Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit

Estonian National Youth Council

Annual report 2011

General info

Estonian National Youth Council (ENL) is a partner for the state in representing the opinion of youth. We

advocate for the youth associations interests in legislation and for better financing of youth organizations.

ENL has currently 57 member organizations. We give advice to the Minister of Education and Research

regarding youth politics and financing of youth organizations. ENL is also represented in several other

governmental and local level committees, working groups and round tables related to youth and civil society

issues. ENL promotes the cooperation of youth associations on local level and supports the creation of

regional and local youth councils.

ENL is coordinating five working groups which come together on a regular basis: youth policy and

international affairs working group, public relations working group, political youth organizations working

group, national youth organizations working group, and the representative board of the regional and local

youth councils.

ENL has currently three employees in the office which make up the core staff of ENL (secretary general Mari

Valgepea, youth policy officer Martti Martinson, public relations officer - Karl Hallik is starting from mid-

April). In addition to that, ENL has three project coordinators: two people are working on the regional and

local youth councils’ project (Anni Metstak and Kristo Notton) and one person in the shadow elections

project team (Mailis Ostra). The board of ENL is currently made up of two people, one of whom is

responsible for international affairs and also acting as a chairman of the board (Pille-Riin Raudsepp). The

second board member is responsible for member organizations (Sandra Kamilova)

Youth policy making and achieved goals

-ENL’s main objective was that youth policy issues became an important topic in parliament.

-During the recession, the unemployment rate among young people in Estonia became one of the highest

among the European countries. ENL worked on the youth employment issue in Estonia, organizing different

round-table discussions on this topic and making recommendations to decision-makers regarding improving

the unemployment among young people in Estonia.

-ENL took part in preparation processes of the youth act together with the Ministry of Education and

Research. A very important outcome of this is that in every local government there should be a youth

council.

- ENL is a member of a children’s ombudsman institution’s working group. The institution was created with

the aim to improve children’s welfare in Estonia by carrying out strict supervision in institutions related to

children and youth. ENL has an active say in the working group regarding the priorities of the children’s

ombudsman’s work, regarding youth policy issues in particular.

- ENL participated actively in the discussions whether there should be a background check done on youth

workers or people who are somehow related to youth in their work as a legal means to ensure the safety of

young people. There was no system or rule to regulate this issue before. As an outcome, thorough

background check is carried out on a compulsory level on people related to young people in their work.

Development of local youth councils

In 2010, ENL put much effort into formation and development of regional and local youth councils. 3 training

seminars were held, including 3 days long summer school. ENL and Estonian Youth Work Center visited

every county in Estonia. During the visits ENL mapped the situation of youth work in Estonia, met with local

authorities, youth workers and the representatives of local youth councils. Information about local youth

councils’ work and development may now be reached via the website www.noortekogud.ee.

Projects and events 2010-2011

Significant events and projects carried out in 2010-2011: Conference on the topic of youth and

demonstration, conference on the topic of youth and media, celebrations of an International Youth Day on

the 12th of August, member events several times a year, structured dialogue project, shadow elections’

project, regional and local youth council project. In addition, ENL organizes regular round-table discussions

and workshops on important issues with relevant counterparts.

ENL is organizing every year for members the winter camp. ENL winter camp had an aim to exchange and

gather good ideas and practices for running everyday life in an NGO. Every summer ENL organizes summer

school with 50 participants and with many interesting trainings and discussions.

On the 12th of August, ENL is celebrating an annual International Youth Day. During the event in 2010, a

traditional youth organizations’ fair was held with 12 different youth organizations and additional 4

organizations with their youth friendly products. Youth organizations and the Ministry of Education and

Research had their traditional football match and competitions between regional youth councils.

Just before parliament elections, ENL ran shadow elections project for the second time. The project gave

youth from the age of 14 an opportunity to vote for their chosen candidate. The results were unofficial but

published in media. The aim of the project was to give young people an opportunity to get an idea of what

is going on in their country and contribute to being more aware and active in the society. The other aim was

to reach to the society with a message that young people do care about different aspect that shape our daily

lives. During the shadow elections project, young people were informed about the platforms of political

parties, which were especially made understandable and to youth. Shadow elections is not a political project

but a way for youth participation in society. Shadow elections were held all over Estonia and this time the

project was internet based, which means that young people could elect via internet by using their identity

card.