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2.3.2 Volunteer tasks are diverse
The relationship among the authorities and the volunteers is described as being good. Especially the authorities think so: nine of the ten agreed with this. However, although eight out of the ten volunteer organisation leaders think that their relationship is either good or very good, there seems to be room for improvement in the relationship. One of the ten thought that the relationship is either good or bad, but there were also people who considered the relationship as bad or even very bad.
When asked how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected cooperation, the answers varied. The most usual answer given by the authorities was, however, that COVID-19 had not had any effect on cooperation. One third of the volunteer organisation leaders replied that their cooperation had increased, which is almost as many as those who said that it had not had any effect on cooperation.
Volunteers participate in a wide range of tasks in the region, the most common being firefighting and rescue tasks. When the authorities were asked, support services are the most common task for volunteers in the region. Volunteers have also participated in COVID-19 related tasks like logistical support such as distributing personal protective equipment and disinfectants during the pandemic and answering questions at COVID-19 call-centres. In addition volunteers have participated in tasks related to climate change and oil spill response.
What kind of tasks were volunteers involved in during the past three years?
Rescue tasks (concerning people, property and/or environment)
Firefighting
Search and rescue
Fire prevention (provision of information on fire safety, work done with fire safety equipment etc.) Other prevention (general guidance of citizens concerning safety, security, resilience and preparedness) Support services (for example: temporary shelters, catering, clothing to vulnerable persons, staff support,… Information gathering and information spreading to citizens in case of disasters or major emergencies
Something else, what? 11 7 15
16
22
30
25 17 27
27
44
43
40
34 56 65
Volunteers Authorities
Figure 13: Tasks of the volunteers. Seventy-six volunteer leaders and Fifty-four authorities replied. The answer in the category ‘Something else, what?’ was elaborated for example as ‘COVID-19 related tasks’, ‘tasks related to climate change’ and ‘oil spill response’.
It is common for volunteer organisations to carry out independent tasks. Six of the ten report carrying out tasks independently of the authorities. There are independent tasks in the entire range of tasks which were included in the questionnaire.
Training available for volunteers: there is still need for improvement regarding major disasters and in providing general guidance to citizens
Most volunteer organisations and most of the authorities provide training for volunteers in the region. The most common topics are firefighting and rescue tasks. However, the range is wide. Regarding the tasks, both the authorities and the volunteer organisations provide at least crisis communications training.
Most of the authorities and volunteer organisation leaders consider the training of volunteers as sufficient in relation to the tasks in which they participate. However, the authorities feel that volunteers need more training
in crisis communications, support services and other prevention (general guidance to citizens in safety, security, resilience and preparedness). Volunteer organisation leaders feel that volunteers need more training in rescue tasks, firefighting and other prevention.
Challenges of recruiting are very common
Nearly all volunteer organisations and half of the authorities recruit volunteers. The difficulties in recruiting are very common: seven out of the ten volunteer organisations and half of the authorities reported difficulties in recruiting.
In the answers to the open-ended questions where the respondents described the biggest challenges to increasing volunteer involvement in their country, five themes were identified that are very likely connected to difficulties in recruiting and motivating volunteers: 1) demographic changes and urbanisation, shortage of people, especially young people in rural areas; 2) the need to improve the relevance of tasks and sufficient training for volunteers, and to improve the visibility and contact points for volunteering; 3) the need to improve the support of volunteer organisations especially by the state (funding, insurance, training, enacting volunteer-friendly legislation); 4) the need to improve the balance between the working life and volunteering; and 5) the need to establish a culture which is positive to volunteering.
1) Demographic changes and urbanisation, shortage of people, especially young people in rural areas:
Demographic challenges (depopulation of rural areas, low fertility rate). (Poland, authority)
The changes in society where people move to the big cities reduces the availability of new volunteers. We still need fire stations which are spread out to also have good services outside city centres. (Denmark, leader of volunteer organisation)
2) The need to improve the relevance of tasks and sufficient training for volunteers, and to improve the visibility and contact points for volunteering:
Lack of relevant tasks. (Denmark, authority)
For potential volunteers to know where to turn to. Keep volunteers motivated and also ‘busy’ between disaster assignments. (Sweden, leader of volunteer organisation)
To maintain a sufficient number of training opportunities for the entire group and to ensure that everyone is at the same level of training and adheres to the authority’s values. (Authority, Sweden) The official community (kommune) lack of understanding of what motivates volunteers in their daily work. (Denmark, leader of volunteer organisation)
3) The need to improve the support of volunteer organisations especially by the state (funding, insurance, training, enacting volunteer-friendly legislation):
The biggest challenge is to motivate volunteers to participate in civil protection. There should be possibilities to apply for state- or municipality-paid training courses in civil protection. Also, volunteers should be protected with an insurance policy in case of an emergency that occurs in voluntary work. (Latvia, leader of volunteer organisation)
Provide volunteers insurance, personal protective equipment and equipment for activities. Appreciate the volunteer and create reward mechanisms for their work. (Poland, leader of volunteer organisation)
4) The need to improve the balance between the working life and volunteering:
Full work compensation for lost worktime. (Norway, leader of volunteer organisation)
Insufficient incentives for employers. Insufficient social campaigns for volunteering. (Poland, Authority)
More flexible laws for employers whose employees are volunteers. (Poland, Authority)
5) The need to establish a culture which is positive to volunteering and more time devoted to cooperation:
Sufficient time needs to be devoted to working with volunteers. (Lithuania, Authority)
Cooperation with spontaneous volunteers is quite common among volunteer organisations
Cooperation with spontaneous volunteers is a growing phenomenon. According to our study, this is more common among volunteer organisations than among the authorities. Half of the volunteer organisations have cooperated with spontaneous volunteers and a third of the authorities, respectively. This raises the question of whether this cooperation should be done in a more determined fashion among the authorities and volunteer organisations or whether dealing with spontaneous volunteers is only a task for volunteer organisations.
Insufficient funding is quite common among volunteer organisations Financing for volunteer organisations comes from many different sources, such as the state, municipalities, private donations, membership fees or some other sources, such as the EU/European Commission (ECHO) and the UN. The biggest financier, however, is the state: six of the ten organisations receive funding from the state.
There are clearly improvements to be made to ensure that the financial resources are sufficient in organisations tasked to participate in civil protection. Nearly half of the organisations in this study considered their resources to be insufficient.
Insurances does not cover each and every volunteer
An overwhelming majority of volunteer organisation leaders (eight out of ten) and of the authorities (seven out of ten) reported that the volunteers are insured. However, not all volunteers have insurance. One of the ten volunteer organisation leaders said that their volunteers were not insured. Of the authorities, one fourth could not say whether the volunteers with whom they cooperate are insured.
Like funding, also insurance comes from different sources. The most common provider of insurance is, however, the state. The second most common providers are the authorities who use volunteers and the third most common the volunteer organisations themselves. Also, individual volunteers have personal insurance.
The above-mentioned results indicate that there are improvements to be made in the system of insuring volunteers in civil protection. As one of respondents put it:
Unclear insurance system. (Norway, authority)
Volunteers are not involved in a systematic way in international cooperation and the level of joint exercises and planning activities with the authorities is low. While volunteer organisations mostly organised joint exercises with other volunteer organisations (in other countries), one of the five respondents held joint exercises with the authorities. Also, planning activities for cross-border disasters are mostly done by the authorities alone. Although international cooperation is not very commonplace, a third of volunteer organisations do participate in international cooperation, their most usual tasks being firefighting and rescue.
Institutional framework of international cooperation is unclear to volunteers. Most volunteer organisation leaders could not say whether international cooperation was based on legislation (national or international, bilateral agreements, etc.) or whether it is done through international organisations.
I believe that, in order to increase the participation of volunteers in the civil protection sector in Poland, they must be able to develop, mainly through more training and cooperation with foreign volunteers. Increasing knowledge and skills through training and exchanging experiences with other volunteers will significantly increase certainty in civil protection operations. Participation increases when the volunteers know that their actions are correct and their input is not wasted. (Poland, volunteer)
In our opinion, the public services are, unfortunately, not ready to adopt the European experience in attracting and cooperating with volunteers! We always offer our help but, unfortunately, remain ineffective! We are also always ready to participate in joint exercises where they test the joint response of the different services. We are always ready to help. We are also ready to react not only in the confines of Latvia, but also in neighbouring states! (Latvia, volunteer)
It is necessary to jointly arrange a progressive internal security system in Latvia and in the Baltic region. (Latvia, volunteer)
Improvements are needed in coordinating volunteers and in the cooperation structures among volunteers and the authorities
Although the prerequisites in the BSR area for volunteering are quite good in the sense that cooperation exists in all of the countries, contracts are commonplace and relationships are regarded as good, in most of the countries there are various kinds of shortcomings in structures (legislation, the authorities’ plans, partnerships) and in coordinating the volunteers (directing, leading).
The authorities and volunteer organisation leaders commented on the biggest challenges involving volunteers in the following ways which all imply some kind of shortcomings in structures and in the coordination of volunteers:
Coordination of volunteers. (Sweden, authority)
Plans and operational procedures are not good enough at the operational and strategic levels; this makes the use of volunteers at the tactical level less relevant. (Norway, authority)
Lack of a common system for all NGOs. (Lithuania, a leader of a volunteer organisation)
Umbrella coordination, inclusion of voluntary organisations and volunteers in daily planning activities, not only in emergency situations when the support is needed right at that moment and there is no time for proper planning. (Latvia, a leader of a volunteer organisation)
Predictability, coordination. (Norway, a leader of a volunteer organisation) Lack of legislation, lack of cooperation from government structures, e.g., fire and rescue, forest services, health care organisations. (Latvia, authority)
Establishing a joint rescue network. (Estonia, authority)
The laws and regulations for using volunteers in Sweden are very unclear at the moment. (Sweden, authority)
Unclear mission for the volunteers in the new civil defence planning. (Sweden, authority)
Also, in Finland there is the need to develop the cooperation of volunteer organisations in providing service packages to the authorities (‘The report
