The inauguration of the Civil Protection Academy took place the day before yesterday. The Civil Protection Academy constitutes a venture that is going to be the “reservoir” of volunteering in the country and give the impetus for a new operating framework for voluntary organizations.

Inaugurated at its facilities in Vilia Attica by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, the new Academy will be a school open to society and will train volunteers who are members of voluntary Civil Protection organizations, local government officials, public bodies, uniformed officers of all categories and citizens, in matters of civil protection and crisis management.

Its mission is to provide certified, theoretical, and practical, education and training in matters of civil protection and crisis management. The first trainees of the Academy will be members of voluntary Civil Protection organizations in Attica, with the interest in participating and monitoring the programs, according to information, being particularly high.

The new Academy is going to be the “breeding ground” of volunteering, as in order for members of a voluntary civil protection organization to become civil protection volunteers, they will have to attend the required certified training of the School of Volunteers and Voluntary Civil Protection Organizations of the Civil Protection Academy. 

At the same time, the Academy seeks to update the register of voluntary Civil Protection organizations. Thus, in order for a voluntary Civil Protection organization to be included in the register, in addition to the criteria, it must meet, at least 12 of its members will need to have been trained in each action, depending on the actions they want to join and rejoin.  

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The Civil Protection Academy includes the School of Volunteers and Voluntary Organizations of Civil Protection, the School of Local Government Personnel and Officials (A’ & B’ ranks), the School of Public Administration Officials, and the School of Citizens. Furthermore, the education and training programs of the Civil Protection Academy, which will be provided for free, are designed to address topics such as: 

• prevention and response to emergencies (e.g. legislation, general contingency plans, and immediate/short-term consequences management), 
• forest fires (e.g. training of forest protection teams, prevention of forest fires, basic knowledge of self-protection), 
• urban fires (e.g. training in the basic principles of extinguishing urban fires, fire behavior in buildings), 
• search and rescue (e.g. building evacuations, mountain and cave rescues, rescue in water), 
• First Aid (e.g. basic principles of life support in adults and children, special issues: injuries, burns, poisonings), 
• care actions (e.g. provision of temporary accommodation and food, psychological support of the affected, relatives of victims, and first responders), 
• Communication Crisis Management (e.g. fundamentals of information management, organizing press conferences, panic management), 
• climate change, the environment, culture, and technology (e.g. the impact of climate change on the quality of life, sustainable mobility, protecting cultural monuments from climate change, climate change technologies).

It is noted that since its establishment, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has placed special emphasis on the role that civil protection volunteers can have in dealing with emergencies and in crisis management, pointing out that voluntary organizations are an integral part of the Civil Protection mechanism. 

Through its training and certification systems, the Academy will allow volunteers to contribute to the field in the best possible way.

Source: APA MPA

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