Digital tools are an invaluable asset of modern life, but how can they help connect citizens and volunteers with the people and resources needed during an emergency?
This was one of the questions explored during the second trial of the DARE project, which took place over two full days on 23 and 24 September 2026 in Matosinhos, Portugal.
Trial #2 took the form of a tabletop exercise designed to test the DARE Dashboard in a city context, providing an opportunity to put DARE’s tools into practice and explore how they could support coordination, participation, and response in an emergency situation.
Over two days, participants tested the Dashboard and its volunteer coordination functions as part of an urban flooding scenario. With volunteer onboarding and task assignment, the exercise explored how available volunteers could be connected with operational needs and coordinated digitally as an emergency unfolded.
Following practical testing on the first day, participants continued using the Dashboard on the second day and shared feedback on how well it supported coordination, participation, and response during the emergency scenario.
The trial provided those in attendance with a hands-on opportunity to examine how quickly and effectively volunteers can be brought into an emergency response and explore how digital tools can help turn available people and resources into coordinated support on the ground.
”The tool showed excellent potential in registering spontaneous volunteers, their skills and resources and assigning them to dedicated emergency management tasks such as the filling of sandbags or providing food to international support. It hence allows not only the effective integration of volunteers but also avoids that spontaneous helpers have to be turned down when simply appearing at an operational theatre.”
The feedback gathered during the trial will help the DARE consortium further explore how its tools and approaches can support volunteers and emergency response teams in a crisis, while identifying areas for further development.
A big thank you to all the partners and participants who contributed to the two-day exercise in Matosinhos.
Stay tuned for information on DARE trial #3!
