See also

Estonian Civil Society Development Concept

Civil Society Development plan 2011-2014

Development plan for civic initiative support 2007-2010

Charitable giving: analysis and recommendations for Estonia (report summary)

Report Summary Institutionalization of Civic Initative in Estonia 2009-2010 (full report available only in Estonian)

Overview of the work of the joint committee of the Government of the Republic and representatives of citizens’ associations for implementing the Estonian Civil Society Development Concept (June 2005-May 2006)

Activity plan for the implementing Estonian Civil Society Development Concept for 2004-2006

The Local Government and Regional Affairs Department is responsible for organizing development of civil society. In the department two chief specialists are responsible for analyzing, planning and coordinating the active community development and the co-operation between the state and civil society associations.

Civil society is understood to be a society where people’s basic rights and freedoms are protected and where they can carry out own initiative based cooperation to represent their interests and to influence political decisions through citizens’ associations and networks. Citizens’ associations, which are the second most important target group of the development plan besides the public authorities, are uniformly understood to be non-governmental non-profit organisations, whereas the use of the term is based on the applicable literary standard. Non-profit association is an equivalent term to citizens’ association.

The Estonian Civil Society Development Concept (EKAK in Estonian) is a document which describes the different roles of the public sector and the non profit sector which supplement each other, and the co-operation principles in developing and implementing public policies and building up the civic 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. 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.
Civil Society Development Plan 2011-2014 adopted by government in 10.02. 2011 to standardize the ministries’ approach to nurturing civil society and is renewed every other year.

According to the decision of Estonian government National Foundation for Civil Society was established in the beginning of 2008. The objective of the Foundation is to contribute to enhancing the capacity of non-profit associations and foundations acting in the public interests of Estonia in the development of civil society and in formation of the environment favourable for civic initiative.
2011 is the European Year of Volunteering, which in Estonia is coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior.