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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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