Estonia: Ekak

Estonia is the third country in the world, after the UK and Canada, to have signed a national strategy agreement for the development of civil society, called Ekak (Estonian Civil Society Development Concept).

Initiated by the non profit sector and later adopted by parliament in 2002, Ekak points to raising awareness and internal cooperation within the non profit sector and to a growing acceptance of non-profit organizations as partners for the public sector.

Development, problems, and prospects

Both the Ekak and the Baltic American Partnership in Estonia (Bapp) have contributed to the development of Estonia’s third sector. Activities they have initiated include: the magazine “Foorum”, which was distributed as an appendix of a widely circulating daily as of 1999; the first national gathering of NGOs in 1999; a number of TV and radio programmes since 2000 and the establishment of the regional NGO support centres in 2000.

An important role has also been played by the European Union, as many of its financing measures require the participation of at least one non profit organization partner in projects that they finance. The opening of the Eu’s Structural Funds for Estonia has given non profit associations the opportunity to participate in projects of greater financial dimensions to those they were used to. At the same time, applying for Structural Fund money is a complicated process, and the requirements for self-financing and the organizational capabilities of the applicant are far more stringent than they used to be for foreign financing.