The Icelandic Boy and Girl Scout Association (in Icelandic: Bandalag íslenskra skáta "BÍS")
Scouting is probably the best-known children and youth worldwide organization and by all means the largest. BIS participates in international activities on all levels, local, Nordic, European and global. It is a member of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). At European level it is working with the European Scout Committee (WOSM) and the Europe Committee WAGGGS, and at Nordic level it is represented in the Nordic Scout/Guide Co-operation Committee.
BIS has an office and a service center in Reykjavík, Skátamidstödin, for the 30 Scout groups in the country. BIS represents the Scout/Guide movement to the authorities and issues programs, rules, uniforms and badges. It runs all international affairs, co-ordinates leader training and takes care of public relations for the movement in Iceland. There are five permanent committees: Program Committee, Leader Training Committee, International Committee, External Relations Committee and Finance Committee. The chairmen of the committees are members of the national board.
The beginnings of Scouting (Guiding) in Iceland
Scouting was introduced in Iceland as early as 1911, when a young man mr. Ingvar Ólafsson, who had joined the Scout Movement in Denmark, formed the first Boy Scout patrol. The first group, Skátafélag Reykjavíkur, was established on November 2nd 1912, and many of the members of the first scout troop became founding members of this new group.
A new Scout group was formed on 23rd of April 1913 with members from the Reykjavík YMCA. A few years after that Scouting had spread around the country. In 1916 a group was formed in Stykkishólmur, 1917 in Akureyri to be followed with groups in the principal towns of Hafnarfjorđur, Eyrarbakki, Akranes and Ísafjörđur. Girl Scouting (Guiding) commenced in 1922 as the YWCA established a group of Girl Guides on July 7th that year.
Separate national associations were founded for boys in 1924 and in 1939 for the girls. In 1944 these two national associations merged under the name Bandalag íslenskra skáta (BIS). Direct translation would be The Association of Icelandic Scouts, but the translation Boy and Girl Scouts has been used to avoid all misunderstanding. We have been a merged Association for so long that other forms of Scouting and Guiding are by now unknown to us. We feel that it has been valuable and profitable to have one Association in Iceland and full cooporation between the sexes. All the groups are open to both boys and girls, but we have patrols and troops that are mixed or single sex, depending on what the local leaders find most suitable at each place. In Iceland we only talk about SCOUTS meaning both boys ands girls in the movement.
Today there are about 3500 active members in BIS, and the number of boys and girls is just about equal. These are members of 30 groups who are spread around the island but about 50 percent are located in the capital Reykjavík and surrounding towns.
The first Chief Scout was Mr. Axel W. Tulinius, (1925-1938) followed by dr. Helgi Tómasson (1938-1958), Jónas B. Jónsson (1958-1971), Páll Gíslason (1971-1981), Ágúst Ţorsteinsson (1981-1988), Gunnar H. Eyjólfsson (1988-1995), Ólafur Ásgeirsson (1995-2004) and Margrét Tómasdóttir since 2004.
The program
The age levels are 5, changed in 2007. They are: DREKASKÁTAR 7-9 years, FÁLKASKÁTAR 10-12 years, DRÓTTSKÁTAR 13-15 years, REKKASKÁTAR 16-18 years, and RÓVERSKÁTAR 19-22 years old. The tasks are divided in to four areas: skills, people, nature and society, with more specialisation as they get older. At all age levels, participation and contributions are rated and the boy and girl scouts get badges usually worn on the light blue uniform. The highest proficiency recognition is the Presidential Badge, which is given once a year to senior girl and boy scouts aged 17-20 years old by the President of Iceland who is the patron of our association. The first Presidential Badges were handed out in 1966 and every year since then 20-30 scouts receive the badge and as of now close to 1300 scouts have received it. Receiving the Presidential Badge is a recognition for the projects they have been working on for the last two or three years.
Outdoor activities have always been one of the most important aspects of Icelandic Scouting and it has always been stressed that the members should learn to respect the Icelandic environment and climate and the skills necessary to survive in it. Icelandic nature is quite challenging and offers plenty of opportunities for the Scouts to try out their skills, both in winter and summer. Icelandic nature consists of mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, hot springs, rivers and interesting hiking areas; trees are rather few and forests almost non-existent. Icelandic scouts take active part in various areas of environmental work and we have been playing a leading role in a campaign for recycling single-use wrappings. Now a new handbook on environmental projects for young people has been published and a copy has been sent to every elementary school in Iceland to be used as a teacher’s handbook in environmental studies.
interNational Jamboree
Every 3 years there is a National Jamboree where scouts from the entire island gather together for a week with friends in scouting from the entire world. Close by are “older” scouts and families of the participants in a family camp. The last one was in the year 2005 at lake Úlfljótsvatn with the theme “Earth's energy”. Lake Úlfljótsvatn is the national outdoor scouting centre (www.scout.is/ulfljotsvatn). Most of our national leader training courses are held there, and the place is used for all kinds of activities all year round. Our next interNational Jamboree will be in 2008 at our outdoor and environmental scout center Hamrar located close to Akureyri in the northern part of Iceland, approx 400 km north of Reykjavik.
The Rescue Teams
From the early days, Icelandic boy and girl scouts have been asked to assist people when various accidents occur such as avalanche, or to search for missing persons in the mountains. In order to get this organized, a special assisting troop was established in Reykjavík in 1932, the members being adults with field and mountain experience. Now there are 28 rescue teams all around the country, with about 1.600 members. This community service is extremely valuable a highly appreciated. Examples of their service are locating and rescuing people from lost or wrecked airplanes and stranded ships, searching for missing persons, training and maintaining rescue dogs, organizing blood donor groups, organizing and giving a first-aid service at all kinds of outdoor gatherings, giving courses in first-aid and on how to prepare for hiking and camping in our rugged and mountainous country. The rescue teams are an important link in the organization of Icelandic Civil Defence and general security in Iceland since there is no national military.
Today and the future
All in all, scouting in Iceland is doing alright. The competition with other social activities is greater than it used to be, as the number of social organizations and activities is growing. The world is getting smaller in many ways and people’s world-view is getting broader. The girl and boy scouts in Iceland have tried to take these changes into account and adapted accordingly. International activities have increased and internal organization of the Movement is changing. Transitions always take time, but the Icelandic boy and girl scouts believe they have a place in the future and prosper.
