Volunteer Programs

VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS

Committed to standards of excellence in the field of social contribution and wide-spectrum volunteering, WUAVF Hellas will coordinate environmental, humanitarian and disaster relief projects nationwide with the participation of its members and a network of local supporters. Our Volunteer Programs will be focused on 4 sectors:

• Emergency Search & Rescue
• Humanitarian Aid
• Environmental Protection
• Public Awareness campaigns

Emergency Search & Rescue

Internationally hundreds of civilian drone pilots are signing up to fly emergency service missions. No category of use has grown faster than emergency services. At the same time, drones and emergency responders have an uneasy relationship. Drones reportedly interfered with firefighters battling blazes although volunteer drone pilots were eager to assist with search and rescue missions. Unless a drone pilot is working for or in conjunction with professional emergency responders, there’s not a lot of value that “freelancers” can provide in an emergency situation if they are not properly trained.
With that said, WUAVF Hellas has already taken action towards that direction by organizing a Search & Rescue Drone Course to educate our members on the fundamentals of Search & Rescue (SAR) tactics by experienced Special Forces instructors that will offer valuable insights to prepare our members for real-life assignments. Moreover, graduates of this course will be registered to our database of trained volunteers and will be notified to participate in our future Volunteer Programs.

Humanitarian Aid
Drones, until very recently, had no role to play in humanitarian aid; but over the last couple of years, the use of drones and its applications has exponentially risen generating the interest of the United Nations and the UNICEF.
UAVs are already used routinely for mapping and monitoring following rapid-onset emergencies like hurricanes and earthquakes. UAVs won’t replace conventional humanitarian tools; but they could bolster responses, adding an extra complementary tool for humanitarians to use. They can be pre-positioned in disaster-prone regions, since they don’t require extensive infrastructure (like runways) to operate, and they can circumvent poor infrastructure.
Cargo drones can be used for carrying light-weight, time-critical items, to help address humanitarian challenges like those listed below:
Mapping of affected areas, conduct damage assessments and support reconstruction projects
Delivering critical medical aid within the first 72 hours of a crisis, when damaged infrastructure or flooding sometimes makes roads impassable.
Rapidly delivering health commodities for which there is unpredictable demand, (such as anti-venom, blood containers etc.)
Supporting vaccination campaigns by delivering vaccines when and where needed, in isolated areas without a reliable logistics chain
Digital revolution is already underway and WUAVF Hellas will leverage innovation for humanitarian action in Greece by organizing Search & Assist Programs using drones with the participation of our members, national assets and a number of volunteer groups. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements!

Environmental Protection
While civilian population uses drones for photography, agricultural applications, and product delivery, in the field of science, drones are being used more and more to help conserve the environment. Drones offer quick, easy and cost-effective aerial imagery and can be equipped with a number of sensors or sophisticated cameras making them ideal for monitoring the environment. They can also be armed with meteorological apparatus such as wind gauges, thermometers and humidity or pressure sensors allowing them to gather climate data.
A list of ways in which drones could be employed for environmental protection is described below and is constantly growing:

• Forestry surveillance & control of forest fires
• Animal identification, counting & endangered species control
• Defending wildlife and combat animal poachers
• Control of hydrological basins & erosion monitoring
• Mapping of coral reefs & monitoring of marine ecosystems
• River & coastline management
• Climate change research

On an environmental level, drones have thousands of applications which the scientific community is only just beginning to uncover, but they all have the same essential aim: to protect the planet and the future of mankind; WUAVF Hellas will work intensively towards that direction supporting similar initiatives all around Greece. Our members will be notified to participate and what is more relevant proposals are encouraged to be submitted at info@worlduav.eu

Public Awareness campaigns
Public awareness campaigns will be a vital component in order to achieve the maximum result in raising attention of a wide audience in Greece, so WUAVF Hellas will launch nationwide projects aiming to inform and enlighten any interested party for the amazing world of drones. Associated technological achievements, the analysis of applications of drones in everyday life, the international drone market trends and last but not least, the WORLD UAV FEDERATION (WUAVF) itself, will be among the topics covered during those awareness campaigns. University and college students are invited to register themselves in, since student volunteering is a great opportunity to participate in new experiences, meet new people and boost employment prospects since having volunteering work on your CV is always a bonus. WUAVF Hellas will provide a certificate of participation for students that will join our public awareness campaigns. Contact us at info@worlduav.eu for more information.