Vereeniging Nederlandsch Indische Padvinders


Vereeniging Nederlandsch Indische Padvinders was the national Scouting organization in the Dutch East Indies. This was founded in 1916 and had a boys and girls branch.
Scouting came to Indonesia in 1912, as branch of the Nederlandsche Padvinders Organisatie (NPO, Netherlands Pathfinder Organisation), the first Dutch Scouting organization. The NPO was open to both boys and girls. In 1916 in the Netherlands the "Nederlandsche Padvinders Organisatie" and the "Nederlandsche Padvinders Bond" merged to form "De Nederlandsche Padvinders". The NPV was boys only. The Dutch East Indies branch was renamed as the Vereeniging Nederlandsch Indische Padvinders, but stayed open for boys and girls.
As the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia had been a branch of the Netherlands Scout Association, yet Scouting was very popular, and had achieved great numbers and standards.

Organisation

The NIPV consisted of two parts, the "Padvindersbond" for the boys and the "Meisjesgilde" for the girls. A number of organisations were affiliated to NIPV, in 1934: