Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston
Encyclopedia
The Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston , 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 Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

, was founded in 1993, 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...

 (WOSM) on April 18, 1997. The coeducational Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston has 511 members as of 2011. Tajikistan is the only one of the three Persian nations thus far whose Scouting is recognized by WOSM (see Afghanistan and Iran).

History

As far as is known, Scouting was not introduced to the region during the khanate period of the pre-Soviet era.

Scouting started in Tajikistan in 1991, by two young citizens, one a Christian and the other a Muslim, following their participation in the Congress of the Federation of Russian Scouts
Russian Association of Scouts/Navigators
The Russian Association of Scouts/Navigators , or RAS/N , is the national Scouting federation of Russia, which became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 2004...

 that met in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. In spite of the civil war which broke out in May 1992, Scout troops took root in Dushanbe
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...

 and in Khujand
Khujand
Khujand , also transliterated as Khudzhand, , formerly Khodjend or Khodzhent until 1936 and Leninabad until 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan. It is situated on the Syr Darya River at the mouth of the Fergana Valley...

, far from the conflicts. The return to relative calm at the beginning of 1995 allowed the expansion of Scouting into the countryside through the rural school system. A Scout troop has even been created in the prison for youthful offenders in Dushanbe. Starting in April 1992, a national Scout association was gradually formed with the help of the Eurasian Region. Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston was officially registered in October 1993 and is the only non-governmental youth organization which is structured and active in the country, enjoying the support of the authorities, notably the National Commission for UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 and several foreign development agencies represented in the country. Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston's credibility is largely due to its openness to all ethnic and religious groups, and also to its efficiency and effectiveness in working under very difficult conditions with extremely limited resources.

The Scouts of Tajikistan have participated in various international Scouting events such as the World Jamboree in Holland in 1995, the 1998 World Jamboree in Chile and the World Rover Moot in 1996. Several leaders have received their training abroad in France, Russia and the United States.

The Scout Association of Tajikistan has 1,904 members (as of 2004), boys and girls, in 15 towns or areas, with several groups in three zones of conflict: Garm
Garm, Tajikistan
Gharm, , is a district in the Rasht Valley area of central Tajikistan.From the 1920s until 1955 there was a Gharm Oblast in Tajikistan, which included the territory of the current Gharm Valley...

, Shaartuz
Shaartuz
Shahritus also spelled as Shaartuz is a city in southwestern Tajikistan. Situated on the River Kafirnigan, the city was founded in 1938.- Jamoats :There are 6 jamoats in Shaartuz district.#Shaartuz#Pakhtaobod#Obshoron#Sayod#Jura Nazarov...

, and the high valleys of Gorno-Badakhshan, populated mainly with Ismailis.

The noun for a single Scout is Скаут in both Tajik
Tajik language
Tajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets...

 and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

. The membership badge of Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston incorporates elements of the coat of arms
Coat of arms of Tajikistan
The State Emblem of Tajikistan is a modified version of the original coat of arms of the Tajik SSR that was in use until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991...

 as well as the flag of Tajikistan
Flag of Tajikistan
Tajikistan was the last of the former Soviet republics to reveal a new flag , which was adopted in November 1992. The one common link between this and the 1953 SSR flag is the choice of colors - red, white and green. The former Tajik SSR, sometimes referred to as the "Tadzhik SSR" , added white and...

.
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