Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Funds, Good for Business

The aim of the program financed by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and implemented in a total of 15 countries is to support the development of the civil society, promote democracy, citizens' initiative, human rights and social equality as well as involve the weaker groups of the society. The Open Estonia Foundation has been the distributor of the support of Norway and the European Economic Area (EEA) in Estonia also during the two previous program periods.

"This time, the name of the nonprofit sector support program of the EEA and Norway has been changed. Financing will come from the Active Citizens Fund, which emphasizes the importance of people's involvement  and citizens' initiative in modern Estonia," Mall Hellam, head of the Open Estonia Foundation, said.

The role of operator will this time be jointly shared with the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations (EMSL), which deals with increasing the capability of the associations. "With the support of the fund, we will implement a leader program, the aim of which is to bring youth with good preconditions for leadership in to the nonprofit sector and raise them to be capable progeny of the civic associations solving the problems of the Estonian society," Kai Klandorf, head of the EMSL's role, said.

The Estonian operators of the support program directed toward the civic society was picked at a public competition by the Financial Mechanism Office (FMO) of the grants of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway and during the next six months, the detailed strategy and operational plan of the program will be developed with the FMO. According to initial plans, the first application rounds will be announced in fall 2018.