The Rescue Youth Club Program educates children and young people across three age groups on safety awareness, risk avoidance, and effective crisis response. It develops responsible attitudes, practical skills, and leadership in advising others on safety, while supporting the Rescue Board’s goal of strengthening community safety and resilience.
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Rescue Youth Club Program
General Information
ISIG
Youth Clubs for raising awareness on civil protection and emergency preparedness.
Estonia faces military, cyber, and hybrid threats, alongside natural risks like storms, floods, and forest fires. Its dispersed population and reliance on digital systems add challenges, making resilience, self-reliance, and community participation central to civil protection. Recognising that children and young people are especially vulnerable in such situations, the programme equips them with essential safety knowledge and practical skills to protect themselves and support others. By engaging youth early, the clubs also strengthen community preparedness, which is particularly important in Estonia’s dispersed rural areas where emergency response may take longer.
Needs Addressed
The Rescue Youth Clubs were created to address the lack of safety awareness among Estonia’s youth by teaching rescue knowledge and practical skills. The programme focuses on changing mindsets and building abilities to prevent and respond to emergencies such as power outages, pandemics, forest fires, storms, floods, chemical accidents, and structural disasters. The clubs enable young people to act responsibly in dangerous situations, help others, and raise awareness in their families, strengthening both individual and community resilience.
The Rescue Youth Clubs specifically target vulnerable groups of children and young people. The programme is designed for participants aged 7–18 and is structured into three levels according to age and school grade. Level I includes children aged 7–11 in grades 1–5, Level II covers ages 12–15 in grades 6–9, and Level III is for young people aged 16–18 in grades 10–12. This age-based structure ensures that the training is developmentally appropriate and gradually builds competencies as participants grow, making the programme accessible and effective for children throughout their school years.
Estonia’s civil protection framework reflects a multistakeholder governance model. While the state plays a central coordinating role in preparing for both military and non-military threats, the system strongly relies on the active participation of citizens, volunteer organisations, and communities.
Estonia’s emergency preparedness can be considered an organised response, supported by a national disaster risk management framework and established systems. However, activities such as the Rescue Youth Clubs and other community-based initiatives push the country toward advanced preparedness by fostering awareness, skills, and resilience among the younger generation and their families.
Estonia’s disaster response infrastructure is advanced resilient, supported by a well-organized national system and structured civil protection. For instance, the Emergency Act mandates 22 vital service providers, such as healthcare, utilities, and transport, to maintain continuity plans and undergo audits, ensuring preparedness across critical sectors. The country also operates around 310 local resilience centers, modernizes energy and communication infrastructure, and engages in community-based programs and regional cooperation with NATO and the EU.
The purpose of engagement is to build a stronger culture of safety by inspiring participation, fostering responsibility, and ensuring the continuity of rescue efforts through the active involvement of younger generations.
The Rescue Youth Clubs use techniques focused on learning, practicing, and applying knowledge and skills. Participants engage in activities that promote understanding of hazards, safe behaviors, and effective responses in emergencies. The programme emphasizes cognitive exercises to grasp the nature of dangerous situations, practical skill-building to act appropriately during crises, and guided behavioral development to encourage safe attitudes and responsible actions. Additionally, participants are involved in peer and family education, applying what they learn to advise others on safety, which reinforces both learning and community awareness.
Participants and instructors influence the design and implementation of the Rescue Youth Clubs by providing feedback, sharing experiences, and collaboratively shaping activities to ensure the training is relevant, practical, and responsive to real-life safety challenges.
The Rescue Youth Clubs build long-term resilience and decision-making by teaching children and young people to recognize and respond to emergencies, develop critical thinking and situational awareness, and promote safe behaviors that extend to their families and communities.
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Geographical Scope
Population Size
Population Density
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
The Rescue Youth Clubs stand out by specifically targeting vulnerable children and young people and providing age-structured, non-formal learning that is carefully tailored to different developmental stages, ensuring that the content, activities, and skill-building exercises are appropriate for each age group. This structure allows participants to gradually acquire rescue knowledge, practical skills, and safety awareness in a way that matches their cognitive and social development, making the learning both effective and engaging.
Estonian
Local instructors and non-profit organizations.
Activities are led by the local youth club instructor in collaboration with non-profit organizations, rescue centers, and other partners. In most cases, instructors are volunteer rescuers who have completed formal training. They hold either specialized education in rescue or a Level I volunteer rescuer certificate. In addition, every youth club instructor completes a six-hour training course on youth work designed for those without prior experience. The clubs function as non-formal education groups and are not part of the official school curriculum. Nevertheless, the program is based on the national curriculum for basic and upper secondary schools, specifically addressing the cross-curricular theme of 'Health and Safety'.
The Youth Clubs work closely with multiple departments of the Rescue Board, including specialists from the prevention office. They can partner with youth centers to access facilities, while municipalities may support excursions, projects, and other activities. The clubs also involve experts from various institutions in their programs. Key partner organizations include the Alarm Center, the Rescue Board’s Deminers, the Police and Border Guard Board, Ambulance services, the Estonian Red Cross, the Defense League, and the Women’s Voluntary Defense Organization.
The Youth Clubs work closely with multiple departments of the Rescue Board, including specialists from the prevention office. They can partner with youth centers to access facilities, while municipalities may support excursions, projects, and other activities. The clubs also involve experts from various institutions in their programs. Key partner organizations include the Alarm Center, the Rescue Board’s Deminers, the Police and Border Guard Board, Ambulance services, the Estonian Red Cross, the Defense League, and the Women’s Voluntary Defense Organization.
Human resources are essential, particularly instructors who can dedicate time and effort to running the clubs. Instruction is voluntary, and instructors do not receive payment for their work. Ensuring a steady succession of instructors and maintaining motivation among current leaders is crucial. Instructors receive theoretical training and have access to educational materials to support their work. Equipment for the clubs is provided through allocation or borrowing from nearby rescue stations, and in some cases the organization acquires materials specifically for educational activities, such as crisis supplies, sample evacuation bags, educational games on civil protection, and other safety teaching aids.
The Rescue Youth Clubs operate as a regular voluntary programme, structured to provide consistent engagement throughout the school year. Activities are scheduled over an eight-month period, running from October to May 31, with participants expected to engage for a minimum of 1.5 hours per week or 6 hours per month. This schedule allows for sustained learning and gradual skill development. In some cases, activities may extend into June to accommodate additional projects, excursions, or special training sessions, offering flexibility while ensuring that participants have ample opportunity to consolidate knowledge and practical skills.
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
The programme’s strengths include a systematic age-based design, a strong focus on civil protection, detailed instructor guidelines, flexible and participatory learning methods, practical activities, and engagement of active practitioners and partner networks. Instructor feedback and camp activities help monitor outcomes and inform improvements, while the clubs can inspire long-term involvement as volunteer rescuers. Challenges include uneven club quality due to resources and instructor creativity, competition with other activities in urban areas limiting participation, and the lack of formal feedback from participants, highlighting the need for continuous evaluation and adaptation.
During implementation, several challenges have emerged. Youth clubs, particularly in urban areas, tend to lose many participants around the ages of 15–16, as children shift their interests or are drawn to other activities, including the influence of the digital world. Limited financial resources make it difficult to organize summer camps for all club participants, and finding large enough spaces to accommodate everyone can also be challenging. Additionally, there are ongoing developments and changes in the field of civil protection, which require the program to be regularly revised. Learning materials are continuously updated to reflect these changes and ensure the program remains current.
The Rescue Youth Clubs implement specific risk management measures to ensure consistent quality and safety across all activities. For instance, instructors are trained to guarantee a uniform level of knowledge and learning outcomes across clubs in different contexts. They provide continuous supervision and feedback during sessions to mitigate potential risks, ensuring that participants engage safely in all activities. Practical simulations and exercises are organized to complement theoretical lessons, keeping children actively involved while minimizing hazards, rather than relying solely on frontal instruction.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
The Rescue Youth Clubs are sustained through funding from the Estonian Rescue Board and a network of professional instructors and partners. Continuous updates to learning materials, detailed instructor guidelines, and a focus on practical, participatory methods ensure the programme remains effective, flexible, and accessible over time. Summer camps within the Rescue Youth Clubs are maintained through funding from the Estonian Rescue Board, with parents or caregivers contributing a fee of 50 EUR.
The Rescue Youth Clubs model can be adapted to other contexts and countries by tailoring the education programme to the specific local environment. This involves aligning the curriculum with the types of risks and hazards relevant to the area, incorporating the national or local legislation on disaster risk management, and engaging the key actors and institutions responsible for DRM in that context.
The Rescue Youth Clubs use a range of technologies and equipment, including photos, educational films, VR emergency games, firefighter gear, and specialized training tools like fire extinguishers, smoke machines, and life-saving equipment, to provide realistic, hands-on learning experiences that enhance participants’ safety skills and awareness.
Specific information on direct costs is not available.
Specific information on operational costs is not available.