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1. Formal mechanisms of consultation

2. Actors

3. Information on the extent of youth participation

4. Outcomes

5. References

Formal mechanisms of consultation

The Youth Sector Development Plan 2021-2035 (Noortevaldkonna arengukava 2021-2035) provides the overarching strategic framework for youth participation in Estonia. It defines the participation of young people in decision-making as one of its four strategic objectives, alongside momentum, independence and security. Youth participation has held a strategic position in Estonian youth field strategies since 2001, and the preceding Youth Field Development Plan 2014–2020 received the Future Policy Gold Award in 2019 for its approach to political participation and civic engagement of youth. The current plan builds on this legacy by linking participation to the broader “Estonia 2035” cross-cutting strategy.

Legal provisions

Youth involvement is regulated through several legislative acts. The Youth Work Act defines the involvement of young people in general and of youth councils. The participation of pupils and students is set out in education institution acts, and the participation of children is regulated by the Child Protection Act.  

Forms and levels of consultation

Youth participation in public policy takes place within the general framework of participatory governance in Estonia. Young people are addressed as stakeholders and invited to consultations as one of the consulted parties.

Collective consultation is an important principle: youth consultation occurs predominantly between a youth council, organisation or association on the one hand and a state, municipal, third-sector or business organisation on the other. Unorganised young people are reached through opinion markets and other participatory formats.

At the municipal level, local youth councils are consulted on youth-relevant topics. In 2023, youth councils were active in 49 out of 79 local governments. Consultation is most commonly arranged through local and regional youth councils, youth organisations, student and pupil councils, participation cafés (opinion markets), umbrella organisations at the national level, and the EU Youth Dialogue on EU issues.

Consultation methods

Youth consultation in public policy processes occurs mainly in three contexts: drafting sectoral strategies and development plans; implementing those strategies and plans; and designing youth (work) services.

The main method of involvement is the participation of representatives of youth organisations or umbrella organisations in working groups. In these settings, young people are informed of developments, express their opinions on specific themes and contribute to discussions leading to final formulations. This includes formulating positions on concrete questions, attending meetings, providing input to official document drafts and responding to other participants’ proposals.

Regularity of consultations

Consultations take place regularly at the national level. Responsible ministries are obliged to report annually on policy implementation, and youth representatives are generally consulted on these reports. Additional consultations take place on a case-by-case basis when new legislation or policy proposals emerge.

Actors

Youth actors

The main umbrella organisations involved in drafting policy programmes and legislative acts as representatives of young people are:

• the Estonian National Youth Council (the umbrella organization of youth associations and youth organizations);
• the Estonian School Student Councils Union (the umbrella organization of school student councils);
• the Federation of Estonian Student Unions (the umbrella organization of college student councils);
• Youth councils of of selected ministries (the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of the Environment).

During the implementation phase, local youth organisations, youth councils and youth work organisations carry out activities under specific policy programmes. There are no specific target groups defined in the general consultation mechanisms.

Main public authorities

The main public authorities involved are the Ministry of Education and Research (responsible for youth and education policy), the Ministry of Social Affairs (responsible for labour market policy, social protection and child and family policy), and the Education and Youth Board (a governmental institution responsible for implementing education and youth policy).

Additional stakeholders

Additional stakeholders include the Estonian Association of Youth Centres, implementing youth work in youth centers, which implements youth work in youth centres, and the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Estonian Agency, a body under the Ministry of Education and Research responsible for implementing the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes.

Information on the extent of youth participation

Several mechanisms exist for collecting data on youth consultation and participation. These include the EU Youth Dialogue (formerly the Structured Dialogue), the Ombudsman for Children’s reviews of youth rights, the Youth Monitoring and Analysis System (operated jointly by the Ministry of Education and Research and the Education and Youth Board), and data collected by the National Electoral Committee. Universities also contribute through research studies. While there is no single unified data collection system on youth participation levels, the Youth Monitoring Dashboard (Juhtimislauad), maintained by Statistics Estonia, provides up-to-date visualised data on youth-related indicators, including civic engagement.

As of 2022, the Estonian National Youth Council united 59 youth organisations and 71 youth councils. In 2023, youth councils were active in 49 out of 79 municipalities, indicating a moderate level of structural coverage for youth participation at the local level.

Outcomes

Participation of young people in decision-making has two main outcomes: improving the quality of decisions and fostering active citizenship.

Based on consultations, draft laws or policy documents are revised. Government authorities are obliged to inform stakeholders whether each proposal has been accepted, and to provide reasons if it has not. The ministry responsible for a given policy document is generally required to report annually to the Government on implemented activities, outcomes and results. These annual reports form the basis for the Government’s decision to continue or discontinue implementation. Interested parties are encouraged to participate in the reporting procedure.

References

• Child Protection Act  (Lastekaitseseadus), (2014)
• Youth Work Act (Noorsootöö seadus), (2010)
• Youth Sector Development Plan 2021–2035 (Noortevaldkonna arengukava 2021–2035), (2021)
• Youth Field Development Plan 2014–2020 (Noortevaldkonna arengukava 2014–2020), (2013)
• “Estonia 2035” Strategy (Strateegia „Eesti 2035“), (2021)
• Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act (Põhikooli- ja gümnaasiumi seadus), (2010)
• Local Government Organisation Act (Kohaliku omavalitsuse korralduse seadus), (1993)