5. July 2007

v  A kick-off for consultations on new Civil Society Endowment
v  Joint committee of EKAK implementation to be revised
v  Estonian Government launches new web-portal for public participation
v  Estonia ranks first in NGO Sustainability Index
v  News in brief

A kick-off for consultations on new Civil Society Endowment

Last week, NENO started consultations on the concept of the Civil Society Endowment, to be formed by the beginning of 2008.

The establishing of the Endowment, financed from the state budget, was one of the proposals made in the Political Manifesto of Estonian NGOs prior to the parliamentary elections in March (www.ngo.ee/11854). It was included into the Programme of the Estonian Government with the decision to finance the Endowment with 20 million Estonian kroons (1,3 million Euros) annually.

The aim of the consultations is to establish the principles of what and how the Endowment should fund to best achieve its goal to strengthen the Estonian civil society and nonprofit organizations. Meetings with umbrella organizations and two public discussion forums will be held alongside Internet consultations in July and August.

“As the needs exceed the resources, the Endowment has to be exceptionally carefully planned, because not much is accomplished if we spread the money too thin,” said Agu Laius, NENO’s project manager. “The consultations help us make participatory needs assessment to identify current funding gaps, where additional money would create the highest value.”

NENO will present the concept of Endowment to the government in the beginning of September.

Joint committee of EKAK implementation to be revised

Representatives of NGOs and the government have agreed on revising the principles and membership of the joint committee for the implementation of Estonian Civil Society Development Concept (EKAK).

The committee was formed in 2003 and consisted of 30 representatives of public and nonprofit sectors. Since then, however, members of nonprofit sector especially have been dissatisfied with the slow process of EKAK implementation, caused by insufficient resources and lack of political interest.

The new committee, to be assembled in August, will be smaller but of higher level. It will include leaders of umbrella organizations as well as chancellors (the highest state officials in Estonia) of the ministries of Finance, Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Economic Affairs. The Minister of Regional Affairs chairs the committee.

NGOs are also pushing for the formation of an independent EKAK bureau, which would help the nonprofit sector in taking EKAK forward.

Estonian Government launches new web-portal for public participation

A new participation portal of the Estonian Government was launched this week, starting with consultations on the Estonian EU policy for 2007-11 and the concept of Civil Society Endowment.

The portal www.osale.ee (meaning “participate” in Estonian) allows civil society groups and individuals to post comments about the ongoing consultation processes, while the ministries can provide the public with draft laws, background materials as well as post polls.

In the future, the users will also get the opportunity to initiate legislation and comment on the needs and shortcomings in the society.

The portal is developed and run by the State Chancellery. The institution is also responsible for introducing the Good Involvement Practices (an agreement between civil society groups and the government; www.ngo.ee/11583) to the public sector, thus making it a normal part of public officials’ daily work.

More than 2/3 of Estonian people use Internet.

Estonia ranks first in NGO Sustainability Index

Estonian NGO sector continues to be among the strongest in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), as is demonstrated in “The 2006 NGO Sustainability Index”, released by the USAID in May.

The Index tracks the progress of civil society development in 28 countries throughout CEE and Eurasia, focusing on seven dimensions: legal environment, organizational capacity, financial viability, advocacy, service provision, infrastructure and public image.

Estonia received its highest marks for legal environment and infrastructure, advocacy and public image were also ranked high. Relatively poorer results were achieved in the dimensions of organizational capacity, financial viability and service provision, but compared to other countries in the region they were still among the best.

“The alarming sign is that while our strengths were developed years ago, the progress in the dimensions of organizational capacity and financial viability has been slower than we would like to see,” said Urmo Kübar, Executive Director of NENO.

In addition, the report showed growing stratification among the NGO community: while the public image of Estonia’s third sector is shaped by a small number of successful organizations who also serve as agenda setters in the society, the majority of NGOs still lack basic resources and skills to fulfil their potential. The same trend is indicated in several other countries. According to the report, also the divide between CEE’s EU members and the countries, which have not joined the union, continued to widen in 2006.

The full report can be found on USAID’s website: www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/dem_gov/ngoindex

News in brief

v  In September, the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) will hold a public hearing on the development of civil society as an issue of national importance, as agreed by the Riigikogu’s Support Group for Civil Society and NGOs in May. The biannual hearing was initially planned for February, but the coalition parties postponed it due to approaching parliamentary elections, causing protests of the NGO community.

v  This year’s annual summer school of NENO, organized in cooperation with the State Chancellery, will focus on the issues of public participation. NGO representatives and public officials are expected to learn together and find best solutions at the summer school. The event will take place on September 7-8.

v  The 5th Estonian Civil Society Conference, organized by NENO, will take place on November 22-23. This year’s conference will focus on universal good citizenship values. The programme and list of speakers will be announced soon.

v  Norwegian/EEA Financial Mechanism NGO Fund will announce its first call for applications in November. More than 2 million Euros will be allocated through the fund in 2007-09, with the goal to strengthen the civil society in Estonia.