The role of the Nights Away Adviser is crucial to the Nights Away Scheme, and if you are a Nights Away Adviser reading this, you don’t need telling that.
For those wondering what a Nights Away Adviser does, they are there to mentor, encourage, and ultimately tell your District Commissioner “Yep, they’re good to take young people camping”.
It’s important that a Nights Away Adviser who has been in post since prior to 2015 has updated themselves with the changes regarding Nights Away, particularly with reference to Beavers, if you are encouraging or only Indoor Permits or indoor nights away events for Beavers, then you need calling on it #BeaversAreScouts_ScoutsCamp.
Damboree exists to give you and your fellow Nights Away advocates more to do, more leaders to mentor, more leaders to train, more leaders to assess, and be involved in that ongoing dialogue locally about good practice for Nights Away experiences, and ensure that minimum standard is well and truly exceeded, because it’s a minimum, not an aspiration.
How do I become a Nights Away Adviser?
First off, you need to think that Camping is best, ideally have camped lots, led camps etc. Have a chat to your relevant Commissioner and your Training Manager.
If you complete Mod25N validation using a Damboree event to assess someone for their Nights Away Camping Permit, then you can apply for one of our Gold Badges, which for the 2022 cycle are sponsored by Online Scout Manager
What resources are there out to help a Nights Away Adviser?
Your county should have a County Nights Away Adviser (CNAA), and your county might have a Supporter of the Nights Away Permit Scheme (SNAPS) who you can go to for help and advice, if your local network of NAA’s cannot help.
There is also a Facebook Group for Nights Away Advisers, supported by the Supporting Assessors National Active Support Unit. So if you are a Nights Away Adviser, get in touch with like-minded souls.
Can I assess someone from outside my District/County?
Yes, you can, it is a national permit scheme, and your assessment carries the same validity as if it was from within the assessees own District/County, however expect to be asked questions about your assessment.
If a District Commissioner/District Nights Away adviser rejects your assessment because they have trust issues, then there is little the assessee can do, as the permit is at the discretion of the issuing Commissioner. However rejecting someones assessment purely on the basis the assessor was “Not from round these parts”, (we’ve all heard the stories) then they need calling on it, to understand if it is just localism or whether there is a deeper concern.
What’s this about more than one District Nights Away Adviser?
The Damboree Team believe in having a pool of NAA in a District, ideally one per Group to do the mentoring, coaching etc, and to lead on the ongoing training for nights away within that group setting.
Of course you would not asses your own group, that would be a conflict of interest, and marking your own homework is very much discouraged.
