Recently, we witnessed an increase of natural or other disasters, which activate different organizations to involve the volunteers in the field. When unpredictable situations occur — whether natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, torrents, or other major disasters, such as the migration flow at the borders — is the volunteering experience new and special; at this point, we also talk about spontaneous volunteers. In the first, theoretical part of the Master’s Thesis, I present spontaneous volunteerism, volunteerism in general and the distress that working in complex emergencies can cause. In the second, empirical part of the thesis, I focus mainly on researching the support that spontaneous volunteers receive from organizations, and the onerous burden that is placed on the volunteers when working in complex emergencies. The analysis of the gathered data shows that in complex emergencies, there is neither systemic psychosocial support for spontaneous volunteers nor other systemic and equally distributed support by the organization. In unpredictable situations, there is not much time to prepare for volunteer work, so spontaneous volunteers often go to the field completely unequipped. Problems arise when the unprepared volunteers cannot orientate in the field. In many cases, there is no system of selection that would show who is suitable for volunteering at all, so that they would not endanger themselves or others with their actions. Working with spontaneous volunteers can be a big challenge for organizations therefore I also included the research of benefits and challenges they face in involving spontaneous volunteers. The analysis showed that involving spontaneous volunteers in the field has its advantages and disadvantages, however, the disadvantages do not outweigh the advantages. During the Master’s Thesis process the Covid-19 epidemic was declared. I decided to consult with my mentor to include the work of spontaneous volunteers in the current situation. Together with volunteer coordinators, I researched how, if at all, organizations have changed and upgraded the coordination of spontaneous volunteers from the last emergency – the Refugee Crisis in 2015 – until now. The following work focuses on the research of spontaneous volunteerism in the Republic of Slovenia, and it is a base for further research of this diverse field, whose importance is increasingly growing.
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