February 10, 2026 | Elizabeth Tomenko, Senior Emergency Program Manager, ADRA International
Six ADRA staff in matching blue vests leaned over a flip chart in a Belgrade classroom, sketching out an emergency response management plan, a volunteer appreciation plan, and an emergency communications strategy. Around them, the yellow, red, and purple teams worked on similar tasks. Only a few days earlier, most of these participants were strangers. Now, they moved as coordinated teams, preparing distribution plans, coordinating with local government, partnering with church administration, and practicing interviews with the media.
The scene looked like the early stages of a real emergency response. However, none of it was real. The scenario was fictitious, a simulated flood along the Danube River in north-central Serbia created for the ADRA Core Emergency Response Team (ERT) training, which took place from February 2-6, 2026, in Belgrade. The 4.5-day training is designed to help national offices activate their National Emergency Management Plan (NEMP) under pressure and to strengthen ADRA’s overall emergency preparedness and response capacity.
Despite the imaginary scenario, the learning was real.
Participants traveled from 14 different ADRA offices and one SDA Division Office across Europe to join the training, hosted at the South-East European Union Conference of the SDA Church in Belgrade. Trainers from ADRA International, ADRA Europe, and ADRA Euro-Asia guided the group through a blend of theory and tabletop exercises that mirrored the chaos, decision making, and coordination challenges of an unfolding disaster.
For Gabriel Villarreal, Regional Emergency Coordinator for ADRA Europe, the gathering was both timely and essential. “We have emergencies every year. And we are seeing that emergencies are coming more frequently. ADRA is called to be prepared to respond to emergencies. So this is very good to have a group of 24 people that are coming from 14 different ADRA offices in Europe that are committed to this. This is key to have other offices that are prepared and ready to respond to emergencies.”
The Core ERT training structure allowed participants to practice using ADRA’s Emergency Response Management System, manage small humanitarian projects, apply global standards, coordinate with government partners, and mobilise local SDA Church networks and volunteers. The simulated flood offered a safe environment to rehearse decisions that, in real emergencies, must be made quickly and with limited information.
For Vladimir Popovic, Project Coordinator at ADRA Serbia, the exercise reinforced both technical and ethical foundations. “It’s really valuable to remind ourselves that we need to respect basic humanitarian principles. We remind ourselves how important it is to be present in the field and understand local context. As we saw, we can deploy a lot of people but that first response in the first 48 hours is so important, and that bigger or bigger organizations cannot do without local support.” He added that ADRA’s local presence remains one of its strengths. “We can react immediately and we understand the local context.”
Some participants came with limited emergency background and discovered how much structure already exists within ADRA. Michaela Šrubařová, Project and Finance Manager from ADRA Czechia, shared, “I didn’t know that ADRA has such great prepared materials because I was part of an emergency response only once. But I will definitely stress the structure, how it’s prepared, and also the thing that we should all know: what does it mean to be part of the emergency response?”
Others found answers to long-standing questions. Bert Seefeldt, Volunteer Coordinator from ADRA Germany, reflected on what the training clarified. “The training has helped me to understand the basic items of emergency response.” He noted that earlier in his career he had to learn many lessons the hard way. “Many of the things we are discussing now I had to learn during a previous response and I missed them also. I learned them afterwards, so that would have been actually a good help to get a little bit of understanding of what I have to look for.” Then he added with a smile, “Especially with the abbreviations, it took me a year actually to understand what the people are talking about.”
Beyond plans and procedures, the Core ERT week also created space to connect with colleagues across the region. For Michaela, this aspect was just as valuable. “The connections with people, I love being in the middle of the big groups, and also a lot of meeting new people, so it was really nice for me. I found a lot of people on the same wave here, so it was really nice, and I hope I will keep some of the contacts for the future.”
Vladimir agreed. “It is so important that we can see each other from different offices, share our experiences, and based on that experience, we can accumulate and gain more and more knowledge and experience.”
By the final day, culminating in a graduation ceremony and dinner, plus cake to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the ERT, the blue, yellow, red, and purple teams had transformed from strangers into capable, confident response groups. The exercise may have been staged, but the skills, readiness, and relationships it forged will endure, ready to be called upon in any real crises that lie ahead.