Guidelines on Job Week for National Scout Organizations

Job Week was first introduced as a good turn day in 1914 by the Scout Movement Founder Lord Baden-Powell. It was known as “Bob a Job Week” in the earlier days. The scheme got its nickname from shilling, colloquially ‘bob’, that the youngsters were paid for completing their good turn - which would now be worth 5p.Today, some National Scout Organisations (NSOs) have discontinued with the Job Week mainly because of health and safety reasons. Some have also cited the risk of compensation as a reason for discontinuing this meaningful and educational activity.Now, 20 years after the last one, Bob-a-Job week is revived by the Scout Association, which allows us to see more Scouts take part in thousands of community projects, as leaders attempt to rebuild the Movement’s traditional commitment to helping others. There are some countries in the Asia-Pacific Region which are annually organizing this activity. Singapore and Sri Lanka are the two NSOs organizing the activity very successfully for the past few years.