A team of ScoutsCymru volunteers is heading to Canada as part of an international project aimed at making outdoor and adventurous activities more accessible and inclusive for young people across Wales.
Access Adventure, supported entirely through Taith Pathway 2 funding, brings ScoutsCymru together with Canadian organisation Power To Be, which specialises in creating inclusive outdoor experiences for people living with barriers to participation.
Around 20% of young people in Scouting in Wales identify as having a disability or additional need. While ScoutsCymru already works to make its programme accessible, the project will explore how more of the barriers associated with outdoor and adventurous activities can be identified and removed.
ScoutsCymru volunteers travelled to Canada alongside one member of staff to learn directly from Power To Be and its experience of inclusive outdoor practice.
During the visit, the team will take part in workshops, practical sessions and outdoor activities, looking at the approaches, adaptations and practical considerations that can enable more young people to participate.
The learning will be brought back to Wales and used to develop a free, bilingual online resource containing practical guidance, tools, case studies and examples that can be used by ScoutsCymru volunteers across Wales as well as organisations across the wider youth and outdoor sectors.
ScoutsCymru will also hold a national knowledge-sharing event, bringing together organisations and practitioners from across Wales to explore how outdoor opportunities can be made more accessible. Power To Be will contribute to the event, allowing its expertise to be shared more widely.
The project brings experience from across adventurous activities, Safe Scouting, development and programme delivery, including volunteers involved with BushScouts and SWAT.
Importantly, those taking part will remain involved throughout the project – from learning in Canada to testing and applying what they have learned, developing the resources and helping to deliver the national event in Wales.
The ScoutsCymru team is now on Vancouver Island, where they have met up with the Power To Be team and begun their learning exchange experience.
Over the coming days, they will be learning directly from Power To Be’s team, taking part in practical sessions and experiencing first-hand how inclusive approaches can help remove barriers and enable more people to take part in outdoor adventure.
Access Adventure was developed in direct response to feedback from ScoutsCymru volunteers, who wanted more practical support, guidance and confidence to make outdoor and adventurous activities accessible to young people with a wide range of needs and abilities.
The volunteers taking part have committed to the project from start to finish. As well as giving their time to travel to Canada, including taking time away from work and other commitments, they will continue contributing when they return to Wales.
They will help apply and test what they have learned, develop the new bilingual resources and share their experience with others, including helping to deliver the national knowledge-sharing event.
It means the international learning gained on Vancouver Island will not simply end when the team returns home, but will be translated into practical approaches and resources shaped by volunteers and designed to be relevant and useful within a Welsh context.
“Adventure should be something every young person has the opportunity to experience, but we know there can still be practical barriers that make taking part more difficult for some.
“Access Adventure gives our volunteers an opportunity to learn from people with specialist experience in inclusive outdoor practice and, crucially, bring that knowledge home.
“This is about taking what we learn, adapting it for Wales and sharing it so that volunteers and organisations have practical tools that can help more young people access outdoor adventure.”
The project is funded by TAITH, Wales’ international learning exchange programme. Its funding enables organisations in Wales to learn through international collaboration and bring that knowledge and experience back to benefit communities and sectors across Wales and ultimately, help create more accessible outdoor opportunities for young people.
