WWF and the World Organization for the Scouting Movement (WOSM) have a long history of collaboration that stretches back to 1973, a partnership that was strengthened in 2017 with the signing of a Letter of Intent for a Framework Agreement.

This long-standing friendship is helping both organisations mobilise their networks to drive global awareness and action on nature and the environment. Currently, WWF and WOSM are working closely to achieve the Global Biodiversity Framework goals and targets under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through various initiatives and programmes. These include the Earth Tribe and Champions for Nature Challenge, Earth Hour, Scouts for SDGs, and numerous others.
 

WWF was invited by WOSM to be an organising partner for the 2023 jamboree. As it took place in Asia, WWF-Hong Kong, WWF-Korea, WWF-Philippines, and WWF-Malaysia – with the support of WWF-International – hosted an education tent at the Ban Ki Moon SDG Village. The space, located within the campsite, was filled with exhibits and talks encouraging young people to learn about global issues and become inspired to take action within their communities. This cross-team collaboration also showcased WWF’s conservation work in different regions and created excellent opportunities for Pandas from around the world to exchange experiences and insights.

The WWF tent included several educational activities hosted by the different offices, including exhibitions, fun talks and interactive games on various conservation topics. Scouts from all over the world learned about nature conservation and enhanced their understanding of different aspects of sustainability from this pan-regional sharing. WWF-Hong Kong hosted an interactive workshop based on Lolo's Flying Journey, a teaching kit that features an iconic species that breeds in Korea – the Black-faced spoonbill – as the main character who talks about the many threats faced by migratory birds.

“Thank you so much. I loved your presentation!”, said one of the scout leaders just after I had finished a short interpretation of “Lolo’s Flying Journey”. My name is Poki and I‘ve been working as an education officer at WWF-Hong Kong for two years. The 25^th World Scout Jamboree was my first overseas working experience with WWF, and one of the most satisfying moments of the trip was when I heard those words.

Over the past two months, my colleague Vernon and I, along with other Pandas from Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, and the WWF International Office collaborated and worked hard to make the jamboree a success. Working alongside colleagues from offices in different countries was a new and challenging experience for me, as we had never met before and we all came from different backgrounds and working cultures. Our goal was to conduct interactive activities and create an exhibition at the Ban Ki-Moon SDG Village, putting on workshops about global environmental issues for the participating scouts.

When we were just starting to work together, I was nervous and shy during the first online task force meeting. I was concerned that we might have different opinions or clash about certain things, but I encountered nothing but respect, adaptation and acceptance with everyone – we all tried our best to make things possible and make things happen. This harmonious working atmosphere made me feel much more confident about expressing more of myself. On 31 July, we finally met face to face. It was a magical moment when everything became physical and true after finishing all the set-up work.
 

Interestingly, when we worked together, the language barrier was not a challenge at all. A group of young kids from Korea visited our tent and really wanted to take part in the Lolo’s Flying Journey workshop. I thought it was a good chance to spread conservation messages to young Koreans – after all, Korea is the home of the Black-faced spoonbill, the main character in the game pack! So I worked with a Panda from WWF-Korea – she translated my English into Korean for the kids and the result was a successful workshop. “Together Possible” is not just a slogan, it embodies the way WWF works, and this experience proved that anything is possible if we work together.

Before the jamboree, I would never have thought there could be so many ways to host an activity. We met such diverse audiences – a wide age range, from young kids to elderly people, participants with different levels of English, and scout leaders from different backgrounds and cultures and with different expectations. This was a huge learning experience that immeasurably enhanced my soft skills like flexibility, adaptability and problem-solving.
 

In addition to the “Lolo’s Flying Journey” workshop, we also designed a city planning workshop specially for scouts, to facilitate deeper discussions about sustainable development. Though the content was aimed at older youth, these two young kids from a Malaysian family were highly engaged in interacting with the animal magnets. I quickly tried to simplify the content, helping them to match the animals with the right habitats and guiding them to think more about suitable locations for building houses and roads. The parents were delighted to see their kids learn conservation messages in an easy and playful way. This was an important lesson for me – to stay objective and flexible when leading an education activity, and try to focus on the process so I can guide different participants to the same goal in different ways; instead of giving up without trying and thinking that “this is not our target audience” or “the content might be too difficult for them”.

For both Poki and Vernon, the World Scout Jamboree was a milestone event, in their personal lives and in their careers. Not only did they learn that environmental education can transcend cultures and boundaries, but that when knowledge, experience and resources are pooled, anything is “together possible”!