News.

On citizens‘ initiative amalgamation discussions took place between representatives of the municipality councils of Sangaste, Puka, Palupera and Õru. The idea of forming a rural municipality in the region was discussed as well as the potential changes on the local level caused by the administrative reform. The meeting was moderated by Geomedia consultant Rivo Noorkõiv....

For the training of local government officials, so far there is no central institution in Estonia. Hence, the trainings are mainly influenced by a market-driven model. The trends show that the driving forces for in-service training are, above all, the changing demands of the professional work, developments in technology and the growth of network-based...

Organized by the Ministry of Finance, a conference took place on 20th of October in Marjamaa, focusing on experiences and lessons learned from amalgamation processes and on ways to carry out the proposed local government reform. Presentations were given by local government officials and representatives of different organizations, who analyzed...

In the county of Valgamaa amalgamation negotiations have started between the three rural municipalities of Helme, Hummuli, Põdrala and the urban municipality of Tõrva. With this decision, the four municipalities move in the direction of creating an amalgamated municipality based on the Mulgi regional identity. The historical fundament of Helme...

On the 22nd of October, Geomedia organized a training for employees of the Office for Social Security, who are engaged as advisors on child protection in local municipalities. Following the changes in the law for child protection in 2016, the observance of children rights and wellbeing should also be reflected...

In the county of Valgamaa amalgamation negotiations have started between the three rural municipalities of Helme, Hummuli, Põdrala and the urban municipality of Tõrva. With this decision, the four municipalities move in the direction of creating an amalgamated municipality based on the Mulgi regional identity. The historical basement of Helme...

Organized by the RegPol2 consortium, another doctoral school took place from October, 26 to October, 30 2015 in Leipzig. The school focused on topics linked to peripheralization, which were discussed as a basic for scientific research in general and the dissertation projects of the international project participants in particular. In the course of the...

In the framework of the RegPol2 project, Geomedia employee Bianka Plüschke-Altof participated in the 11th Estonian Rural Parliament, which took place from August 7.-9. 2015 in Särevere, Järvamaa County. The event was organized by the Estonian Village Movement Kodukant under the title "Listen for Village Voices". It consisted of field trips, thematic discussions, a ‘living...

As part of the Initial Training Network RegPol² Martin Graffenberger will be seconded to Geomedia during March and April 2016. Martin holds a degree in Economic Geography and is usually based at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig, Germany. His project investigates innovation activities of businesses that...

On the 25th of August 2016 a conference took place in the Aruküla community house entitled „Local government as base for Estonia’s recovery – maybe even a change engine!“. The traditional conference organized by NGO Polis and its partners was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Estonia regaining its independence....