World Scouting and Youth Movements

At centre, a fleur-de-lis — the most universal symbol of Scouting. Along the upper edge: the commemorative inscription "SEMPRE ALERTA * SEMPRE PRONTO"; along the left edge: the designer's name "PEDRO CARVALHO"; along the right: the mint name "CASA DA MOEDA"; along the lower edge: the issuing state "PORTUGAL" and the year "2025". The twelve stars of the European flag appear on the outer ring.

When Robert Baden-Powell held the first scout camp on the British island of Brownsea Island in 1907, he laid the foundation for one of the largest youth movements in history. Its core ideas — self-reliance, connection to nature, community spirit, and the famous motto "Be Prepared" (in Portuguese, "Sempre Pronto") — spread rapidly around the world. Today the World Organization of the Scout Movement has more than 50 million active members in over 170 countries, making it one of the largest civil-society youth organizations in the world. Its universal symbol, the fleur-de-lis, represents the three scout promises: duty to God, to others, and to oneself.

In Portugal, the scouting movement looks back on more than a hundred years of history. The first Portuguese scout groups formed as early as the early Republic, and despite turbulent political decades — including the long years of the Estado Novo — scouting remained a defining part of Portuguese civil society. The Portuguese scout organization, Corpo Nacional de Escutas, is today a member of both the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the European Scout Federation. In 2025, Portugal honors the worldwide scouting and youth movement and its contribution to education, tolerance, and international solidarity with its 2-euro commemorative coin.