Abstract:

Resources and efforts are invested in civil protection and security management preparedness exercises to support compatibility and complementarity of intervention teams and other actors. Our societies, including their rescue services and crisis management organizations, face internal, external and hybrid threats. E.g. the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and national perspectives of Member States address hybrid threats, influence, and warfare. Strategies that help prepare against hybrid influence include relevant political debate, decision-making, and integration of security into critical infrastructures, and regular preparedness exercises. Evaluation of preparedness exercises is needed to build valuable knowledge and promote continuous learning of participants (units and individuals) of each exercise.

To increase harmonization and structure to the evaluation of exercises, the project International Network of Evaluators & Guideline for a Methodological Approach in Exercise Evaluation (INEGMA-E2) developed a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for all types of civil protection exercises. Methods included background table-top studies on exercise types, exercise evaluation concepts, methodology, and workshops that developed these further with co-creation and innovation design principles.

A SOP serves as a communication channel. It includes very practical guidelines for evaluators, such as examples of evaluation questionnaires and other methods to collect data from primary sources, and to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. SOPs help evaluation teams coordinate and communicate with the organization that is responsible for the preparedness exercise to set evaluation topics, which often include communication, collaboration, coordination, and skills. Special attention can also be paid to cooperation and coordination among different participant organizations and their responsibilities.

A SOP for preparedness exercises is part of exercise knowledge management. It communicates evaluation objectives, concepts, and methods for evaluators, helping provide harmonized structures for exercise evaluation by clearly communicating how to connect evaluation actions to evaluation methods, exercise concepts and types. A SOP can be published digitally or as a printed handbook.

Keywords:

Hybrid influence, Standard operating procedure, Preparedness exercises, Exercise evaluation.