History
From a friendly evening gathering around a coffee table—a group of scout leaders agreed to form a new Association to help improve Scouting and Guiding in the country. This was the start of what was then known as the Baden Powell Guild of the Maldives (or B.P. Guild, for short). It was registered on the 15th of April 2002—and subsequently inaugurated by the former Minister of Education, Honourable Dr. Mohamed Zahir Hussain. At its inception, the guild had a total of 70 members (13 female and 57 male), along with three Founding Members or Trustees.
The Guild
In 2004, the B.P. Guild held its first photo exhibition with the aim of creating awareness among the scouts and guides of some of the past activities and the growth of their movements in the country. There were more than 500 photographs of the Scouting and Guide Movement in the Maldives and around the world.
The B.P. Guild also conducted activities for the International Youth Volunteers Day in 2006, with a theme of “Clean Environment – Healthy life”. A one-day cleaning program of the capital island, Malé, and the beach areas of Villimalé and Hulhumalé was carried out. The day ended with an information seminar on Scout and Guide activities at the Maldives Social Education Centre.
The Fellowship
In November 2011, the name of the B.P. Guild was changed to the Maldives Scout and Guide Fellowship (MSGF). Today, it has a membership of over 163 (128 male and 35 female). MSGF gained full membership status from the International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF) in October of 2014.
MSGF celebrated the 60th Anniversary of ISGF as the ”Fellowship Day” in Maldives on the 26th of October 2013 with a Cleaning Up campaign in the capital city, Malé.
In 2016, MSGF organized a Fun Evening along with a book donation project as part of a promotional project and to encourage more Scouting and Guiding in the islands outside the capital. Over 500 story books and reading material were donated by MSGF members and other charitable parties. They were handed over to select island schools that took part in the Scouting and Guiding Movement.
The project is planned to be continued annually. For the 2017 run, a collection of 5000 books had been arranged through a partnership with the BookBridge Foundation of Switzerland. These books were once again donated to island schools that follow the Scouting and Guiding movement—this time on the occasion of the International Fellowship Day in October.
Another ongoing project is to organise monthly Activities for Seniors, to entertain them and make them feel like they are still part of the society. This project was initiated on the 24th of August 2017.