Scouting began as a program for boys 11 to 18 years of age. Yet almost immediately there were demands by others to participate. The Girl Guides programme was started in 1910 by B-P. His wife Olave, whom he married in 1912, became Chief Guide.
A Wolf Cub section was formed for younger boys. It used Kipling's "Jungle Book", to provide an imaginative symbolic background for activities. For older boys, a Rover Scout branch was formed.
The names and characteristics of programmes vary from country to country: Cub Scouts, Beavers, Rovers, Explorers, Senior Scouts and many more. In some countries boys can start when they are six years old. Some programmes are open to girls and boys.
The World Wars
Between the two world wars Scouting continued to flourish in all parts of the world - except in totalitarian countries where it was banned. Scouting is essentially democratic and voluntary.
The war came in 1939, Scouts again carried on under their patrol leaders; they undertook many national service tasks – messengers, fire watchers, stretcher bearers, salvage collectors and so on. In occupied countries, Scouting continued in secret with Scouts playing important roles in the resistance and underground movements. After the liberation, it was found that the numbers of Scouts in some occupied countries had, in fact, increased.
The '60s, '70s and '80s
Many countries gained their independence during these years. Scouting in developing countries gradually evolved to be a youth programme which was designed by Scout leaders in each country to better meet the needs of their communities.
Scouts, particularly in developing countries, became more involved with issues such as child health, low-cost housing, literacy, food production and agriculture, job skills training, etc.
Drug abuse prevention, life skills training, integration of the handicapped, environmental conservation and education, and peace education became issues of concern to Scouts around the world.
Post Communistic Era
In the 1990s Scouting has been reborn in every country where it existed prior to World War II, and it has started throughout the newly independent countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (formerly the USSR). Since 1993, 35 countries have joined, or rejoined, the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
What started as a small camp on Brownsea Island is today a growing Movement with members in nearly every country in the world. What started as an outdoor camp to teach skills is today a programme that is used successfully in such diverse settings as developing countries and metropolitan inner-cities.