Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft

Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft
South Tyrolean Scout Association
Headquarters	Bolzano
Country	Italy
Founded	25 April 1973
Membership	600
Chief Scout	Christian Mair (chairman) Robert Niedermair (assistant chairman) Miriam Fostini (assistant chairwoman) P. Peter Unterhofer (curate)
Website http://www.pfadfinder.it/de/home.html

The Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft (English: South Tyrolean Scout Association), abbreviated as SP, is the Roman Catholic Scout association of the German minority of the Italian province of South Tyrol. The association is coeducational and has 600 members in seven troops. It is affiliated to the Associazione Guide e Scouts Cattolici Italiani (AGESCI), is strongly connected to Pfadfinder und Pfadfinderinnen Österreichs and Slovenian Catholic Girl Guides and Boy Scouts Association Scouting organizations, and maintains some contact with the Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg. The association owns two campsites in the province.

Scouting within the German-speaking minority grew out of Roman Catholic youth groups (Katholische Jungschar). In 1969-1970 Scouting became a part of the programme of these groups. A pioneer of Scouting was the priest Dean Georg Peer. He participated in seminars of the DPSG, and included Scouting in leadership training of Jungschar afterwards. The first Scout groups affiliated to Katholische Jungschar-Südtirol were founded between 1969 and 1972. The oldest Scout group of the Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft is in Bruneck, founded in 1969 as Jungscharscouts. In 1972 eighteen Scout leaders took part in different training courses of the DPSG. On April 25, 1973 the Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft was established as an independent association.

In 1997 it became part of AGESCI. Scouts and Guides of the Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft took part in the 20th World Scout Jamboree, the 21st World Scout Jamboree. and the 22nd World Scout Jamboree Scouts and Guides of the Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft often take part in camps and training courses in other German-speaking countries (for example in 2003 in the Free Life Jamboree in Austria or in 2006 in the National Jamboree of Liechtenstein). The Südtiroler Pfadfinderschaft is member of the Deutschsprachige Konferenz der Pfadfinderverbände.