2.2.7 Lithuania

One of the unhelpful practices involves the attitude of professional rescuers towards volunteer rescuers. Be that as it may, the officials cannot see the difference between professionals and volunteers and their requirements are equally stringent. Authority.

Summary of the results

Cooperation and joint trainings occur among volunteer organisations and the authorities.

The main problem for volunteer involvement in Estonia is the lack of new volunteers, especially in rural areas. Because of that, sustainability is one of the main issues on which the organisations and authorities have to focus.

Introduction

One volunteer organisation leader and two authorities responded to the questionnaire, and one authority which works closely with volunteers participated in an in-depth interview. The volunteer organisation is Lithuanian Scouting and they work at the regional level. Both of the authorities represent the state level and are from the police and the Border Guard.

The volunteer organisation indicated that they have an umbrella organisation: the Lithuanian Council of Youth Organisations. While one of the authorities replied that the volunteers with whom they cooperate does not have an umbrella organisation, the other one did not know if they did.

The volunteer organisation that contributed to the project has approximately 200 volunteers involved in civil protection tasks.

The prevalence of cooperation and contracts

In the questionnaire the volunteer leader rated their relationship with the authorities as good. The authorities also rated their relationship with volunteer organisations as good.

The volunteer organisation cooperates with various services and they have contracts with the police and the Border guard. One of the authorities indicated that they cooperate with volunteers or their organisations. They cooperate with volunteer fire brigades, the Home Guard, the People’s Aid, Save the Children, the Rescue Dogs and a network of organisations in civil protection which unites people in different stages of life. One authority indicated that they have contracts with volunteer organisations or other entities that organise volunteers, but the other authority has contracts with individual volunteers, even though they stated that they do not cooperate with volunteers.

During the interview with the authority which works closely with volunteers in their everyday tasks, they indicated various challenges. Nonetheless, they already have possible solutions for their challenges. For example, one of the challenges was that there are ‘pseudo volunteers’ i.e., those who only want to volunteer for the status, but do not participate in volunteer activities. The solution they provided, and are already implementing, is the need to evaluate their involvement and set up a minimum hour requirement per year for volunteering (a possible threshold could be thirty-six hours per year).

The volunteer organisation said that they are included in the authorities’ contingency plans for major disasters. However, neither authority reported including volunteers in their contingency plans for major disasters. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic the volunteer leader said that their cooperation with the authorities has not changed. Neither had the pandemic affected the cooperation of the authorities with volunteers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, our volunteers were a big support, especially in prevention activities. Authority.

Volunteers’ tasks: together with and independently of the authorities

The volunteer organisation replied that they were involved in rescue tasks, support services (for example: temporary shelters, catering, clothing vulnerable persons, staff support, and in management support, like registration of units or incident documentation) and crisis communications during disasters or major emergencies.

We have more than 1 000 volunteers that spend around 65 000 hours per year in volunteering at our institution. Authority.

One of the authorities replied that they have involved volunteers in other prevention duties (general guidance to citizens in safety, security, resilience and preparedness).

To maintain the motivation and interest of the volunteers, it is important that they move through the structures of the organisation, so they can learn new things and they don’t fall into a rut and lose interest in volunteering. Authority.

When asked whether the volunteers carry out tasks on their own (independently of the authorities), the organisation leader replied that volunteers in their organisation do not have such tasks.

It is important for the volunteers to know the volunteering time in advance because they have a life of their own as well. So, if we want to involve the volunteers in our activities, we have to let them know well in advance when they will be needed, not at the last minute. Authority.

Training available for volunteers and needs for improvement

The volunteer organisation does not provide training for their volunteers in the field of civil protection.

One of the two authorities provides training for volunteers in civil protection. They provide training in prevention other than fire prevention and crisis communications. The authority believes that the training they provide is sufficient in relation to the volunteers’ tasks.

Exercises with the authorities

The volunteer organisation replied that they do not have joint exercises with the authorities, but one of the authorities is organising joint exercises with volunteers.

In the interview the authority highlighted the occasional problem of employers not having a positive attitude towards volunteers. However, the authority provided the solution that the volunteers should be better pre-

pared/trained and equipped. Also, the authorities should get educated about the volunteers and of the benefits of volunteering to the authorities’ own employees.

Recruiting and challenges of recruiting

The volunteer organisation and both authorities that participated in the questionnaire replied that they do not recruit volunteers for tasks in civil protection.

During the interview with an authority, they emphasised that there are volunteer activities which are little known to society. The suggested solutions for improving the situation were to promote volunteering activities, to publish stories through social media, and to organise meetings for improving the volunteers’ motivation.

Cooperation with spontaneous volunteers

The volunteer organisation cooperated with spontaneous volunteers in the past three years. Both of the authorities replied that they have not cooperated with spontaneous volunteers.

Funding sources and sufficiency of funding

When asked where the volunteer organisation gets its funding for tasks in civil protection, they replied that they do not receive any funding for civil protection tasks and they did not know whether their financial resources are sufficient for such tasks.

Insurance practices

Also, when asked if the volunteers in their organisation taking part in civil protection tasks are insured for possible injuries and damage that occur during or owing to these tasks, the representative replied that they do not have such insurance.

When the authority which cooperates with volunteers was asked about insurance, they replied that the volunteers are covered by state insurance (based on national legislation), which covers injuries as well as work-related diseases and death. The authority provides insurance for the volunteers with whom they cooperate.