The Scouts and Guides Fellowship (SGF) has called for urgent support and collaboration to train the next generation of leaders for the Scouting and Guiding movement in the country.
The President of the SGF Ghana, Commissioner Andrew Botchwey, who made the call, stressed that “scouting is a character-building programme that trains children to be responsible citizens”.
He said the fellowship had observed a worrying decline in the activities and visibility of scout and guide groups over the past two decades due to a shortage of trained leaders and the lack of institutional support.
Commissioner Botchwey was speaking on the first day of a leadership and capacity-building workshop held on Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Accra.
The three-day event aimed at equipping scout and guide leaders with essential 21st-century skills needed to revitalise scouting and guiding across the country.
It attracted leaders from various regions, rooted in the vision of empowering youth through the principles of critical thinking, teamwork, discovery and technological advancement, ultimately contributing to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals MDGs 2&3 and) and Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 5.
“This programme has been organised on the backdrop of a need to re-energise and resuscitate our guiding organisations. Scouting and guiding have seen a downward trend, and this capacity workshop is aimed at reversing that,” Commissioner Botchwey.
Government support
Commissioner Botchwey appealed to the government to support scouting and guiding in the country.
He explained that the movement was once supported during the era of former President Jerry John Rawlings, under whom every President was the Chief Scout and First Lady was the Chief Guide.
“We don't get anything from the government. Meanwhile, we are an organisation that is established by statute, which implies that the government will have to give us some stipends.
He, therefore, called on the government, businesses, and philanthropic organisations to extend support.
Retention
The international commissioner of the Ghana Girl Guide Association, Sylvia Nicole Eshun, shared her insights on the relevance of guiding, stressing that it aimed to empower girls by helping them discover their potential to grow into responsible citizens.
She explained that the association’s major challenge was not getting girls to join, but rather retaining them.
"Retention is our issue.
Some girls come in with high expectations, and if those expectations are not met, they leave, and so, we are working on programmes that appeal to the 21st-century girl," she said
