Two years of Readiness Workshops in Poland
In 2021, the first implementation of Readiness Workshops in Poland, carried out by Gotowi.org, took place in the Complex of Economic and Commercial Schools in Olsztyn.
Since then, we have traveled all over Poland, training youth, adults and seniors in being prepared for distasters, building their personal resilience for emergency situations, personal safety and medical rescue. We have already trained about 6,000 people in Poland and we are going forward.
On June 1, 2023, on Children's Day, we organized Readiness Workshops at the Economic and Commercial School Complex in Olsztyn again. Nearly 70 students from the third, second and first grades participated.
Readiness Workshops
Disasters, catastrophes or sudden emergencies are an inseparable element of our everyday life, they cause fear and uncertainty. Some are the result of the effects of climate change, while others are the result of human activity. Regardless of the sources of threats, you can be prepared, increasing your chances, reducing the effects of threats and their costs. Being prepared for disasters, threats, emergency situations means meeting basic human needs, as well as appropriate and quick response in emergency situations. And this is what Gotowi.org instructors teach at workshops.
Together with the students, we chose 5 threats that, according to experts, have the highest probability of occurrence in Poland. Then the youth was given the task of assigning appropriate behaviors before, during and after the threat.
After dividing into teams, the youth went to the square around the school to gain skills and knowledge necessary to build resilience for disasters.
Achieving Bases
Each team had its own starting card, and the completion of tasks in the Bases was confirmed by the instructor with a stamp. There were 5 Workshop Bases to achiev, with a lot of topics and activities in them. Students learned, among more other, following things:
- how to make your home safe and how to prepare home storage
- what is good to carry every day in a school backpack (EDC) and what elements of equipment an emergency backpack should have
- how not to become a victim of assault and how to defend yourself with your voice
- how to help a person injured in an accident
- how to create a good emergency plan
- how to put out a fire in the house
Active in the local community
In the third part of the Readiness Workshop, students met firefighters from the State Fire Service and paramedics from the Polish Red Cross Rescue Group.
The aim was to encourage youth to develop the knowledge and skills provided at the Readiness Workshops by engaging in social activities for their age, e.g. Youth Fire Brigade Teams or volunteering with the Polish Red Cross.
Strong and mutually acquainted members of local communities are a guarantee of building a resilient society, transfer of skills, they can significantly reduce the cost of risk of threats and the costs of their consequences, both financial and social and human.
End of the Readiness Workshop
During the Readiness Workshop, Gotowi.org instructors provided tools that provide protection for young people and their loved ones, build personal security and self-confidence, give a sense of agency and effectiveness, and allow to change fear and panic into concrete, immediate actions.
We encouraged youth to use the www.gotowi.org portal to prepare for threats, e.g. before going on holiday to warm countries or before a long car journey.
At the end, we awarded 3 thematic prizes to the best participants of the workshop, and we gave the school the Emergency Backpack and the Certificate of Readiness.