Situation analysis

1
Situation analysis

• Strengthening the cooperation between the public
  sector and the business representing
  non-governmental organisations in Estonia

2
Information sources

• Interviews with staff from 6 ministries
• Interviews with 17 business membership
  organisations
• Replies from 32 organisations to a questionnaire

Thank you very much!
3
Cooperation already exists

• Informal cooperation
• Mainly personal contacts
• Low level contacts
• Cooperation often takes place very late in the
  process
• Direct contact to larger companies
• No established system for monitoring of impact of
  legislation

4
Ministerial staff would like increased
cooperation but with reservations

• The ministerial staff wants to know whom to talk
  to
• Especially when the ministerial staff finds that
  the matters are technically complex
• Ministerial staff finds that media involvement
  can be troubling
• Ministerial staff (often but not always) finds
  that the inputs from organisations can be of a
  low quality
• Wish for a continuation of the informal way of
  doing things

5
Lack of capacity among organisations hamper
cooperation

• Lack of expertise
• Lack of staff
• Limited finance
• Limited and fragmented member base
• Lack of representativity
• Difficult access to media
• High turnover of ministerial staff
• No formal access to government

6
Reactive approach to lobbying
No. of recent self-initiated formal expressions
of opinions towards government
7
Recommendations

• Not procedures but Best Practices valid for
  the Ministry of Economic Affairs and
  Communication
• Procedures should be developed with the help of a
  Coaching Group
• Specify when organisations should be involved,
  who should be involved, how they should be
  involved, etc.
• Continue planning the training programme based on
  identified needs

8
Capacity building programme Three three-day
modules
EU fundraising
Policymaking
Organisational development
June
September
September
9
International experience shows that there is not
one way of organising cooperation between
government and organisations
Continuum of involvement in policy development