When an emergency occurs, many non-indifferent people, in addition to professional rescuers and physicians, naturally strive to get involved. These people are called spontaneous volunteers. Throughout the world, these people help, for example, to strengthen the shores during floods, clear roads from snow in the winter, provide infantry and clothing for refugees, sift through remains after earthquakes or bombings, etc.

There are no clear mechanisms for coordinating the activities of spontaneous volunteers in Ukraine, although there were (and are) many situations when people joined the state or humanitarian organizations.

On the 12th and 13th of June, 2019, during the Spontaneous Volunteering Workshop held in Kyiv, the experience of the Austrian Red Cross was shared by our colleague Johannes Guger, Head of Social Affairs and Volunteering at Austrian RC. The representatives of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, the Civil-Military Cooperation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and NGOs MotoHelp and the Beach Patrol gathered at the workshop.

All participants have the experience of coordinating spontaneous volunteers. Soon their recommendations will turn into guidelines for spontaneous volunteering, which will help co-operate with these indifferent people more effectively.

The seminar took place within the framework of the project «Promoting the role of volunteers and the population in Civil Protection (ProVoice)».