The Volunteer’s Review

04/12/20

At CEBaP, we scientifically substantiate the activities of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders to ensure that we provide effective and qualitative assistance in a wide range of humanitarian activities, from blood supply to emergency relief. Owing to our expertise underpinned by scientific evidence coupled with many years of experience of our volunteers, we are the authorities' preferred emergency-relief partner. 

Belgian Red-Cross-Flanders deploys more than 10,000 volunteers who daily bring our evidence-based guidelines into practice at mass gathering manifestations, first-aid courses, social activities, blood collections, disaster settings, …. Considering their great pivotal role in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and its practical application in the field, we have launched The Volunteer’s Review to challenge our volunteers to ask scientific questions based on their experiences and activities at Belgian Red-Cross. What have you always wanted to know as a volunteer? What scientific knowledge is lacking to help even better in emergency aid settings, at blood collections, …? 

This project is a great and fun opportunity for volunteers to participate in scientific research and get involved in the development of an evidence summary in a unique way. We aim to fully engage with the volunteers at every step of the process, from question selection, to searching and selecting studies, to data analysis, to presentation of the results and beyond. In an age of misinformation and ‘Dr Google’, it is really important that people are able to think critically about the health claims that confront us daily. Taking part in The Volunteer’s Review will help our volunteers to gain the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions. At the same time, it will also help us to understand more about sharing the results in ways that are useful for the people in the field.

At the time of writing, the first questions have been received and we will keep you posted about the progress of this fun and interesting project.