News.

Geomedia PhD student Bianka Plüschke-Altof will publicly defend her dissertation on the 28^th of December 2017 at 13:15 at the University of Tartu (Oeconomicum, J. Liivi 4-214). Under the title “Images of the Periphery Impeding Rural Development?” the dissertation treats the peripheralization of Estonian rural areas under a new perspective. The current discussion on the administrative...

Tartu city government draws up the new development plan for Tartu 2018-2025. It is constituted on the basis of the development strategy Tartu 2030 and the still valid city development plan until the year 2020. The objective is to specify the central topics for the city’s future and update the action plan. The decisions...

On the 23rd of March 2017 a representative conference on “25 years of social work in Tallinn – how to go on?” took place in Tallinn. At the plenary, Geomedia consultant Rivo Noorkõiv presented on and discussed the topic of “The Future of Social Work – into the hands of citizens?” Estonia is...

On the 30th of November 2016, the general annual meeting the Mulgimaa Development Centre took place in Valma village, Viljandi parish. At the meeting, current development projects and the future development strategy for the historical region of Mulgimaa were discussed. The meeting also included a presentation by Geomedia PhD student...

From 30.-31. March 2017 the spring seminar of Pärnu County’s Municipality Union took place. The central topic was the future cooperation between the municipalities of Pärnu County against the backdrop of losing the county government level and the assignments of new tasks to the local municipalities. The potential changes were...

Recently, the academic journal Sociální studia/Social Studies published a special issue on “Rural Sociology”. The volume gives an overview of recent studies in rural sociology, which cover different aspects of rurality and rural change. Via case studies in Estonia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Spain it shows the challenges that...

On the 31^st of May 2017 the spring seminar by the Union of Pärnu County  municipalities took place. The central topic of discussion was the  future collaboration of local municipalities in Pärnu County due to the  loss of the county government and the new responsibilities of the local  government units....

The consortium consisting of OÜ Geomedia, OÜ Cumulus Consulting and OÜ Change Partners implements a development program for local government leaders, which was commissioned by Enterprise Estonia (EAS). The objectives of the program are to increase the management and cooperation capacity of local government leaders in the course of the amalgamation reform and to support...

On 11^th of May 2017 the Information Day of Statistics Estonia focusing  on “Correct data collection starts at the local government units” took  place in Nordic Hotel Forum Tallinn. The presentations of the first  session focused on register-based population and dwelling censuses. Here  a central topic is the quality of...

Statistics Estonia published a compilation on “Regional Development in Estonia 2016”, which includes an article on “Competency-based assessment of training needs of local government employees” authored by Rivo Noorkõiv and Mari Nõmm. The article includes an extensive theoretical overview on the link between competence-based management and the organizational need to increase its capability through the...