• Overview of the Estonian civil society, its main activities and trends;
• Overview of the main activities of NENO, including its training programmes;
• Introduction of the biggest civil society organisations in Estonia
• Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation
• Estonian Village Movement Kodukant
• Estonian Neighborhood Watch
• Mondo
• Participation in the workshop for NGO leaders under the direction of Katherine Onorato on impact evaluation;
• Participation at the seminar about the Green Office programme to be implemented in business and non-profit organisations.
• Meeting with the participants of the leadership training for NGO leaders on advanced level (training for mentors and mentees in NGOs all over Estonia);

Read the text of Manifesto: www.ngo.ee/28229.

Manifesto consists of two parts. First part is Good Campaigning Practices, which, if complied with, contributes to fair stumping and enables the voters to make an adept choice between different platforms and candidates. In the second part of Manifesto are proposals for activities that candidates running for the offices can undertake if being elected to contribute to strengthening the non-governmental organizations and civil society as well as improving the cooperation between the organizations and local governments.

"The reputation of elections in Estonia is low - citizens are annoyed and dissapointed that substantial debates are further replaced by costly and populistic campaigns. This is neither good nor inevitable. By proposing the Good Campaigning Practice we are trying to change this situation for the better. The election campaigns are regulated by law, but as life has shown, there are ways to interpret laws ambivalently or circumvent them. We believe that instead of do's and don'ts it is often more efficacious and intrinsic to civil society, to agree on appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, and the reasons of it. When all parties take voluntary obligations, which they understand and acknowledge, they are most likely interested in following these commitments," said Urmo Kübar, director of NENO.

"In March 2009, on behalf of NENO and with the help of several other NGO's and experts, we proposed our ideas for good election practices. In April we met with all parties of the Parliament and the current text was born," explaines Kübar. In the beginning of May 2009, the Good Campaigning Practices was signed by five political parties represented in Riigikogu, Estonian Parliament, out of six. The Centre Party announced that the principles declared in the Good Campaigning Practices are considered important and are supported by the party, however, the document will not be signed. 

According to Kübar, the good practices should still be followed by all candidates, also by single candidates and election unions. "When people detect that good election practices have been violated, we ask them to inform us via e-mail and specify, which part of the election practice was infringed. NENO will collect and publish these examples in the Good Citizen blog, where we will add our comments and give a word to the reproached parties or candidates, and to all others who wish to comment. No one will be fined or sent to prison for violating the good practice, but we believe, that what is more important is that electors form an opinion about certain types of behaviour," said Kübar.

The second part of the Manifesto includes proposals for activities contributing to strengthening civil society and non-governmental organizations. Under the leadership of  NENO and upon involving other non-governmental organizations, the recommendations concerning the whole of Estonia have been prepared for all the local governments and local organizations have added their proposals in several cities and rural municipalities.

A similar Manifesto was also launched by Estonian NGO's prior to the parliamentary elections in 2007, which resulted in a separate chapter on civil society issues in the Government's coalition agreement for the first time in Estonia, including clauses on the establishment of the National Foundation for Civil Society, systematizing the principles for the funding of NGOs from the state budget, compiling a plan for civic education, reviewing tax benefits, etc. It is also clear that both Manifestos have brought the opportunities and developmental needs of civil society to the attention of politicians, the media and the public. The process also gave NGOs the opportunity to think through together the topical things that affect their work and the development of civil society as a whole.

Manifestos have been supported by the Open Estonia Foundation and the Baltic-American Partnership Programme.
 
For additional information, please contact Urmo Kübar, director of NENO: urmo@ngo.ee  
 

Read the text of Manifesto: www.ngo.ee/28229.

Manifesto consists of two parts. First part is Good Campaigning Practices, which, if complied with, contributes to fair stumping and enables the voters to make an adept choice between different platforms and candidates. In the second part of Manifesto are proposals for activities that candidates running for the offices can undertake if being elected to contribute to strengthening the non-governmental organizations and civil society as well as improving the cooperation between the organizations and local governments.

"The reputation of elections in Estonia is low - citizens are annoyed and dissapointed that substantial debates are further replaced by costly and populistic campaigns. This is neither good nor inevitable. By proposing the Good Campaigning Practice we are trying to change this situation for the better. The election campaigns are regulated by law, but as life has shown, there are ways to interpret laws ambivalently or circumvent them. We believe that instead of do's and don'ts it is often more efficacious and intrinsic to civil society, to agree on appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, and the reasons of it. When all parties take voluntary obligations, which they understand and acknowledge, they are most likely interested in following these commitments," said Urmo Kübar, director of NENO.

"In March 2009, on behalf of NENO and with the help of several other NGO's and experts, we proposed our ideas for good election practices. In April we met with all parties of the Parliament and the current text was born," explaines Kübar. In the beginning of May 2009, the Good Campaigning Practices was signed by five political parties represented in Riigikogu, Estonian Parliament, out of six. The Centre Party announced that the principles declared in the Good Campaigning Practices are considered important and are supported by the party, however, the document will not be signed. 

According to Kübar, the good practices should still be followed by all candidates, also by single candidates and election unions. "When people detect that good election practices have been violated, we ask them to inform us via e-mail and specify, which part of the election practice was infringed. NENO will collect and publish these examples in the Good Citizen blog, where we will add our comments and give a word to the reproached parties or candidates, and to all others who wish to comment. No one will be fined or sent to prison for violating the good practice, but we believe, that what is more important is that electors form an opinion about certain types of behaviour," said Kübar.

The second part of the Manifesto includes proposals for activities contributing to strengthening civil society and non-governmental organizations. Under the leadership of  NENO and upon involving other non-governmental organizations, the recommendations concerning the whole of Estonia have been prepared for all the local governments and local organizations have added their proposals in several cities and rural municipalities.

A similar Manifesto was also launched by Estonian NGO's prior to the parliamentary elections in 2007, which resulted in a separate chapter on civil society issues in the Government's coalition agreement for the first time in Estonia, including clauses on the establishment of the National Foundation for Civil Society, systematizing the principles for the funding of NGOs from the state budget, compiling a plan for civic education, reviewing tax benefits, etc. It is also clear that both Manifestos have brought the opportunities and developmental needs of civil society to the attention of politicians, the media and the public. The process also gave NGOs the opportunity to think through together the topical things that affect their work and the development of civil society as a whole.

Manifestos have been supported by the Open Estonia Foundation and the Baltic-American Partnership Programme.
 
For additional information, please contact Urmo Kübar, director of NENO: urmo@ngo.ee  
 

The manager of the University of Tartu Hospital Children’s Fund Küllike Saar refers to the amount of donations received in December as “significantly grand” – at the end of 2009, several people, including the Estonian community in Brussels and the foreign students in the Baltic Defence College, contacted her themselves in order to make a donation.

The executive manager of the Tallinn Birth Clinic Support Fund Kadri Karula predicted even as little as half of the actual amount to be raised, but this time, additional help was provided by Swedbank, one of the leading banking groups in the Baltic States, and its donation campaign “You have a big heart, show it!”

In 2009, the private clients of Swedbank donated a total of 1,019,064 kroons through a unique online donation environment www.swedbank.ee/tuletoeta. The money is distributed to a wide range of projects and establishments which mainly focus on children, health and environment.

Jõulutunnel 2009 concentrated on violence against women and received 29,000 donation calls from its viewers, resulting in a total of 1,526,000 kroons for women’s shelters and help lines. Meanwhile, in 2008, when donations were made to provide the necessary apparatus for a rehabilitation centre in Haapsalu, the figures were 58,000 and 3,491,000, respectively.

The drastic fall in the previously increasing total of donations is related not to the recession, but rather to the slightly disturbing topic of domestic violence, Karula believes. “Violence doesn’t attract masses behind TV-screens on a peaceful Christmas Day. The show was probably mostly watched by those who could, more or less relate to the subject. For the ones without the personal relationship, it wasn’t created either – the topic was apparently uncomfortable enough.”

She also admits that the popular topics in the field of charity tend to have a certain “cuteness factor”. Despite the somewhat lukewarm response, the choice of Jõulutunnel’s topic indicates that Estonia’s society is ready to deal with more serious issues than before.

Following the Finnish example, the purpose of the 'shadow elections' was to raise awareness about elections and political participation among young people from the age of 14. Not yet old enough for real elections, nevertheless, already having their opinions, they were given the opportunity to express it. To stay neutral, the results were not made public before the real local elections closed their voting.

The elections, organized by Estonian National Youth Council and Youth Council of Tartu, were held in very similar way to the real ones with the same candidates from the same lists of parties and using the same ballot boxes. Everyone had to show their pupil's card and double voting was excluded by the computer. However, the stress was not on selecting the political winners but raising attention and bringing the youth to the election spots, to make them think about the role of politics in the society and their importance as a citizen in that process.

Although the proposal to participate was made to all the schools in Tallinn and Tartu, the schools in Tallinn backed off after receiving a warning letter from the Deputy Mayor that questioned the political neutrality of the initiative. Despite the organizers had signed a memorandum with all the youth organizations of political parties that there will be no party-political campaigning at schools, many of the schools did not want to encounter the Town Government. Finally, the organizers reached an agreement with the National Library in Tallinn to host the elections. Also minibuses were in use to bring the voting opportunity to wider target group. However, the turnout in Tallinn remained very low compared to much smaller Tartu: respectively 384 and 1392 young people.

Luckily, not all the municipalities are the same. In addition to the support during the implementation, the City of Tartu also awarded the campaign as the best local youth initiative of 2009.

The first message out and interest rates tested, the organisers wish to hold the next 'shadow elections' prior to the Estonian parliament elections in 2011.

For more information, please contact the organizers: Estonian National Youth Council (www.enl.ee) and Youth Council of Tartu (www.tnv.ee)

Main conclusions of the study:

• Delegation of services to NGO-s is a popular practice used by 63% of local governments. 87% of Estonian habitants live on their territory.
• Services are financed very differently among local governments. For example, oftentimes they are referred to as an activity or project subsidy, not providing a service.
• Delegation of services depends significantly on the perceptions of the leaders of local governments: Their knowledge, stands and values. There are governments that knowingly and systemically have developed services based on the needs of citizens, and have found very good ways to delegate them. There are also governments where services and own possible roles in providing them are not acknowledged, and no incisive responsibility for habitants of local governments and specific target groups is discerned.
• The governments’ collaboration in providing services is generally very modest and so far the possible potential of delegation of services have been used very little for development.
• Primarily a few small local governments stood out with a wish to confine themselves solely to partners in their own commune and did not favor civil societies engaging in nearby communes or widely in the area. Since most of these communes lack the ability to manage all tasks, not delegating and not providing certain services is preferred rather than ordering them from outside the local government.
• Today, NGO-s essentially help fill the voids of local governments’ ability to provide certain services. Yet the position on societies that provide services is often not partnership-centered, but of the kind that delegation and subsidies are mainly a beneficence to societies and gratitude should be shown.
• Currently the public services that are directly delegated the most are in social (44% of all delegation cases), sports (15%) and culture (10%) realms.
• The three most important reasons for delegation noted by local governments are: The oppurtunity to fund a service from multiple sources (87% of respondents), the oppurtunity to support civil societies (86%), and the fact that civil societies make better allowance for the needs of target groups (85%).
• Only a few governments realize that with delegation, the synergy from collaboration of different sectors and partners can increase the governments’ ability to execute their tasks. It is also related to the observation that governments do not acknowledge enough that the formation of an active citizenry implies initial impulses from local governments and creating propitious environments for it.
• Delegation of services is often based on the principle of getting by. It is not rare that service providers have no stockpiles, and due to financial restrictions the sustainability of services suffer because the service provider lacks resources to finance development activity. Oftentimes societies pay extra for providing a service.
• Local governments have shown great interest in the development of delegation of public services. Most of the local governments found that they would delegate more public services to civil societies if it enabled involving extra resources (98% of respondents), helped raise the quality of services (98%), and if there were efficient societies in the respective field (96%).

For additional information, please contact PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies praxis@praxis.ee

On 1 May 2009, an Estonia-wide brainstorming session took place with over 11 000 participants. The scope of the brainstorming session makes it a most remarkable citizens’ initiative process and the analysis of its results could yield interesting and significant information about the civic activity and the willingness of Estonians to participate in joint activities. An analysis of this was created.

The goal of the analysis was to generate a general picture of the contents of the discussions at the brainstorming session and to find answers to the following questions: what people actually discussed? Although certain discussion topics had to be selected when registering for the brainstorming session, the participants could discuss an infinite number of topics depending on their own preference. How were the different topics of the discussions interconnected? What level did the participants attribute to the different problems that were discussed? Who did the participants see as the solution providers? What resources were deemed necessary to realise the solutions that emerged from the discussions?

The goal of the analysis was to get a better understanding of what the participants of the brainstorming session thought was important and how the topics that were discussed were interconnected. The goal was also to provide input for the planning of possible follow-up activities and to get an understanding of the willingness of the more active part of civil society to participate in finding solutions to the problems identified.

Methodology of the analysis: The ideas that were gathered at the brainstorming session on 1 May 2009, about the problem areas of life in Estonia and the visions for solving them, were collected into a so called Idea bank. By 17 August, it contained the meeting records of 2524 work groups, and the additional reading of those formed the basis for the following generalizations.

Various percentages were shown in the analysis results. In order to find out about the style of the discussions, the levels of solutions, the solution provider, the type of solution and the necessary resources were examined, in addition to the interconnectedness of topics. During the analysis of the levels of solutions (only one answer was possible) it became evident that in most cases the main problem was not in the immediate environment but rather on a community and city level – up to 50 % of all cases. The ranking of the levels of solutions shows the so-called general problems of Estonia (30 %), the general problems of mankind (13 %) and only after that in ranking of importance “me, my home and immediate environment” (6 %).
The fact that solutions are seen mostly on a local level, the importance of personal contributions and the describing of the necessary resources primarily through mental and not material resources, point to the fact that My Estonia forms also a unique experience in discussing matters collectively. In that respect, the event held on 1 May 2009 was as important for doing something concrete and for solving problems, as it was important to do these things together. Discussing matters together is the simplest manifestation of community activism, in that respect My Estonia formed a unique experience of civil society for the participants.

Analysis was done as part of the project “Exchanging good practices for the promotion of an active citizenship in the EU (EPACE)", funded by European Commission Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme.

As the minister of culture Laine Jänes handed out the award, she said that this year’s citizens day motto “Creative people – successful state” is like a synonym to the hero of the day.

"He is a person among us, who every day makes a difference in this country and at the same time creates big world music," Jänes said.

The mayor of Hiiumaa, Tüür's home island, Hannes Maasel commented that Erkki Sven Tüür is highly demanded as a composer but still can participate in the social life in Estonia and Hiiumaa, wich is a beautiful small island situated in the Baltic sea.

He takes part of his community activities and leads discussions on the subject how to make living on the island more interesting for young people  and how to get more possibilities for them, Maasel added. Tüür also helped the piano students of Hiiumaa to get a proper piano and rises money to support the fond of Kõpu lighttower.

The prize received by Erkki-Sven Tüür, who was elected from 23 candidates, was a glass sculpture, and an award of 20,000 kroons.

Previously, Citizen of the Year awards have been given, among others, to the initiator of "Let’s Do It" campaign Rainer Nõlvak and to a former freedom fighter Lagle Parek. Both are also members of NENO’s Board.

The project, carried out in cooperation with Estonian leading daily newspaper Postimees and NENO, was aiming to unveil the argumentation flaws of politicians.

"Spot the Argument" project consisted of various activities, which mostly took place in the last few weeks before elections, mainly in the first half of October. EDS and NENO organized several tuition sessions in a number of Estonian towns, where the theories and practices of critical thinking were introduced.

EDS also kept a blog (http://demakook.edicypages.com), where they have analyzed various comments by politicians from different political parties and brought out weaknesses of their arguments. Also some pre-election advertisements were given a critical assessment.

Probably most notable activity of all were online-debates with politicians, which arguably have been held in Estonia for the first time in such way. Members of EDS held separate online debates with one leading politician of each five bigger parties in Tallinn, Estonian capital. Each debate took place in three stages: opening speech, cross-questions and conclusions. Generally the post-debate impressions were positive and refreshing. Tendency to concentrate on merely criticizing opponents has been brought out as perhaps the most negative aspect in Estonian political discussions.

For additional information, please contact Estonian Debating Society: www.debate.ee.

Inspiration to start a new research series was received from the U.S. Johns Hopkins University where  the civil society research center has been carrying out the project  called Listening Post already for years. The same way as with the americans, a representative choice of NGOs was put together for the NENO research, keeping in focus the area, age and form of activity. Attention was also paid that there would be organizations of different size and different fields of activity in the final choice for the research. A questionnaire was sent out to 182 organizations, of whom 101 replied. In addition, group interviews with the representatives of in total 23 organizations were carried out.

The most important conclusions about the effect of the recession are:

Negative effect of the recession is not perceivable en masse. 56% of the replied assess that their situation has become worse during a year, but at the same time one third found that there was no substantial effect, and each tenth said that the situation had rather improved. The reason for this can be that the effect of the recession will reach some organizations with a delay (in 2009 grants received before the recession were used) but also, the Estonian NGOs have always had to get by with relatively limited resources, so the current decline is felt less.

Most of all the services for target groups and the development activities suffer. One third of the replied have been forced to reduce the volume of their services within a year due to smaller financial resources available, most often the counselling for target groups and the activities directed to children. In one sixth of the cases organizational development activities and investments have been reduced or postponed. Both trends are alarming because negative effect of such cutbacks comes into force during a long period.

Also something positive is being noticed in the crisis. As  positive developments  there are shown a need to think through about the action model of one’s organization in a better way and to take into use new resources: for example to perform more cooperation and to include volunteers.

There is the strongest effect on financing and work load.  The year budget has decreased for more than half of the replied and the number of the financers for almost half. Most of all the grants received from local or state budgets have decreased (30 and 26% of the replied respectively). Income from the membership fees  has decreased most less (10%)  and that from the EU programmes (8%) or from funds from abroad (4%). At the same time the work load has grown in 63% of the organizations because of the increase of demand due to difficult times (especially amongst service providers). At the same time 20% of the replied have been forced to decrease the number of their employees.

The number of members and volunteers is growing.  Membership of almost half of the replied has grown within the last year; the number of volunteers has grown for one third of the replied. These figures have decreased only in 4-6% of the cases. So it can be said that the individuals’ activeness and the unions’ ability to use it have rather grown during the crisis.

Performing advocacy helps to cope with the effects of the recession in a better way. Differences in the effect of recession did not appear to be dependant on the size of the organization, its field of activity or level; neither on its belonging to networks, its strategic planning or sources of financing. Although it could be noticed that younger organizations were more affected by the decline. But more than average, the organizations which don’t deal with advocacy brough out the bad effect of the crisis. It can be concluded that (among others also)being active in advocacy adds to the organization’s level of influence and notoriety which then can reduce negative results.

The research was financed by National Foundation of Civil Society and NENO hopes to make the next research of "Capable Sector" in 2010.

For additional information, please contact Anna Laido, project manager