Results of the 4th open call

Below is a list of projects that contributed to the capacity building of civil society organisations.

Estonian Human Rights Centre
Increasing the number of permanent supporters
EUR 19 745

Signs of a decrease in funding the civil society from public funds can be seen in Estonia as well as elsewhere in the world. The sustainability of non-governmental organisations and the success of their activities depend increasingly more on the existence and inclusion of permanent supporters. The Estonian Human Rights Centre must become an organisation with more supporters and a bigger reach than before, so that it can respond to the changing circumstances and be active and effective in the protection of interests.

The project will take the inclusion and preservation of the Centre’s permanent donors to a new level of development. This will be used to support the diversification of funding and, above all, the increase in and predictability of non-targeted funding. The target group of the project are (potential) supporters, one-off donors, and permanent donors of the Centre. The direct beneficiaries are vulnerable groups whose rights the Centre can protect better with these resources. The project will include the establishment of a unique permanent donor management system and conducting focus group interviews with the different target groups, as a result of which the messages that speak to them will be prepared. A permanent donor plan will be established and a campaign for increasing the number of permanent donors will be carried out.

The project will contribute to the Centre’s strategic goal, which is to ensure that Estonia is an open society where human rights are important, protected and guaranteed.

Estonian LGBT Association
The Power of Words: Effective Messages for Human Rights
EUR 19 991

The aim of the project is to build effective strategic communication on LGBT+ topics in Estonia and to contribute to the capacity and the collective knowledge of the field of human rights. For this, the Estonian LGBT Association will conduct research on the beliefs and narratives people in Estonia hold about LGBT+ topics in order to understand how our messages are being received, what has been the effect of misinformation, and what is necessary to create positive change. Based on the results of the research, we will compile a report and recommendations which will function as a practical tool for those working towards LGBT+ rights and human rights in general. In addition to supporting work in communication, this will also be a useful tool for work in other fields, such as advocacy and education, where there is also a need for effective messages aimed at people with different views and experiences. Our wider goal is to, on the one hand, improve the situation of LGBT+ people and their loved ones in Estonia by decreasing the amount and effect of prejudice and misinformation, and, on the other hand, to diminish the power of LGBT+ issues in populist and undemocratic political use. Recent years have shown that LGBT+ topics are a useful tool for polarization, incitement of hate, and collecting votes by doing so. If the power of this tool decreases, we will be able to strengthen a society based on democracy and mutual respect.

NGO Improkool
Mental health improv comedy in communities
EUR 20 000

The aim of Improkool is to reduce the aggravation of mental health problems by creating preventive community activities to support mental health. Through a novel collaboration between improv comedy practitioners and mental health professionals, we are adapting an approach common elsewhere in the world: an improv theatre format that supports mental health. We want to support the mental health of the inhabitants of Southern Estonia by empowering local communities and increasing active citizenship to make knowledge and activities supporting mental health (practicing mental health-promoting improv-comedy) available to vulnerable target groups in communities. We can do this by expanding the activities of NGO Improkool (improv comedy) through partnership cooperation with NGO Peaasjad (Head Matters, mental health). Expanding the activities of NGO Improkool by building a bridge from the field of performing arts to the field of mental health helps to show the ability and sustainability of the NGOs to adapt to current needs and create added value in society.

The project targets all South Estonian residents who can participate in the project through various activities: visiting mental health improv comedy performances, participating in mental health open improv classes in their communities or taking a community leader role as a facilitator of mental health support improv groups. The good practice can be further expanded in Southern Estonia with the help of other partners as well as in communities across Estonia and to measure the impact of the intervention.

 

Kiusamisvaba Kool Foundation
Development of mapping tool of antibullying work and consultation model for schools
EUR 18 760

Bullying continues to be a serious problem in Estonian schools. Bullying violates children’s right to safe education. There is a vast amount of scientific knowledge about what works in bullying reduction and implementing this knowledge would help to improve anti-bulling work in schools significantly. According to applicant’s 8 years of experience in anti-bullying work with schools and local governments, the schools seldom lack clear understanding about what they really do to reduce bullying, how effective they are and what more could be done to increase the effectiveness.

The purpose of this project is more efficient bullying prevention in Estonian schools, for that the mapping tool for the anti-bullying work in schools and a consultation model is developed. The mapping tool allows schools to obtain systematic overview about their current anti-bullying work in the framework of science-based recommendations. During following consultations Applicant’s consultants support the development processes at schools. The mapping tool and consultation model are tested in 5 schools, involving their teachers (about 100), students (about 500), and their parents (about 100). By the end of this project Kiusamisvaba Kool is able to sustainably provide the mapping tool and consultations to schools and local governments interested in improving their anti-bullying work. By that the spreading of science-based anti-bullying practices and more elaborated policies is supported. Also efficient cooperation in anti-bullying work between NGOs and educational institutions is pursued.

Transparency International Estonia
Democracy begins at school: creating the Participatory Budgeting in Schools Network
EUR 19 975

The purpose of this initiative is to create the Participatory Budgeting in Schools Network. Participatory budgeting (PB) is a tool to empower students as well as the entire school community. During the project, 10 schools will implement PB with at least 2 language immersion programme schools. A seminar will take place in spring 2022 with the aim to spread PB to more schools and to provide support to participant schools. The target group of this initiative is youth (until 19 yo) and teachers. In the long-term, the purpose of the network is to grow into a Democratic Schools Club where a wider selection of interactive interventions will be shared and practiced to increase school democracy.

PB is necessary to increase the awareness of youth on corruption and democratic values through experience to impact their citizen activism later in life. Additionally, schools will be offered to use the e-platform kaasavkool.rahvaalgatus.ee which can be used to increase students’ digital skills in e-voting. For project implementers, Transparency International Estonia, and the Estonian Cooperation Assembly, creating a network of schools and teachers with access to youth is the most efficient way to reach young people.

Käru Museum of Good Deeds
Women Push
EUR 20 000

The project Women Push consists of three parts: 

Pop-up exhibition dedicated to female rights in the frame of the history of transportation development. The exhibition is designed to be available for a variety of the audience and is based on academic research and the collection of the Pram Museum (Käru Museum) which shows how the development of house equipment influenced during the time the everyday life of ordinary women. Moreover, the project talks about the way women in a long-term perspective fight for their rights and what is the situation now. Firstly, the exhibition is presented in the Pram Museum. Secondly, it goes around several places in Estonia. The exhibition is built on academic research and illustrated with the collection of photographs, statistics taken from official institutions and the selection of the pram from the museum. It represents the individual memories which create the collective memory. What is the women position in Estonia nowadays?

In the frame of the project will be recorded twelve radio shows focused on female topics, women rights dedicated to historical periods starting from the 19th century till today. The main purpose is to address questions related to mobility and fertility in a historical perspective. The shows are recorded in a format of conversation with well-established experts. The shows are broadcasted by Radio 4, adopted for podcasts formats and used as a part of the exhibition. 

A part of the project are series of lectures at the Pram Museum on the historical topics: women rights and fertility, domestic violence against women and children, the change of woman roles in the historical perspective. The lectures are held by successful women who share their experience with the local community.

Käru Museum of Good Deeds as Project Promoter receives valuable experience in engaging and expanding its network of professionals as volunteers.

Omanäolise Kooli Arenduskeskus Foundation
Creating a volunteer community of the STEP programme
EUR 19 203

The aim of the project is to involve young people with an offense background in the labour market, to give them independence and to keep them active through voluntary work and social contribution. Each youngster will have a support person and support services like psychological counselling, skills training, etc. Through extensive engagement of such youngsters, it is expected that public awareness will increase and there will be less stigmatisations towards these youngsters.

Policy Centre Praxis
Next Generation for Think Tanks
EUR 19 172

The project focusses on one of the aspects of organisational sustainability, namely ensuring that there is next generation cohort interested in working in think tanks. The aim of the project is to design and implement a programme that provides Estonian students with an insight into the work of think tanks. The programme involves seminars and individual work. Successful participants will be then added to the list of students who will be offered work-bites with think tanks that will prepare them better for the future work opportunities there. We believe that such an approach is later scalable for other CSOs as well, thus we will also focus on spreading the word about our experience and helping other organisations to benefit from it.

North Estonian Blind Association
Increasing the impact and capacity of the community of the visually impaired
EUR 19 997

The aim of the project is to increase the impact in society of one of the most vulnerable groups in society, those of the blind and visually impaired and raise the public awareness and understanding of people with eyesight disabilities. In the course of the project the following activities take place:

• Empowering of organisations representing blind and partially seeing people in policy development and decision-making;
• Improving their communication, marketing and engagement skills;
• Support peer communication and cooperation, participation in community activities;
• Improve social entrepreneurship in organisations that represent blind and partially seeing people.

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Rehabilitation Centre for people with eyesight disabilities, Estonian Blind Union and Terateater (Theatre of Blind and Visually Impaired People in Estonia).

NGO Sotsiaaltöö Arenduskeskus (Social Work Development Centre)
Creating a network of organisations working with Narva children and families
EUR 18 389

As a result of the project, a cross-sectoral cooperation network dealing with children and families will be launched in Narva, which will bring together organisations operating in the social, health and educational fields from both the public sector and civic associations and will promote the well-being of children and families in Narva. In the course of the project, organisations whose main target group is children and families will be mapped in Narva and the necessary information guide will be compiled from the collected data in electronic form on the website of MTÜ Sotsiaaltöö Arenduskeskus. Information about the network will be shared by all members of the network in the future. In the course of mapping, potential members of the network are identified, everyone's knowledge of network-related topics is harmonized, teamwork training is carried out and a framework agreement for network cooperation is drawn up to ensure the systematic nature of joint activities. In establishing the co-operation network, the Latvian Gulbene City Government and the representative offices of civic associations in Kaunas, Lithuania will be involved in sharing experiences.

Tallinna Chamber of Disabled People
Strenghtening the advocacy network of disabled people organisations in Tallinn City
EUR 19 252

The main aim of the project is strengthening of the advocacy capacity of the network of disabled people organisations – Tallinn City Forum of Disabled People whose main aim is to stand for rights of disabled people and to be a strong partner for the local government in the field of disability politics. Strong and well-functioning network will be better able to formulate joint proposals to improve the quality of living of disabled people and their families in Tallinn City, make local government better consider the needs of disabled people in designing services and in urban planning.

MTÜ Vaimupuu
Involving People With Disabilities by Making Texts for Social Services Easy to Read
EUR 20 000

The project increases accessibility and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and reading difficulties. The aim is to rewrite important informative texts into internationally understandable easy-to-read texts to help the target group better understand their rights and opportunities and reduce their vulnerability. As people with intellectual disabilities and reading difficulties can have trouble understanding specialised vocabulary, they often remain unaware and unable to participate in society.

Descriptions of social services in easy to read language help target group to understand their rights and opportunities and reduce their vulnerability. Inclusion and networking empower target group to be active and independent members of society. NGO Vaimupuu increases its role as a promoter of easy language. The Social Insurance Board place the completed texts on its website, where it will be available to the general public. More than a million readers visit the Social Insurance Board's website every year.

Virumaa Tugiteenused (Virumaa Support Services)
Introduction of the social impact assessment system of the activities of NGO Virumaa Tugiteenused and increasing of its communication capacity 
EUR 15 515

The aim of the NGO Virumaa Tugiteenused project is to introduce an evaluation system of the association's activities and increase the organisation's communication capacity to ensure a well-functioning internal and external communication system for better involvement of members and to create a transparent, media-visible, positive and reliable image of the association. The project will acquire skills to assess the impact of the association's activities, set up an impact assessment system and carry out an initial assessment, update the association's website and draw up a communication plan involving partners, supporters and target groups. In order to achieve the results, a series of trainings, meetings and information days will be held - the results of the project will be presented at the final seminar. During the project, the performance of the system is monitored by collecting feedback, corrected if necessary, and the continuation of the result after the end of the project is ensured by making it a continuous activity.