2025/01/01 by Oliver Nahkur, Nahkur, Oliver, Kati Orru +1
Social Sciences · #Peacebuilding and International Security #Public Relations and Crisis Communication #Global Security and Public Health
paper · doi:10.15158/mbkv-z098
Recently, Estonia has experienced several crises, in which spontaneous volunteers have significantly contributed to the resolution thereof alongside official crisis management institutions. In our study, we sought answers to the following research questions: (1) what are the regulations and institutional arrangements for engaging spontaneous volunteers; (2) what methods and tools are used to involve them; and (3) what are the lessons learned from recent crises in engaging and cooperating with them? To answer these questions, we collected data from document analysis and 15 semi-structured expert interviews between October 2024 and February 2025. We found that the engagement of spontaneous volunteers in Estonia is unregulated, there is no central agency responsible for nationwide organisation, and there are no direct official methods or tools for engagement. After the Ukrainian war refugee crisis, the need for their coordinated engagement has become more widely recognised.