The Scouting Ireland Contingent fee has been set at €3,000 for all members of the Contingent. For Participants and Troop Scouters, this will cover all your food, programme, transport to and within Poland, apparel, preparation events in Ireland and a post-Jamboree experience in Poland. For volunteers on the International Service Team, all of the above is included as well as a pre-Jamboree experience in Poland for the same cost of €3,000.

To avail of a reduced fee, members of the IST will have the option to choose a personalised package and thus reduce their cost (i.e. not joining the pre or post Jamboree experience). These IST packages will range from €2,300 to €3,000 depending on your preference which will be collected at a later date. These reduced packages are not available to Participants or Troop Scouters so each Troop will share the same experience.

The 2019 WSJ Post-Camp included a trip to Niagara Falls

This is a lot of money, and we have laid out our workings below to provide some context as to how our Contingent budget was developed, along with the different approaches we will take to hopefully reduce the burden on members of the Contingent. One of the biggest challenges for an event like this is that we have to agree a fee now to pay for things in 12 or even 24 months time, and this time period can lead to huge variability in costs to us. Previous Jamboree Contingents have seen costs like flights more than double what was originally budgeted for in just a 2 year period.

Additionally, we are not just paying for ourselves to attend the Jamboree. Per World Scouting’s guidelines, Scouting Ireland sits in the most expensive fee category so that Scouts from other countries and National Scout Organisations can attend at a discounted price. This is important, and we are supportive of this approach so that a World Scout Jamboree remains accessible to young people all over the world.

Supporting Scouts from around the world to attend is an important part of the Jamboree spirit

We have already reduced costs from previous Jamborees. For Troops, we have opted not to do a pre-Jamboree experience in Poland – partly because acclimatisation is not needed and partly to reduce expense. We have reduced the number of our Contingent gatherings in Ireland, to focus on quality preparation and training rather than meeting just for the sake of it. A pre-Jamboree experience is planned for IST because they will have fewer preparation events in Ireland, and pay a lower fee to the Jamboree organisers.

We are also hopeful that some costs like apparel and transport will not be as expensive as budgeted for, so more funding can be directed to programme and preparation for the Contingent. Throughout the Jamboree, we aim to share fundraising support and advice, and encourage local Scout Groups to support their members in raising additional funds.

For the first time, we are working to establish corporate partnerships and agreements for the Contingent – please contact [email protected] if you can help.

We also plan to set up a ‘solidarity fund’ within the Contingent, whereby each member will have the option to contribute a small amount (like €10-15) if they choose, which will be used to support other members of the Contingent who may struggle with the fee.

We’ve updated our FAQs section following our fees decision, and a full terms of conditions document is available here: