Civil Protection Platform

As a portfolio demonstration, we set out to solve a real-world problem: Brandenburg lacks a unified digital platform for civil protection. Emergency information is fragmented across multiple agencies and websites, leaving citizens without centralized access to localized preparedness resources. There is no coordinated system for volunteer management during crises, and existing solutions fail to meet German accessibility standards (BITV 2.0) or GDPR requirements. In emergencies, every second counts and scattered information costs time.

We built SCHUTZSCHILD Brandenburg as a fully functional demo, a modern, accessible Next.js 15 platform with Payload CMS 3 embedded directly in the application. The system integrates Germany's official NINA warning API for a live warning ticker, provides interactive preparedness checklists tailored by household size and risk profile, and features a full volunteer coordination portal ("Spontanhelfer") with skill tracking, availability management, and deployment readiness. 13 CMS collections with granular role-based access control across four user roles (Admin, Editor, Crisis Staff, Press Office) power the entire content workflow, from articles and events to GDPR-compliant newsletter distribution and emergency pages designed to function without JavaScript.