Scouts work for peace over new year at Kandersteg
This new year, eight UK Scouts travelled to the heart of the Swiss Alps to join the Kandersteg International Scout Centre (KISC) International Rover Week: Winter 2026 – an unforgettable experience focused on peace education, global friendship, and the power of dialogue.
KISC is the World Scout Centre, often described as the ‘Permanent Mini Jamboree’. Founded in 1923 and open year-round, KISC brings Scouts and Guides from across the world together to explore, learn, and grow. Twice a year, KISC holds a training week for young adults in Scouts – known in many countries as Rovers.
Building peace together
It was an absolute privilege to join the Rover Week team this winter. I had the joy of collaborating with amazing international volunteers to plan, facilitate and deliver sessions. This International Rover Week welcomed 23 different nationalities, creating a truly global community. Within the participants, six were UK Scouts, along with myself and James Willis on the facilitation team. Despite differences in language, culture, and experience, everyone arrived with the same purpose: to learn how peace can be built, protected, and shared.
Listening to each other; connecting with nature
Through workshops, discussions and challenges, participants explored dialogue, conflict resolution, and peace-building. These sessions went far beyond theory. Rovers practised listening with empathy, navigating disagreement respectfully, and understanding how conflict can be transformed into cooperation. Set against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, we also found peace in the outdoors through connection with nature. Together, they reflected on global challenges and local realities, learning how peace education can be applied both at home and internationally.
This week is only the beginning for these Rovers. They are designing real, practical peace projects to bring back to their communities – from youth workshops and campaigns to hosting community dialogues. The skills they’ve learnt will be carried forward to inspire more young people to take up their own peace projects.
Scouts in the Swiss Alps
Advocates for peace
Throughout the week, there was an overwhelming feeling of joy, connection and unity. Celebrating New Year’s Eve surrounded by snow, laughter, and shared traditions was a reminder that peace is not only something we teach, but something we live as Scouts. By the end of the week, strangers had become friends, and friends had become a global network of peace advocates.
KISC International Rover Week: Winter 2026 showed that when Scouts come together with open minds and shared values, they don’t just imagine a more peaceful world, they actively build it.
Teamwork in action