Regional Restructuring

Scouts Canada is now busy restructuring its Regional organizations.

The main reasons for restructuring Provinces to a Regional/Area model are:

Decline of Membership
Direct Support to Groups
Eliminate "middle management"
Single Line of Authority

Decline of Membership.

Years ago, when there were more youth members, it made sense to have Districts, solely to have more manageable numbers. Since most Provinces have seen their numbers drop drastically (>20% in 5 years for one Province), there are not the youth. Also, there are only approximately 1/2 as many youth as there were 15 years ago. As a result, combining Districts into an Area make sense.

Direct Support to Groups.

Although some Districts have operated well over the past years, and have serviced their Groups well, this is far from the general rule. Most often, District events are scheduled in prime time, and Groups MUST work around them. The new structure, essentially an amalgamation of Districts into Areas, is targeted towards the Groups, such that Area events are minimized and resources are focused towards the Groups and sections, and not when it does not conflict with District events. It is understood that strengthening the core units (Groups and sections) is of prime importance to stop the membership slide.

Eliminate middle management.

This goal is related to supporting Groups, as many Districts expend alot of energy on running Scout Halls, running Camps, organizing fundraising, looking after District events, and registration. It is still taking the same amount of resources to look after these as it did 10 years ago. Problem is, there is considerably less youth to do this for. In fact, one District President just mentioned that there were proud of the considerable amount of money that the District had, and concerned with where it will go. Their District's registration (less than 100), surprisingly, has gone up over the last 5 years. This, however, is contrary to the norm.

Single Line of Authority.

Most new Scouters like the idea of the single line of authority concept. Older Scouters are not, however, as happy with it, as it removes duplicated roles, and in some cases, removes the positions traditionally held by "Old Bob", that were mostly non-functional. Unfortunately, Scouts Canada was set up as a national organization, and is the only legal entity. Insurance, and risk management is one of the prime movers in much of the changes in the organization to date. Some changes are necessitated by a "do it this way, or we won't insure you" demand by both the insurance companies, and by the Board of Governors, realizing that the large increase in insurance claims and liability issues has driven costs through the roof. Although alot of Scouters claim that Scouting is a grass-roots organization, it is in reality driven by fiscal pressures and even possibly mismanagement.

The Charter of Rights and Freedom has changed alot of the things that alot of us took for granted. The stress is now on the rights of the individual, as opposed to the good of the society (which alot of us were raised to follow). As a result, Scouts Canada, and other non-profit organizations, as well as schools, sports and even big business, must follow the tune of the piper. Tighten up your legal (risk management) concerns and ensure that there is a direct line of communication and authority. The previous model left too many "lose ends", and this new structure will attempt to rectify these issues.

The Final Word

Insurance costs and legal concerns, resulting from a lack of communication and direct-line authority, have driven costs up dramatically. In dealing with these issues, the removal of the duplicated middle-management roles within the Districts may hopefully return experienced Scouters to the program. This will then help (hopefully), to improve the program, and retain (and attract), members.

If you have an opinion to share, please feel free to post them on the message board, opinion forum, or ScoutsCan-Issues.