Civil Society in Estonia

NENO Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations

Figures Estonia boasts an enormous number of registered nonprofit organizations: more than 28,000 at the beginning of 2009. Of these, almost half are housing associations, however the total figure also includes an unknown number of defunct organizations, so no one really knows how many active NGOs there are. The situation is expected to change after 2010 when nonprofit associations’ annual reports will become public, a change long awaited by the NGOs. The sector is divided into three categories: registered nonprofit associations; foundations; and also civil law partnerships that are not registered, these include for example smaller local associations or temporary movements.

Almost 2,000 organizations are registered as acting in the public interest and are thereby eligible for benefits from tax in-

centives. Donations made to these organizations can be deducted from a person’s taxable income up to a ceiling amount.

According to recent studies, approximately 20% of Estonian people are members of NGOs. This surely leaves much to be desired when compared with “old democracies”, however, it is similar to other countries with a similar historical background. NGOs are active in all possible fields: mostly in sport and culture, many in social services, health, environment and local development, fewer in philanthropy, policy analysis, etc. As in many countries, they perform roles as service providers, advocacy groups, grant makers, societies, think tanks, clubs, networks, umbrella organizations, etc.

Public registry: https://ariregister.rik.ee

Creating an NGO is easy in Estonia – you just need to pick up your mobile phone, identify yourself via Mobile ID in the Company Registration Portal, pay the tax via your internet bank and the NGO is ready to serve you.

EKAK and Codes of Good Practices The Estonian Civil Society Development Concept, or EKAK in Estonian, is the strategy agreement between NGOs and the public sector. EKAK defines the complementary roles of each side; principles of their cooperation; and mechanisms and priorities for cooperation in building up civil society in Estonia. This guarantees that civil society development is seen in a strategic way as opposed to just responding to the short-term demands.

EKAK is definitely more than just a document. It was initiated by NGOs and was rewritten three times before they were satisfied with it. As it took more than two years, the long process allowed for the participation of hundreds of organizations and created the feeling of “ownership� by the NGO community over EKAK. Moreover, writing the document

and later seeing it adopted by Riigikogu in 2002 certainly gave the Estonian third sector a boost of self-esteem and selfrecognition as a united force in society.

A joint committee was formed for the supervision of EKAK implementation, consisting of representatives of ministries and NGOs. The committee reports on its work to the government and to the public every year. Every second year a public discussion on the issue of civil society development takes place in the Parliament. Although there is no minister for third sector, civil society development is one of the responsibilities of the Minister of Regional Affairs under the Estonian Ministry of the Interior.

Based on EKAK several other documents have been made. The Civic Initiative Development Plan for 2007-2010 (KATA in

Annual celebration – the best NGOs receiving formal acknowledgement from the Speaker of Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) Ene Ergma.

Estonian) was adopted by government in 2006 to standardize the ministries’ approach to nurturing civil society and is renewed every year. The NGO Code of Ethics serves as a tool for every individual to be able to evaluate whether an NGO is acting in an ethical way.

There is also a move to develop Codes of Good Practices on fields like public involvement, outsourcing of public services, funding and volunteer work.

As EKAK, these are voluntary agreements between the third and the public sector, they harmonize the principles for cooperation, to create a basis from which both sides can proceed.

EKAK: www.ngo.ee/1030 Code of Ethics for Estonian NGOs: www.ngo.ee/7457 Estonian Ministry of the Interior: www.siseministeerium.ee

Uue Maailma Selts, the best NGO in 2007 receiving the award. Their practices of creating neighbourhood consciousness are admired all over their home town.

Infrastructure Regional development centers, financed from the state budget, exist in every county, providing basic consulting and training for NGOs free of charge. It’s another example of cooperation between civil society and public authorities. The network was first established by NENO with financial support from the Baltic-American Partnership Program. Later it was taken over by the state, thus assuring its sustainability.

Also the system of sectoral umbrella organizations is well established. These umbrellas serve as development and advocacy bodies on behalf of their sector.

In addition, NENO is the umbrella and advocacy organization for public benefit NGOs, dealing with horizontal issues common to all organizations, regardless of their field, e.g. funding, involvement, etc. This guarantees that besides respond-

ing to developments in particular fields of work, the development of the third sector as a whole is also assured.

Regional development centers: www.eas.ee Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations (NENO): www.ngo.ee

No of registered NGOs

29 086

30 000

25 000

21 931

23 240

24 881

26 363

27 990

19 939 18 276

20 000

16 322 15 000

10 000

5 000

0

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

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nr. 1 (45)

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Fookuses noored ja kodanikuharidus.

Kuskohast need head kodanikud siis tulevad?

Hea Kodanik (Good Citizen) is a magazine that not only introduces the actions of NGOs, but is also a platform of education and inspiration for civil society in Estonia.

Kuidas

ennast, juhtida ühenduskodanikut ja riiki?

The covers feature young Estonian art and artists.

Advocacy and participation in policy making Having grown out of the independence movement, the Estonian NGO sector has always seen advocacy as one of its central functions. Prior to the national elections in 2007 NGOs put together their manifesto, making proposals concerning the activities to be implemented by the parliament and the government, which will help strengthen civil society and NGOs in Estonia. As a result, a chapter on civil society was written into the government’s action plan, including several proposals from the manifesto.

However, the advocacy activities of NGOs are definitely not limited to such highly visible campaigns. NGO participation in policymaking is increasingly seen as a normal part of the process and an opportunity to get additional expertise.

Both the public sector (when prepar-

ing legislative processes) and nonprofits (when presenting their proposals) can still make progress in this area, but in general, both demonstrate a dedication to develop skills for more meaningful cooperation.

To help this, the Code of Good Practice on Involvement was agreed between the third and the public sector in 2005.

Several training events on involvement issues take place every year, both for public servants and NGO representatives.

Since 2007 there has been an employee in every ministry to coordinate public participation. In the same year, the government also launched a participation portal, where it’s possible to comment on drafts of laws or strategy documents as well as post new ideas and look for others’ support for these ideas.

Manifesto of Estonian NGOs in 2007: www.ngo.ee/11854 Government’s participation portal: www.osale.ee Code of Good Practice on Involvement: www.ngo.ee/11583

Teeme ära! 2009 – Minu Eesti (Let’s do it! My Estonia).

On May 1, 2009 11 000 people all over Estonia gathered to discussion groups and via the open space method deliberated on ideas that would advance Estonian society Being a member of civil society is not a matter of age – Aleksander (7) is brainstorming for better future at his school. The discussion group was led by Mia Maria Rohumaa (12) and the topic was finding more time for families to be together.

Financing As almost everywhere, Estonian NGOs are funded from membership fees, public sector appropriations, project grants financed by local and international foundations, earned income from products and services, and donations from private persons and businesses.

In 2007, nearly 3,000 NGOs received a total of 700 million EEK (44,3 million Euros) from the state budget. In addition, approximately 280 million EEK (18 million Euros) of private donations were reported to the Tax and Custom Board in 2007.

Due to a lack of proper statistics it is still difficult to estimate the amount of other income sources. NGOs and representatives of ministries are currently working on clearer principles for state funding of NGO activities, to make the funding

more transparent and efficient.

The most important development in this field was the establishment of the National Foundation for Civil Society in the beginning of 2008.

This foundation, financed from the state budget with 20 million EEK (1,3 million Euros) annually, focuses on capacity building of NGOs, innovative ideas for civil society development and a supportive environment for civic action.

The concept was put together through a participatory process where hundreds of NGOs presented their recommendations to the foundation.

National Foundation for Civil Society: www.kysk.ee

A piece of cake. KĂœSK – National Foundation for Civil Society has earned a sweet prize at its first birthday in 2009.

Social entrepreneurship and service provision The concept of social entrepreneurship (where innovative social-profit ideas are combined with a self-sustainable business model) is slowly taking roots in Estonia. The Good Deed Foundation is the promoter of this concept, both in raising awareness and supporting social enterprises through volunteer consultants from the business sector. One of the organizations in their portfolio is Health Estonia Foundation that provides HIV prevention trainings at workplaces and has initiated the business coalition against HIV/ AIDS. Another example of an innovative approach to solving a serious problem in society is the Youth to School Foundation that encourages the best university graduates to work in schools where their talent is most needed.

As well as in other countries, public ser-

vice provision is one of the most visible activities of NGOs in Estonia. Organizations offer a wide range of services in such popular fields as health and social care, education, counseling, environment, culture and sports, local development, etc. The public sector is keen for NGOs to play a more active role here, and NGOs see it as an important way to fulfill their social mission, in addition to assuring stable funding. However, there is a mismatch of expectations towards outsourcing: while the public sector sees it as a way to minimize costs and encourage competition, NGOs emphasize the need to have longer-term contracts and sufficient funding to guarantee quality. To harmonize these expectations and foster cooperation, the government and NGOs will start working on a concept for outsourcing public service delivery in 2009.

Good Deed Foundation: www.heategu.ee Responsible Business Forum: www.csr.ee

Noored Kooli – Youth to School Foundation started its activities in 2007. Martin Ojala teaching English - many of the program’s first alumni continue their work as teachers and greatly enjoy it.

Volunteerism It wouldn’t be fair to say that Estonians are all crazy about volunteer work. However, there are long traditions of volunteerism and there have been positive trends in this area in recent years.

According to a study conducted at the end of 2008, nearly half (47%) of the country’s population has participated in volunteer activities in one way or another within the last 12 months. The majority of Estonian NGOs depend on volunteers in their work as only 28% of them have paid staff. The estimated value of volunteer work is approximately 2.7 billion Estonian kroons (173 million Euros) a year – this is the cash equivalent of nearly 3% of Estonia’s state budget!

The most remarkable volunteer initia-

tive in recent years was the Let’s Do It! campaign in 2008. Started by a few IT gurus and environment activists, this campaign used innovative technologies to map more than 10,000 illegal garbage dumping sites all over the country and mobilized 50,000 volunteers (3% of the country’s population) to clean it up in just one day.

Encouraged by the success, the initiators of this campaign took an even more ambitious goal for 2009 and gathered thousands of people first to discuss and propose ideas for future development in Estonia. As of today, many of these ideas have already been implemented.

Let’s Do It! campaigns in 2008 and 2009: www.teeme2008.ee and www.minueesti.ee Volunteer Development Center: www.vabatahtlikud.ee

Teeme ära! 2008 – Minu Eesti (Let’s Do It! My Estonia).

Cleaning up your mind often starts from cleaning your room.

There was more than 10 000 tons of illegal waste lying around in Estonian nature. In October 2007, a group of active citizens realized that something drastic needed to be done. They developed a special software and geomapped more than 10 000 dumping sites all over the country. And on May 3, 2008, engaging hundreds of organizations and more than 50 000 volunteers, it was cleared up in just 5 hours!

the Secretary General of CIVICUS Kumi Naidoo once said. With a population of only 1,3 million people, the Estonian NGO sector is one of the most sustainable in the region, according to the USAID Index for Central and Eastern Europe

Printed on recycled paper with inks based on natural resins and oils. © Ecoprint.

Estonia is ‘a small country with a vast society’,

and Eurasia. Here is a small insight into civil society developments in Estonia in recent years.

Want to know more?

Visit us at www.ngo.ee or come to Estonia on a study visit!

NENO is happy to help you.

Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations Tallinn, Estonia info@ngo.ee This pamphlet is published by NENO, the umbrella body of Estonian NGOs, with the financial support of Estonian Ministry of the Interior.

NENO Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations