Messengers of Peace

In 2025, the Messengers of Peace initiative entered a powerful new chapter — one that both reaffirmed a long-standing partnership and set the course for even greater global impact in the decade ahead.

In April, the World Scout Foundation and World Organization of the Scout Movement announced the renewal of a landmark partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, securing an additional USD 50 million in funding over the next ten years. This renewed commitment will strengthen Scouting’s core educational programmes and enhance the capacity of National Scout Organisations worldwide to promote peace, dialogue, and community action — advancing a shared vision of a more peaceful and inclusive world.

Building on more than 15 years of collaboration, Messengers of Peace continues to demonstrate the extraordinary potential of young people as agents of change. Since its launch in 2011, the initiative has enabled Scouts to carry out over 16 million local projects, contributing nearly 3 billion hours of community service in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. With this renewed investment, even more young people will gain access to transformative learning experiences — developing the leadership, values, and skills needed to respond to today’s global challenges.

This renewed commitment was not only formalised, but brought to life in September 2025, as representatives from across the global Scouting movement gathered in Riyadh to celebrate and activate this next phase. Over two days of meetings, youth engagement, and public events, partners reaffirmed their shared commitment to empowering young people to lead change in their communities.

At the heart of these celebrations, 60 Scouts from around the world came together for immersive training and dialogue, exploring themes such as youth leadership, peace education, innovation, and cross-cultural collaboration. Joined by Messengers of Peace awardees and World Scout Foundation leaders, these sessions underscored a defining strength of the initiative: its ability to connect generations, cultures, and ideas in pursuit of collective impact.

Alongside these youth-led moments, a major national event hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Education brought together over 500 participants — including dignitaries, partners, and hundreds of Saudi Scouts — to mark the official launch of this second phase. This milestone agreement was signed by HE Yousef bin Abdullah al-Benyan, Minister of Education of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and President of the Saudi Arabian Scout Association, and Siegfried Weiser, Board Member and Chair of the Messengers of Peace Oversight Committee of the World Scout Foundation. The renewed funding will support a wide range of initiatives, from environmental and health programmes to peacebuilding, volunteering, and humanitarian action, reinforcing Scouting’s role as a platform for meaningful, community-led development.

Together, these milestones reflect more than a renewal of funding — they represent a deepened global commitment to investing in young people and the systems that support them. As Messengers of Peace enters its next chapter, it continues to stand as a powerful model of what is possible when partnership, purpose, and youth leadership come together to build a better world.