Initial assumptions

The frequency, intensity and nature of crises is changing. The major, and often interconnected, changes that are happening, whether related to the climate, politics, geopolitics, health, etc., have raised questions about the capacity of traditional aid organisations to take action.

The countries who thought they were protected from these crises, or at least prepared for them, are beginning to see that their emergency services and institutions are not ready for the systemic risks that they now face.

At the same time, the affected populations, who often are not prepared or trained to cope with these changes, help each other and self-organise during crises, based on spontaneous, endogenous and informal processes. The COVID pandemic has left a lasting impression, highlighting the potential for citizens and local actors to organise when faced with an unprecedented situation.

The same dynamics are regularly observed in crisis contexts. However, in our numerous evaluations of humanitarian responses, we have shown that external actors do not always take this potential into account, and as a result, they can weaken local dynamics. This was highlighted by Groupe URD’s real-time evaluations carried out in Lebanon¹ (2020) and Ukraine² (2022).

© Solène Dargaud (fresque réalisée à l’occasion du Forum de la Coopération 2025).

Origins of the project

This project came into being following discussions between the Groupe URD team and Pablo Servigne, at the Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid in 2019 on “Climate change, multiple crises and collapse: what can the aid sector do to anticipate and adapt to the major changes ahead?” and in 2021 on “Local solidarity, mutual assistance and citizenship: the forgotten side of crisis response?”.

The project is at the crossroads of Groupe URD’s long-standing work on crises and vulnerability, the participation of local people in aid programmes and the localisation of aid, and Pablo Servigne’s work on disasters, the risk of collapse and mutual aid.

Phase 1 of the project: research

The project began with an initial phase of six case studies carried out between mid-2023 and mid-2025 as part of the ‘APIC 3 project’ on the subject of mutual aid in times of disaster:

• Briançon (reception of migrants)
• Vallée de la Roya (exceptional storm in 2020)
• Reunion Island (hurricanes)
• Ukraine (armed conflict 2022-present)
• Chad (floods in 2022)
• Australia (megafires and mega-floods in 2021 and 2022)

The aim of these studies is to analyse and document the mechanisms of mutual aid according to the type of crisis, the socio-political contexts in which they take place and, also, according to the temporality of the crisis or disaster (before, after, during). The aim is also to identify people’s perceptions of the crisis and examine the ‘collective memory’. Finally, these studies aim to understand how ‘external’ aid (international and institutional) adapts to the informal logic of mutual aid.

The studies targets the following individuals and institutions:

• People living in the villages and neighbourhoods concerned.
• Village associations and citizens’ groups.
• Local authorities from municipal to national level.
• Technical government departments affected by the crisis (Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Interior) at central and decentralised levels.
• Civil security.
• International and national aid agencies.

Phase 2: knowledge capitalisation, facilitation and sharing

The aim of this Education for Citizenship and International Solidarity (ECSI) project is to strengthen people’s ability and willingness to help each other in times of crisis – both current and future – by raising awareness, experimenting with and understanding spontaneous mutual aid phenomena and the ways in which they can be supported by the various local players and residents. As well as sharing knowledge, the aim will be to encourage citizens to get organised, and to facilitate synergies between the many local players, both institutional and non-institutional, thereby strengthening their resilience to crises.

> The target audience in France

Citizens/individuals concerned about future prospects, whether organised within movements or not, in order to strengthen their will and capacity to act.
Those involved in crisis situations (at national and local level): local authorities and networks of local authorities, elected representatives and political decision-makers, social aid and SSE players, civil protection and fire brigades, national NGOs and local associations, the French Red Cross, with the aim of better equipping them to interact with individuals/citizens and making them more likely to develop these synergies.

> Deliverables and activities

To this end, a range of diverse activities began in September 2024, including:

• The production of resources (detailed cross-cutting report, book, key messages, recommendations, handbook, educational materials, etc.).
• The organisation of webinars.
• A public engagement campaign, in collaboration with the On Est Prêt movement.
• Facilitating interactive sessions (role-playing exercises, feedback exchanges between local stakeholders).
• The production and distribution of a web series.

1. https://www.urd.org/en/project/real-time-evaluation-of-the-response-to-the-explosion-in-beirut-on-4-august-2020/
2. https://www.urd.org/en/project/real-time-evaluation-in-ukraine/