SEPTEMBER 2015

Additional application round for financing of national minority Sunday schools launched

The Integration and Migration Foundation has launched an additional round of applications for the financing of the activities of national minority Sunday schools for the current academic year. The second round is open to Sunday schools which did not receive base financing in the first round this spring.

Based on the results of the first round, groups will commence studies in 22 national minority Sunday schools this autumn. “Most of the schools that received funding in the first round are in Tallinn, but not all – schools in Tartu, Jõhvi, Sillamäe, Viljandi, Tapa, Maardu, Pärnu and Valga were also successful,” explained Kristina Pirgop, the Director of Partnership Relations with the Integration Foundation. “In line with the Hobby Schools Act, any Sunday School that applies for financing has to be registered in the Estonian Education Information System. According to the system there are currently more than 30 national minority Sunday schools registered as special interest schools and providing language and culture studies for children. The second round of base financing is open to schools that haven’t received support for their activities for the academic year that’s just started.”

Through the support provided to the Sunday schools, children from the relevant cultural background can study the language of their forefathers and learn about their national culture and customs. Any Sunday school seeking support must teach at least 100 academic hours per year of language, culture and history. The funding is open to schools whose teaching activities involve at least 10 students during the academic year. Starting from the 2015-2016 academic year, 20% of the students at such a Sunday school may be from a different national background from the other students.

The budget for the second round of applications is 33,561.77 euros, which is being financed from the state budget via the Ministry of Education and Research. The deadline for applications is 23 September 2015. The terms and conditions of the application round are available on the website of the Integration and Migration Foundation.

For those interested in applying, an information event will be held from 13:00-15:00 on 11 September at the foundation’s offices at Lõõtsa 2a (8^th floor), Tallinn.

For further information please contact: Liilika Raudhein, coordinator, Implementation Centre | Telephone: +372 659 9841 | E-mail: liilika.raudhein@meis.ee

Integration Foundation to launch procurement for preparatory courses for citizenship exams

During the first half of September the Integration and Migration Foundation will be launching a public procurement to find a training company that will provide new immigrants and permanent residents of the country whose integration has been limited with preparatory courses for the Estonian citizenship exams on the Constitution and the Citizenship Act between December 2015 and the end of 2017.

The aim of organising the courses is to offer those who are less or not yet integrated both support and help, in the form of free studies, in getting ready to take – and pass – the Estonian citizenship exam. The 14 hours of training will give the participants an overview of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act and include two hours of consultation to prepare them for the exam.

A public procurement entitled ‘Studies of the Estonian Constitution and Citizenship Act for new immigrants and permanent residents whose integration has been limited’ will be launched in September to find the training company that will provide the courses. Classes will begin in December this year, with the exact times and venues and make-up of groups to be determined once the winner of the procurement is known. The courses will take place between 1 December 2015 and 31 December 2017 throughout Estonia for at least 1160 new immigrants and permanent residents whose integration has been limited and whose language and cultural background is not Estonian.

Information will be provided on the Integration Foundation website under ‘Ongoing competitions’ once the procurement is published in the public procurement register.

The procurement is being implemented as part of the ‘Integration training’ sub-activity of the ‘Development and provision of integration programmes’ activity of the ‘Activities supporting integration in Estonian society’ project financed from the European Social Fund.

For further information please contact: Liilika Raudhein, coordinator, Implementation Centre | Telephone: +372 659 9841 | E-mail: liilika.raudhein@meis.ee

Seminar to be held for development of new audio-visual programme

The Integration and Migration Foundation awaits offers for the organisation of a development seminar for an audio-visual programme. The seminar, which is to be organised for media representatives, is designed to bring together specialists and those interested in the field to present their ideas for the creation of integration-themed audio-visual programmes.

The seminar is planned to be held this autumn (October or November) in Tallinn, attended by up to 200 people associated with the field. The main aim is to involve media specialists, as well as anyone else interested in the field, who would be happy to contribute to the development of a new audio-visual programme. The seminar will focus on the way issues within the field of integration are presented in print media, on television, on radio and in interactive media.

The aim of the seminar is to provide practical input for the creation of integration-themed shows that are interesting and educational, that are of high quality and that meet the needs and expectations of viewers. The new audio-visual programme should also be in line with the possibilities and output of contemporary media space. In organising the seminar it is also hoped to involve the public more broadly, as well as to encourage crossover media specialists to contribute to the preparation of social integration projects.

The budget for the competition is 20,400 euros.Tenders in the procurement for the organisation of the seminar for the development of the new audio-visual programme should be submitted to the e-state procurement registry by 10:00 on 21 September 2015.

The documentation for the competition can be viewed online in the e-state procurement registry at https://riigihanked.riik.ee/register/hange/166416.

This activity is being performed as part of the ‘Integration-based communication’ activity of the ‘Activities supporting integration in Estonian society’ project of the European Social Fund.

For further information please contact: Ruslan Prohhorenko, Coordinator, Implementation Centre, telephone: +372 659 9035, e-mail: ruslan.prohhorenko@meis.ee

Women invited to attend ‘Exercise unites’ sports and health festival

As part of the ‘Sports and cultural activities that support a shared cultural space and integration’ project competition held in spring, the Integration and Migration Foundation supported a project entitled ‘Exercise unites’, which promotes health among women and encourages them to do sports.  A free sports day is being held in the three largest cities in Estonia this month – Tallinn, Tartu and Narva. 

“The events are a continuation of the seminars that took place in spring, which clearly showed that we need to do more awareness-raising among women in regard to healthy lifestyles and sports,” said Riina Odnenko, the project manager with the ‘Getting women exercising’ project. “The reason we’re focussing on women is because as mothers and partners they play a central role in shaping and passing on the family’s values, and in moulding the attitudes and choices of other members of their families. So for the first time we’ve put together a series of events in a sports day format with the title ‘Exercise unites’. There are training sessions, seminars and lectures which will encourage women to find a form of exercise that suits them, as well as someone to do it with – and by motivating and supporting each other, changing their lives for the better.”

This year, as part of the ‘Sport and Women’ programme, the International Olympic Committee has turned more attention to getting women to exercise. As part of this, the Union of Estonian Personal Trainers, the Bodybuilding and Fitness Union of Estonia, MyFitness sports clubs and Fitness Hers magazine are organising the ‘Exercise unites’ health and sports festival. The first event was held in the sports hall of the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu on 3 September. The same event will be held at Narva Sports Centre starting at 12:00 on 19 September, and at Tondiraba Ice Rink in Tallinn starting at 12:00 on 27 September.

The lectures and seminars will be given in Estonian and Russian. At the start of the festival, every participant has the chance to measure their body stats and obtain useful health and exercise materials at the fitness market, and any children brought along can have fun in the Mia playroom. Everyone who takes part will receive a special gift bag by way of thanks. A charity exercise item market will also be held as part of the festival, to which anyone wishing to can donate sports clothes, equipment and supplies to the Estonian Association of Large Families.

The ‘Exercise unites’ project is being supported by the Integration and Migration Foundation from the state budget via the Ministry of Culture. 

For further information please contact: Riina Odnenko, project manager, ‘Getting women exercising’ | E-mail: Riina.odnenko@gmail.com | Mobile: +372 5381 3260

Ökokratt project unites and inspires special-needs people with different native languages

As part of the ‘Development of a shared national identity and promotion of Estonian citizenship and human rights’ project competition organised by the Integration and Migration Foundation, the NPO Ökokratt carried out an awareness-raising and dialogue platform project entitled ‘Destiny unites and information inspires’ for 130 Narva-based people with special needs and their carers this summer.

The project aimed to integrate Estonian- and Russian-speaking people with special needs and their carers into Estonian society, to boost their self-confidence and to prepare them for the work capacity reforms that are set to be implemented in the country. The target group was members of the Kohtla-Järve Tööotsijate klubi 50+ and Eesti Omastehooldus non-profit clubs and their carers.

Priit Adler, the chairman of the management board of Ökokratt, explained that the project focussed on the most vulnerable target group in society, in which special-needs people who speak Russian find themselves in a particularly complicated situation – as they spend much of their time in a different linguistic, cultural and media space and may not be aware of their rights compared to Estonians.

As part of the project a series of seminars was organised in Lääne-Viru County at which the rights and obligations of people with special needs were discussed and the work capacity reforms that are to be introduced were outlined. “It emerged at the seminar that while you can generally find information in Estonian about work capacity, information in Russian is scarce, which means that the information we were providing was even more valuable,” said Adler. “There was also some great direct contact between people from different language backgrounds. Both sides showed they were really willing to help in understanding the people they were talking to. And they themselves said that that’s true integration right there – communicating regardless of language or culture, understanding each other and working together to achieve something important.”

In addition to the seminars and getting to know more about cultural and tourism sights, those taking part had the chance to discover and learn about their surroundings through the sounds of nature. A concert and series of workshops entitled ‘For the use of the sounds of nature in psycho-physical regulation’ were also held as part of the project at Metsamõisa Farm in Lääne-Viru County.  Adler says that not all music or sounds can be used to improve people’s health – informed choices have to be made about what to listen to. During the workshops the participants also learned about vibroacoustics. “While cats heal themselves by purring, people heal themselves under the hands of therapists,” he added. Lectures on the dialogue platform were conducted by psychologist Tõnu Ots, while vibroacoustics was explained by Ivar Vinkel. The participants also enjoyed the music of Mart Soo & Kulgejad and Helin-Mari Arder & Kusti Lemba.

For further information please contact: Priit Adler, NGO Ökokratt | E-mail: priit@okokratt.ee | Mobile: +372 51 32 149