Tõnu Otsason
The Estonian "Kodukant" Village Movement
Palade EE3210 Pühalepa Estonia
E-mail: t6nu@palfhs.edu.ee
"Estonia", I answered.When we ourselves had lost our belief in independence, in Hungarian, the word for our State still existed. It was a good experience."Oh, Esztorzsag".
We greet Hungary today, when we discuss communication. It is a means of living together, understanding, tolerance, negotiation, and a means of cultural memory. But how best to use it?
In an environment context, rural structures, built up to unreasonably use resources had been destroyed and left behind empty spaces. Agriculture that polluted the environment had ceased to exist. Small farms and small enterprises that are in better harmony with the surroundings have begun to take over with changes in land use and land ownership. Many people have begun to acquire land to build on or to invest in. At the same time, changes in the economy and in the social sphere are overwhelming. New business concepts are changing the working climate. This being the situation, it is important that new owners are fully absorbed into existing communities and accept the nature saving values of generations, and love towards local culture.
From here, one can say, the idea of reviving the village community in rural Estonia started. First as smaller, single projects and later on with more regular initiatives and even formal village movements on voluntary bases. The so-called "Kodukant" (or Home Neighbourhood) Project was initiated by a group of village people, together with Estonian and Swedish volunteers, with support from several Ministries in Estonia and the financial assistance of the Swedish Popular Movement Council in 1993. The objective was to support rural people and to rebuild village communities assist the process of social change with local people playing a leading role, local mobilisation, local initiatives, and increasing public participation, underlined by the principle of subsidiarity.
The Home Neighbourhood movement today involves ten regional organisations in Estonia, 500 local societies or groups, and 6000 participants, and can be said to have a big influence among rural people.
To this end, so-called telecottages have been established to inform local people, and to facilitate feedback to local authorities and decisionmakers. Telecottages aim to: i) provide local information services in electronic and hardcopy format; ii) mediate information into the information network; iii) support local development; iv) support continuous and distance education, and; v) reach rural people through telematics. They are seen as a means for overcoming the degeneration of rural life brought about by the above mentioned changes in social structure, "braindrain", and desertion of rural areas, and help facilitate improved awareness among the general public and encourage public participation in the decisionmaking processes.
For young people and those users requiring ordinary information, access is usually free, while those requiring more specific services (plans, projects, design information) are charged. Income is small, however, and those operators having started with their own resources and without substantial outside help are increasingly working with outdated equipment which makes it difficult to satisfy the demands of clients and tasks.
Information collection relies on a network of volunteers, primarily from local community schools, libraries, and clubs, but also from across the county. Information dissemination activities have been part-financed with support from local and regional development programmes, however, this has not even covered a third of annual costs. Permanent contracts with local municipalities in terms of offering information services would support the network, while investments and operation might ideally be covered by national funds. In our opinion, an estimated 50 percent of the running costs and 90 percent of the investments should ideally be financed from outside. Otherwise, self-financing is relied upon and this accounts for the insufficient technical level of services.
Were the financing needs of Estonian telecottages to be met by national funds, the breakdown would be as follows:
Investments for 50 telecottages x 100,000 EEK = 5m EEK (Estonian Kroons)
Running Costs for 50 telecottages x 20 000 EEK = 1m EEK (Estonian Kroons)
Marking the growing success of telecottages, local municipal authorities are increasingly relying on telecottage information collections and skills when undertaking community planning and development activities. Communities have begun to cooperate with their respective institutions, culture houses, libraries, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and schools to elaborate Agenda 21 plans, and are now also working more closely and successfully as partners. The tendency is for the local municipality "Development Group" to choose three or four key fields for development within the telecottage including any of the following: i) informatics; ii) local culture and sustainable development; iii) eco-tourism and ecological lifestyle; iv) infrastructure, and; v) information on activities of different social groups such as women's clubs and youth groups.
Table 1 further summarises the support telecottages are providing to community building.
| TASKS ASSOCIATED WITH BUILDING A COMMUNITY | TELECOTTAGE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES |
|---|---|
| Studies, needs, profiling of communities | Questionnaires, collecting, saving, processing, disseminating data |
| Common planning of activities and aims | Presenting models, experiences, assisting in planning |
| Sharing responsibilities | Supporting discussions for community development and assisting in their adoption |
| Assisting in developing common attitudes, shared values, and common activities | Servicing common activities |
| Protecting local natural and cultural values as a community | Publicising, liaising with the media, informing, writing press releases |
| Establishing cooperative networks | Creating and maintaining information connections |
Table 1:Telecottage support activities
The Telecottage Association has come across many active supporters to its projects and activities, which has resulted in close cooperation with the Study Circle Association of Estonia cooperation with local societies and schools, and increasing support from the third sector, the NGO community, and public interest groups.
A regional development programme called "Support to Village Initiatives" has seen several village revival projects carried out, including the restoration of local infrastructure, and the establishment of telecottages and Internet centres. The Open Education Programme supported by the Ministry of Education has created the possibility to educate and develop cooperation groups, whereby study circles have been supported by telecottages and together with them, village plans have been elaborated as well as development projects.
Specifically, telecottages are participating in elaborating sustainable development village plans, informing the public about environmental problems and proposed investments, disseminating positive information concerning the environment, helping to facilitate the organisation of events, supporting sustainable development study circles through networking and provision of related information, publicising and disseminating information on local nature trails to tourists and visitors, helping to compile hiking tracks and schemes, encouraging the use of public transport (through the notification of new routes and provision of timetables), tourist information (accommodation, do's and dont's in nature) and so on.
The telecottage was established in 1995 to collect and disseminate information that is so vital for the new life of the community and its participants, to serve as a means for connecting people, and to help people in remote areas overcome geographical and social isolation. We became the centre of the local rural development movement in the county, and a centre for the island's telecottages. The county Village Movement accounts for some 20 active members from villages, and those telecottages in every community. These telecottages, like that for which I am responsible for, are maintained by volunteers.
The first computer was acquired in 1995 for project-based work, for the filing of socio-economic and local cultural heritage information, for taking part in the development of project competitions, and for communicating by e-mail. Study circles for computer and language studies were also established. In 1997 another computer was acquired with an online Internet connection. Within this additional capacity, it is possible to use Internet, e-mail, text-processors, translate, perform secretarial services, perform information searches, economic consultations and provide information about socio-economic services. The computer is also used for providing information to study circles including those of the Palade Education Society and the Folk High School, as well as disseminating information.
The telecottage offers a library of nature, regional planning, personal development, cultural heritage and reference books. Information concerning the available forms of transport and communication (vital to island life) is provided as well as information relating to activities in the field of nature and the environment, building projects and development plans. The telecottage has to date been involved in introducing campaigns for the protection of local life and the environment, coordinating and assisting in the elaboration of the local sustainable development plan, educating people, and carrying out studies about local needs for the local municipal authority.
The business aspects of the Palade Telecottage are taken care of by a separate society, the members of which are responsible for the provision of rooms, management of maintenance costs, communication, elementary equipment, literature, newspapers and gathering of other information, its processing and dissemination. This society has received support from outside contributions, its own enterprise activities, and project work. Self-financing covers 75 percent of the telecottage costs.
With regard to the EU accession process, Estonia is determined to adjust all fields of life toward European systems and structures. Entering into the information society takes a concerted contribution from Estonia to develop telematics and its availability in the smallest regions. The EU accession process, it can be said provides a vehicle for supporting this progress, both from a national perspective, and from the perspective of EU financial support, in meeting the objective of building the information society.