Volunteers in the RESPONSE project: preparation begins in the field

RESPONSE behind the scenes: Volunteers in Action

In an emergency, there is no time to think for long. You act.
And sometimes, the first people to do so are not professional teams, but volunteers.

That is why their preparation is not a formality.

In March and early April 2026, three groups of volunteers – a total of 60 participants – went through training sessions in Montana. The trainings are part of the strategic project “RESPONSE”, funded with over €7.2 million under the Interreg VI-A IPA Bulgaria–Serbia Programme 2021–2027.

From the very first day, it becomes clear – this is not a “course”. No one sits and listens for long. Volunteers go outside and start working.

Fires, road accidents, floods, earthquakes. Situations that leave no time for hesitation. Work is carried out using manual tools, equipment, and drones. They try, make mistakes, adjust, and try again.

At some point during the training, something more important than the exercises themselves begins to happen. The initial hesitation disappears.

Participants start moving more confidently, distributing tasks without much explanation, and trusting each other. This is something that cannot be learned from a presentation.

That is the real purpose of these few days – to understand what to do when the situation becomes real.

The training continues in the coming months, involving more participants and more hands-on practice.

Because when it happens, what matters most is that someone knows how to act.

In the next publication from the “RESPONSE behind the scenes” series, we will show how this preparation reaches even closer to people – directly into their homes.