NAIROBI, December 7, 2009 – Upon his appointment, the Regional Director, Mr. Frédéric Tutu Kama-Kama hit the ground running. He and the Secretary General, Mr. Luc Panissod, spent the better part of November visiting NSOs (National Scout Organizations) from West Africa. These NSOs are, Bénin, Togo, Mali, Sénégal, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

This long visit started before the Regional Conference and continued thereafter. The objectives of the tour were to get a better understanding of the needs of the NSOs, to raise their profiles and to introduce the new Regional Director. During the visit, they met with the leadership of the NSOs and more importantly they listened to the youth so as to assess their challenges with a view to consider proactive ways of tackling them.

In most countries, they met with the ministers in charge of the youth, who assured them of their support to the Scout Movement. This helped to boost the profile of Scouting in the respective countries, especially because of the resultant media coverage.