise awareness over our activities. Lastly, to compensate the low promotion of the GDV, Helen reached out to Heads of contingent in the last days, collecting contacts of various countries.

Also, because the patrols did not stick to the schedule and did not come to the workshops, only 10 out of the 12 workshops scheduled took place.

In the way it was planned, about 1500 out of the 2000 scouts took part in one workshop in the Global Development Village. This gave the possibility for the patrols to be present only once in the Village and to attend, during the MOOT, only one workshop. A rotation system would have been more beneficial, but it did not happen due to lack of time.

On the positive side, during workshops, we were reminded how important it is to understand well the profile of those who are attending the workshops - in this case, the Scouts. Making reference to the nature, to their motivation in being Scouts, and connecting it to the importance of meditation helped a lot.

Furthermore, on a personal note, Anca found out that it is very important, when leading meditation, to have a good rest and a good discipline. She has never taught 2 sessions in a day before, and sleeping in a tent while having to lead meditation sessions was a challenge.

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“Scouting, education for life”, informative booklet