Linking sustainable practices throughout Europe
[EXP] Estonian Rural Parliament offers rural democracy lessons for EU partners
Rural topic(s): Civic engagement, local governance and dialogue
Type: Success story
Date of writing: May 16, 2012
Author(s) of this page: Patrick Chalmers
Organization(s): Kodukant (the Estonian Village Movement)
Summary:
Sirje Vinni, a school teacher and experienced hand in participatory democracy, explains how Estonia organises rural parliaments every two years to connect its different layers of government. One of just five countries to hold such parliaments, Estonia’s 1.3 million inhabitants offer valuable good-governance examples for other EU states. It shows how rural development policy can benefit from regular, formalised engagement between villages and national decision makers, with an emphasis on mediated solutions.
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Informations:
Scale of intervention : National
Keywords: rural policy, integrated rural development, participatory democracy, rural parliament, citizen participation, Community Led Local Development (CLLD), civil society dialogue, bottom-up approach
Places: Estonia
Actors: network, platform, forum, animation and rural development organisation, rural population
Methods: advocacy, experience exchange, working group, political dialogue, promotion of civil society dialogue, forum
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