NENO’s Newsletter September 2007

NENO opposes government’s plan to increase party funding as „civil society support”
This week Estonian government announced its plan to increase funding for political parties from 60 million Estonian kroons (approx. 3.8 million Euros) to 94 million kroons (approx. 6 million Euros) annually from the state budget. „Political parties are a part of civil society and our coalition wants to improve funding for civil society organizations,” said Kristen Michal, Secretary General of the Reform Party, the leading party in the government.

NENO protested against labelling party funding as civil society support. „Such a statement is unacceptable, as this 94 million kroons would be divided between 8 political parties, while government only gives 20 million kroons (approx. 1.3 million Euros) to the Civil Society Endowment, the aim of which is to help develop thousands of NGOs in Estonia,” said Kristina Mänd, NENO’s Board member.
The weaknesses of Estonian democracy are not caused by insufficient party funding, but by insufficient public participation that takes place mainly through NGOs, added Mänd.

In Estoni,a less than 5% of the population belongs to political parties, while more than 20% are members of NGOs. Currently, political parties can receive funding from the state and individuals, but not from businesses. Parties explain the need for bigger funding with the growth of operational costs, but the same need applies for all other NGOs that have to cope with mostly project-based funding, said Mänd.

Concept for Civil Society Endowment presented to government
In the beginning of September, NENO presented the concept for Civil Society Endowment to the government. Currently ministries are working on the concept to provide feedback.

The Endowment starts its work in the beginning of 2008 with the aim of strengthening civil society and NGOs in Estonia. The Endowment will be allocated 20 million Estonian kroons (approx. 1,3 million Euros) from the state budget annually.

The concept was created by NENO through a participatory process whereby several seminars and meetings with umbrella organizations and experts took place alongside Internet consultations.

According to the concept, the new Endowment will focus on 1) funding operational costs of public benefit NGOs, 2) supporting projects that create favorable environment for NGOs, and 3) local projects that promote civil participation and co-operation between NGOs.

The Endowment will be managed by a Board consisting of 3 politicians from the government and parliament each and 6-8 members who will be nominated by NGOs and selected by the joint committee between the government and NGOs for the implementation of the Estonian Civil Society Development Concept (EKAK).
5th Estonian Civil Society Conference to focus on good citizenship

The 5th biannual Estonian Civil Society Conference will take place on November 22-23, 2007 in Tallinn. Hundreds of representatives of nonprofits, media, public officials, politicians and entrepreneurs will be invited to discuss and formulate the future steps for the development of Estonian civil society.
The conference will focus on the values of good citizenship in all sectors and fields of activity.

„The crucial issues that societies nowadays face could be solved by active citizens, yet by no one alone – they require joint actions,” said Elina Kivinukk (NENO), the coordinator of the conference.

In addition to Estonian civil society activists, scholars, politicians and entrepreneurs, several foreign speakers will attend the conference. Also, the launching ceremony of the Norwegian/EEA Financial Mechanism NGO Fund will be held at the conference, followed by a fair for Estonian and Norwegian NGOs.

Summer school brought together NGOs and officials eager to improve public involvement in policy making

NENO’s annual summer school, organized this year in cooperation with the State Chancellery on September 7-8, brought together 155 representatives from NGOs as well as both state and local officials, to learn how to get the public better involved in political decision making processes.

„Many problems occur because there has been too little dialogue between officials and NGOs,” said Urmo Kübar, Executive Director of NENO. „The lack of information gives rise to unrealistic expectations, disappointment and prejudice among both sides.”
The participants discussed and exchanged experiences on how to implement public involvement procedures to achieve the best results. The topics of lectures, workshops and simulations included planning of processes, selection and evaluation of potential partners, communication, advocacy, involvement of members, etc.
After the summer school, 96% of participants said that they now understand better the needs and expectations of their partners from the other sector, and 90% said that they received new ideas and skills to implement in their work.

News in brief

• NENO has completed the first draft of Good Practice on Funding, which aims to balance the underlying principles for the public sector and civil society organizations of funding NGOs from the state budget. Consultations with both public sector and NGOs will now start to finalize the document by the end of this year.
• Consultations are held to decide the focus of future NGO Fund supported by Switzerland with nearly 24 million Estonian kroons (approx. 1,5 million Euros) until 2012. The most likely focus as of now is supporting NGOs to strengthen their ability to deliver public health services.
• Urmo Kübar, NENO´s Executive Director, is one of the speakers at the International Conference on Public Financing of NGOs in Bucharest, Rumania, held on September 13-14. After that Urmo will attend the 2nd GuideStar International Assembly, and on November 1st, he is one of the speakers at a seminar for NGOs in Finland.
• NENO’s Board member Kristina Mänd will be one of the speakers at the European Governance workshop at the ACEVO International Conference in London, held on October 19th.
• NENO will host delegation from Albania at the end of September. Also, parliamentary delegation from Montenegro will visit NENO on September 28.