Young volunteers protect citizens in disasters
Monday, 22 June 2009 13:00
On June 22-27, 2009, a Volunteer Fire Fighting Youth Camp will be organized in the municipality of Kovacica. One hundred young people from 10 Vojvodina municipalities will participate in a five day camp which will involve training courses and practical exercises that will equip participants with the skills they need to take action in helping their communities recover from emergency situations. The camp is supported by Kovacica’s self-government, the Firefighting Volunteer Association of Kovacica and USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program.
Jan Puskar, Kovacica Mayor, and Michael Pillsbury, USAID’s Preparedness and Planning Project Director, will open the camp on Monday, June 22.USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program has provided $42,000 of financial assistance for the organization of the youth camp. The camp will gather members of volunteer firefighting organizations and young people between the ages 14-18 from the following municipalities: Backa Topola, Indjija, Kanjiza, Kovacica, Kula, Novi Knezevac, Sombor, Subotica, Zitiste and Zrenjanin. The Fire Fighting Youth Camp is intended to raise awareness about the importance of volunteerism in disaster prevention and response, and to promote the inclusion of young volunteers in the local level disaster management system. The camp is organized in close cooperation with and support from the Ministry of Interior’s Sector for Protection and Rescue.
Past experience has shown that in the event of an emergency, first responders and volunteers at the local level are in the best position to be mobilized promptly. The camp will build on Vojvodina’s long tradition of community voluntarism in firefighting protection and will serve to reinforce this important tradition going forward. Through this initiative, young people will be drawn closer to volunteer organizations in their local communities and will be in a position to respond quickly in the event of a disaster
The participating municipalities are included in the USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program and have benefited from capacity building training, technical assistance and best practices fairs and conferences in the field of disaster management. The program builds a systematic approach to local-level disaster management by working with municipalities to enhance their disaster response effort in the event of natural or man-made disasters. Currently, 60 municipalities in Serbia are included in program activities.
Journalists interested in attending the ceremony are kindly invited to be at the Relax Recreation Center in Kovacica, 2 Vinogradarska. The opening ceremony will take place on Monday, 22 June, at 12:45 p.m. The closing ceremony and awards presentation is scheduled for Saturday, 27 June, at 2:00 p.m.