Swiss Guide and Scout Movement

Swiss Guide and Scout Movement
The historical membership badge of the Schweizer Pfadfinderbund incorporates the national colors
Country	Switzerland
Founded	1987
Membership	42,000
Affiliation	World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Organization of the Scout Movement
Website Swiss Guide and Scout Movement

The Swiss Guide and Scout Movement (SGSM) (Pfadibewegung Schweiz (PBS), Mouvement Scout de Suisse (MSdS), Movimento Scout Svizzero (MSS), Moviment Battasendas Svizra (MBS)) is a national Scouting and Guiding association in Switzerland formed in 1987. Scouting began in Switzerland in 1912. Switzerland was among the charter members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922 and among the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928. The originally separate Swiss Guide Federation (Bund Schweizerischer Pfadfinderinnen (BSP)) and Swiss Scout Federation (Schweizerische Pfadfinderbund (SPB)) merged in 1987. The SGSM has more than 42,000 members in about 550 local groups (as of 2016).

The Swiss Guide and Scout Movement is mixed at all levels. The only thing that still reminds of the old separation between Girl Guides and Boy Scouts is that some of the terms for different levels (in one or more of the three major languages spoken in Switzerland) are different.

The young age of Swiss leaders is a tradition. Even members of the district or national committees are rarely older than 30. The result is more freedom at the unit level, no discrimination, and a very important experience in leadership for young people.

The mandatory parts of the Swiss uniform are the shirt, the neckerchief, any kind of good hiking boots, a fire lighter and a Swiss army knife. Optional parts are belt, Scout jeans, hat, dagger, etc. A youth receives his/her neckerchief and vulgo (Scout name) from his unit leader in an initiation ceremony.

The Swiss Guide and Scout Movement is a member of Jugend und Sport ("Youth and Sports"), a governmental institution affiliated with the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports, which promotes sports among youth. Camps for youth in the 5-20 age range are subsidized by J+S, and also receive some basic material (wool blankets, denim square units, ropes, spades, etc.) from J+S for these occasions. J+S is also deeply involved in leader training, because unit leaders are basically special youth sport trainers.

The association is divided in five sections according to age. The different languages-Swiss German, French, and Italian-use different terms for sections: