English
УкраїнськаEstonian Authorities
Estonian authorities relations to the public
The ECSDC, the Estonian Civil Society Developent Concept (the EKAK-process) is a cooperation between the Civil Society and the public sector in Estonia. It is described as a tool for supporting a sustainable Civil Society. The process started in 1999 and has, among other things, resulted in a document that defines the mutually complementation roles of public authorities and civic initiative, the principles of their cooperation, and the mechanism and priorities for cooperation.
One strength underlined by both the Ministry of Interior and the NGOs is the understanding that being sustainable comes through cooperation between different partners. “The base for cooperation is that the non profit-sector has good knowledge about the way society – and the public sector – works.”
Training has been initiated both by NGOs themselves and by the State authorities. There are support centres for NGOs regionally. A Joint commission between the non-profit sector and the Government was formed in 2003. Today 16 non-profit sector representatives and 12 from the public sector are members of the commission, which is headed by the Ministry of Interior.
The Joint commission meets approximately four times a year. One important goal is to make it easy to involve organisations in policy making. The work of the commission is conducted by three working-groups (co-chaired by a representative from the non-profit sector and a representative from the public sector): Law and involvement; Financing and statistics (sustainable development working group); Civic education and public awareness. Every other year a public discussion is held in parliament on this topic.
Estonia has also an elaborated public information act.
Estonian civil society development concept
Supporting civic initiative development plan (powerpoint)