Deputy District Commissioners

Why a Deputy District Commissioner?

The reason that these roles are Deputy as opposed to Assistant District Commissioners is to acknowledge their strategic role in the development of the district, and the areas that they will be managing:

  • Helping the District Commissioner to form and deliver each of our strategy areas.

  • Helping to set up the groups of leaders delivering projects, and keep an eye on the progress towards that project.

  • Reviewing our projects and the impact that they've had on the district.

  • Most importantly: the deputies will make sure that the District Commissioner has support to prevent a bottleneck which restricts growth & development.

At a glance:

Who is a Deputy District Commissioner?

  • It can be one person or several people sharing the role;

  • You'll have an enthusiasm for the development area, and maybe already have ideas of how you could improve things within the district;

  • You'll have some experience of managing other people (either outside of Scouting, or a Section Leader / GSL / etc...);

  • You'll be diplomatic and able to work as part of a district team without alienating existing leaders in roles;

  • IT proficiency would be beneficial (but not essential);

What are they doing?

  • Helping to build the structures that the district needs for the future;

  • Getting those structures up and running;

  • Encouraging new leaders to step into roles such as District Scouter, Community Impact Champion and then take on future roles like Assistant District Commissioner

  • Making themselves redundant (and taking on a new role) once the new District structure is fully running;

Commitments / expectations:

  • The District Team will meet in full once every half term;

  • Project meetings will be held on an ad hoc basis

  • Role descriptions will be further refined once DDCs are appointed and other responsibilities agreed (e.g. The DDC Programme will be responsible for making sure that section leaders' meetings occur for Beavers, Cubs, Scouts & Explorers)

As a District Team we need to be setting an example on training, as we can't be pushing the need for training within the district if we haven't completed it ourselves.

  • Each Deputy District Commissioner will work to complete their Wood Badge within a year of appointment;

  • Each Deputy District Commissioner will be up-to-date with the 3 modules of mandatory ongoing learning;