Organizatsia Na Bulgarskite Skauty: Difference between revisions

[[Image:OBS-Logo.png|thumb|Membership badge of Scouting in Bulgaria]]

The '''Organizatsia Na Bulgarskite Skauty''' (Организация на българските скаути, Organization of the Bulgarian Scouts), the primary national [[Scouting]] organization of Bulgaria, became a member of the [[World Organization of the Scout Movement]] in 1999; work towards [[World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts]] membership recognition remains unclear. The coeducational Organizatsia Na Bulgarskite Skauty has 2,711 members as of 2004.

Scouting began in Bulgaria between [[1911]] and [[1913]], and a national Scout organization was created in [[1923]]. Bulgarian Scouting was originally a member of the [[World Organization of the Scout Movement]] from [[1924]] to [[1940]]. Scouting reached 60,000 members at the beginning of World War II.  

In the interwar period, [[Russian Association of Scouts/Navigators|Russian Scouting]] Русский Скаут went into [[Scouts-in-Exile|exile]], and continued in many countries where fleeing White Russian émigrés settled, establishing its own Scout groups in Bulgaria.  

 

On [[January 17]], [[1999]], Organizatsia Na Bulgarskite Skauty became the 151st member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, and officially welcomed to WOSM at the [[World Scout Conference]] in South Africa on [[July 25]], 1999. The Scout organization has approximately 2,800 members with 57 groups in the 20 largest cities and towns in the country. The organization is volunteer-run. The Organizatsia Na Bulgarskite Skauty is open to both males and females. There is an active Sea Scout program on the Black Sea and in Silistra, on the Danube River.  

Due to the negative legacy of the Communist youth organizations, the Scouting movement in Bulgaria is having a slow rebirth. The Scouting organization of Bulgaria is left without an inheritance of leadership, equipment, and established program. However, as stated by Stoyan [[Ivanov]], the Chairman of the Bulgarian Scout Organization of [[Varna]], "The democratic changes during the last two years in our country created conditions for the veterans of the Scout movement in Varna to start its restoration after it was suppressed by the totalitarian regime [for] half a century."

== Other Bulgarian Scout organizations ==

*[[Image:UIGSE.svg|20px]] the National Scout Organization of Bulgaria "Saint George" (NSOB) had contacts to the [[Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe]]; it is uncertain if the association still exists

== International Scout units in Bulgaria ==

In addition, there are USA Girl Scouts Overseas in Sofia, serviced by way of USAGSO headquarters in New York; as well as Cub Scout Pack 3359 and Boy Scout Troop 359, both of Sofia, linked to the [[Direct Service]] branch of the [[Boy Scouts of America]], which supports units around the world.

== Program Sections ==

== Motto ==

== Scout Oath ==

== Scout Law ==

== External links and references ==

*Much of this article was derived from information of Thomas N. Turba, International Representative of the [[Scouting in Minnesota|Indianhead Council]], [[Boy Scouts of America]] in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who led Scout contingents from Minnesota to Bulgaria in [[1993]] and [[1995]].