“NOORTEKOGUDE JA NOORTEVOLIKOGUDE KUI OSALUSVORMIDE LOOMINE, KORRALDUS JA TEGEVUS” (juhendaja Urmo Reitav, MA).
LÜHIÜLEVAADE: Kaasajal eeldatakse noortelt ühiskonnaelus ja selle probleemide lahendamises osalemise valmidust. Osalemise üheks vormiks on liikmeksolek kohalikes noortevolikogudes ja maakondlikes noortekogudes. Marge Heina väitel oli 2011.aastal taolisi ühendusi 77, kuid nende korraldus, tegutsemine ning probleemid on uurijate poolt vähest tähelepanu pälvinud.
Autor on töös oskuslikult seostanud ja sünteesinud Euroopa ja Eesti kultuuriruumi kuuluvate erinevate autorite osalusteooriaid. Töös on esitletud 34 noorte osaluskogu seas läbi viidud uurimuse tulemusi. Osaluskogude esmase tegevusena on esile toodud sündmuste korraldamine ja klubiline tegevus. Osalus valla- ja linnavolikogude komisjonides või maavalitsuste ettevõtmistes on mõnevõrra madalam. Kogude eelarvest kulub enim raha korraldustegevusele, transpordile ja koolitusele. Kohalike noortevolikogude probleemid on enam seotud rahastamise, maakondlike noortekogude omad aga liikmete ajaressursiga. Osaluskogude liikmete peamisteks teavituskanaliteks on e-suhtlus, koduleheküljed ning sotsiaalmeedia.
Kokkuvõtvalt on Marge Hein leidnud, et kuigi noorte osaluskogude tegevus on alles kujunemisjärgus, ei ole areng alati niisugune, mis vastaks teoorias kujundatud ootustele. Autor on pidanud vajalikuks rõhutada, et äärmiselt oluline eeldus noorte osalemisvõimaluste suurendamisel osaluskogude toel on osaluskogude mentorite toetamine ja nende oskuste arendamine.
Külli Salumäe
Huvihariduse lektor
TÜ Viljandi Kultuuriakadeemia kultuurhariduse osakond
LÄBITUD ÕPPEKAVA: huvijuht-loovtegevuse õpetaja õppekava.
SUMMARY: THE CREATION, ORGANISATION AND ACTIVITY OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL YOUTH COUNCILS AS PARTICIPATION ENTITIES
The involvement of young people as active participants in decision-making process has become an increasingly important issue in Europe. Many documents and publications bring out the importance of a citizen´s right to take part in shaping their lives, help to develop services they use and be involved in making decisions that affect them. It is necessary to involve young people so that they could learn the principles of civil society and how the democracy works. There are many organisations that young people can participate in, such as youth councils at a local and a regional level. Since 2005, the creation of youth councils has been supported at a national level, and therefore their number has increased several times. In 2011, there are 15 regional and 62 local youth councils. However, there is no wider public and complete survey about youth councils’ creation, organisation, activity or difficulties they face. The current dissertation was inspired by this and examines the situation of youth councils in the last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.
The purpose of this study is to find out how Estonian local and regional youth councils have been created, and what their organisation and activities are like.
The author posed the following research questions:
1. What is the practice of youth councils’ creation?
2. How are the membership and activities managed?
3. How are youth councils financed?
4. How are cooperation and information sharing arranged in youth councils?
The author carried out a quantitative web survey in the period of November 2011 until January 2012 and got answers from 31 youth councils, that is 1/3 of all local youth councils and 2/3 of regional ones. In May 2012, she carried out two individual interviews, one with a local and one with a regional youth council´s chairman.
The author found out that the largest number of youth councils were created in 2006 and 2010, when they were financed by government at a national level. Most youth councils do not have a juridical status but they have adopted their constitutions. Young people said that a local level youngsters and local youth workers took part in creation the most, whereas at a regional level youngsters and governors were more active.
Public elections are not the major method for putting youth councils together. The principle of voluntarity and elections in organisation are equally important, the latter being mostly used to elect the board. The number of members in regional youth councils is generally not set, but it is in local youth councils. Most of the youth councils have hierarchical structure, which means having a chairman, a board or an official person, but less commission.
One of the main activities is organizing events, whilst the importance of this is bigger in local youth councils. Involvement in the activities of regional on city councils is low, accounting that it should be one of their main activities. Young people said that they cooperate most with the representatives of local of regional government. Thereby, their cooperation level is also not sufficient.
Youth councils spend most of their budget on organizing events, transportation and training. The majority of them make their budget themselves. Although there were not any bigger issues with finance, local youth councils have more problems with the amount, regional ones have problems with time. These youth councils that do not have a budget are in bigger difficulties. Although there are exceptions, they do not apply additional funding a lot. Youth councils use e-mails, web and social media as the main channels for informing young people.
The author thinks that the essence of youth councils does not match the expectations set for them in theory. Young people lack knowledge, experience and opportunities to make effective use of youth councils both in terms of creation, applying for additional funding, cooperation and informing. It is necessary to reduce event organization and club activities, and increase the cooperation with local and regional authorities to ensure that young people have a possibility to have a voice and take part in decision-making processes.