The engagement of informal volunteers in disaster management in Europe

Abstract

Informal volunteering is increasingly important in disaster management, but authorities remain cautious about collaborating with informal volunteers. Relatively little is known about the extent to which informal volunteers are integrated into European disaster management systems. We try to remedy this gap by examining Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia, focusing on (1) the policies and institutional arrangements for integrating informal volunteers, (2) the methods and tools used for their engagement, and (3) the presumed benefits and challenges of involving volunteers in disaster management. 95 expert interviews combined with desk research and four online table-top exercises in 2019–2020 involving analysis of 11 disaster cases show that disaster management systems in these countries are taking modest steps toward opening traditional command-and-control structures to informal volunteers. In Sweden and Norway, where volunteering is more common, the engagement of informal volunteers is somewhat regulated, providing an opportunity to formally insure them. In Belgium and Italy, the engagement of informal volunteers is not encouraged, but formal volunteering is encouraged. In Germany, Hungary, Finland, and Estonia, it is done on an ad hoc basis. In most of the countries studied, campaigns to raise volunteers’ awareness of support possibilities are backed up by practical training that focuses primarily on first aid. In all countries, except Germany, social media has been used by disaster management authorities to inform, guide, or register informal volunteers on an ad hoc basis. The studied cases indicate that disaster response is more efficient when procedures for informal volunteer engagement exist.