Scoutisme Béninois is the national Scouting

Scouting

Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....

 organization of Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

 Scouting in Benin started around 1930 and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement

World Organization of the Scout Movement

The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...

 in 1964 under the previous name Dahomey

Dahomey

Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...

. Its Girl Guide

Girl Guides

A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...

 branch, the Guides du Bénin

Guides du Bénin

The Guides du Bénin is the national Guiding organization of Benin. Guiding in Benin started in 1954, the association was founded in 1960 and became a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1963. The girls-only association has 1,533 members...

, is a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Scouting organizations in 145 countries. It was established in 1928 and has its headquarters in London, England. It is the counterpart of the World Organization of the Scout...

.

The coeducational Scoutisme Béninois has 5,259 members as of 2008.

In 1977, Ernest Mehinto was awarded the Bronze Wolf

Bronze Wolf

The Bronze Wolf Award is bestowed by the World Scout Committee to acknowledge "outstanding service by an individual to the World Scout Movement"...

, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement

World Organization of the Scout Movement

The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...

, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting.

Activities

Scouts carry out literacy campaigns and offer courses in childrearing. They are involved in community projects such as digging wells, anti-malaria campaigns, building village schools and developing modern farms where children may spend several weeks learning to read and grow food.

The Market Center of Ouidah

Ouidah

Ouidah , also Whydah or Juda, is a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin.The commune covers an area of 364 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people.-History:...

, which was established by the Scouts more than 20 years ago , trains young people in agricultural skills, thus helping to reverse the exodus towards the cities. Benin Scouts have also engaged in a cattle farm project in the southern forest region of the country, raising healthy cattle despite the threat of disease spread by tsetse fly

Tsetse fly

Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...

.

A workshop has been held on "New Energies

New energy

New energy may refer to "new" forms of energy like alternative energy, free energy, renewable energy, etc.-Companies/Institutes/Organizations:* Icelandic New Energy, Iceland energy company promoting hydrogen fuel...

". As a result, Scouts are now building and showing others how to build cooking stoves that use 90 percent less fuel than open fires.

Sections

• Louveteaux/Louvettes - ages 6 to 12
• Eclaireurs/Eclaireuses - ages 11 to 16
• Compagnons/Compagnes - ages 15 to 19
• Routiers/Guides - ages 18 to 35

The Scout Motto is Sois Prêt, Be Prepared in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

.