Open Estonia Foundation and State Chancellery Awarded Grants to Facilitate Discussions on EU

On Friday, March 16, a festive event took place at the Stenbock House in Tallinn, where the representatives of the NGO-s signed contracts that had been awarded grants within the Participating and Engaging Estonia project. The main goal of the project is to trigger debates about the future of the EU among citizens and to increase the impact of NGO-s on EU policymakers. Director of the EU Information Unit of the State Chancellery Villu Känd said in his welcome address that insight into EU opportunities needs to be raised, because insight initiates action.

The call for proposals in January resulted in 23 applications. In response, Open Estonia Foundation and State Chancellery decided to provide funding for 13 in the amount of EEK 1,015,171 in total. Among others, the ideas of European Movement Estonia to announce a European of the year, simulate the European Parliament at different schools throughout Estonia and organize the European Day at 6 Estonian cities were supported.

"It is nice to see more interest towards engaging the Russian-speaking population in the EU discussions", said Executive Director of Open Estonia Foundation Mall Hellam. "They are currently less informed of the opportunities that the EU offers, but have shown tremendous interest in that topic," added Hellam. "Joint activities, such as parliament simulation games at Russian-speaking schools can facilitate integration."

This was the 7th year for Open Estonia Foundation and State Chancellery to announce the call for proposals in cooperation. In previous years, more than 143 projects by 100 NGOs have been funded with more than EEK 8,000,000.


Additional Information:

Mall Hellam
Open Estonia Foundation
Phone: 631 3791
Fax: 631 3796
E-mail: mall@oef.org.ee  
www.oef.org.ee  


Villu Känd
EU Information Unit of the State Chancellery
Phone: 6 935 729
E-mail: villu.kand@riigikantselei.ee  
www.riigikantselei.ee/euroopa