2.3 National strategy on youth volunteering
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Existence of a National Strategy
There is no single strategy in Estonia for youth volunteering. Youth volunteering is addressed in the Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030, which was adopted in 2021 and in the Youth Sector Development Plan for the years 2021-2035 (adopted in 2020) and the implementation of the state-level strategies and development plans goes through programs.
Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030 brings the attention to the volunteering as a part of development of communities and civil society. One of the aim of the strategy is to raise the awareness and activity of the population, including young people, to take more part in volunteering. One of the indicator for that aim is the participation rate in volunteering, measured by a survey (proportion of the population who have participated in volunteering in the last 12 months).
The programme „Community Estonia 2023-2026“ (programm „Kogukondlik Eesti 2023-2026“) which implements the goals of the Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030, is the follow-up for the Civil Society Development Plan 2015-2020 (Kodanikuühiskonna arengukava 2015-2020). The main difference between the program and previous development documents in the field is the focus on the activism of people and communities instead of participation in policy making. The program focuses on increasing the influence of civil society and supporting development. The general goal of the programme „Community Estonia 2023-2026“ is a strong civil society, and it underlines the importance to increase the proportion of residents participating in voluntary activities, support community initiatives, increase the capacity of non-governmental organizations to act and improve the general vitality of Estonian civil society.
Youth Sector Development Plan for the years 2021-2035 brings attention to youth volunteering with different activities.
Scope and contents
The Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030 states one of the major problems: the operating environment of civil society does not sufficiently support its viability. Accordingly the measure to resolve that problem is to support the activity of the residents and their social participation and increase the capacity of communities and non-profit organisations. The objective is to promote the development of communities and civil society, where people share democratic values and improve their living environment through active participation in community and social activities. One of the indicators of that objective is the participation rate in volunteering.
The program „Community Estonia 2023-2026“ (programm „Kogukondlik Eesti 2023-2026“), which implements the goals of the Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030, brings out important results that also contain the youth field as an important partner. There are three results that are concretely connected to the Education and Youth Programme 2020-2023 (Haridus- ja noorteprogramm) (not specifically to youth volunteering, but connecting to that) as following:
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the activities of youth work, NGOs, schools, and universities are connected with civic society;
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the Community Practice program is distributed in schools all over Estonia;
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youth participation is being developed on the local level.
One more result in the program that mentions young people is as follows:
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there are development programs for social entrepreneurship targeted at young people.
The Youth Sector Development Plan for the years 2021-2035 sets one of the strategic goals to support active youth participation and consistent protection of youth rights. One of the courses of action is empowering the civic participation of young people. And one of the indicators here is the ratio of 15–26-year-olds participating in organized volunteer work.
Responsible authority
There is no one and only responsible authority for youth volunteering. In the field of youth, the responsibility of general development is on the Ministry of Education and Research. The support for the development of civil society is the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior.
Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030 is implemented together with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Youth Sector Development Plan for the years 2021-2035 (Noortevaldkonna arengukava 2021-2035) is implemented by Youth Board of Estonia together with strategic partners in the field of youth.
Revisions/ Updates
There are two new strategies where volunteering and youth volunteering are addressed: Cohesive Estonia Strategy 2030 and Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-2035. The main difference between the program and previous development documents in the field is the focus on the activism of people and communities instead of participation in policy making.