Kansanvalta.fi

Introduction

The first conference day consisted of presentations by invited speakers as well as workshops regarding good citizen participation practices. The topics were chosen in connection with EPACE themes such as

• democracy policy and administration of democracy issues
• e-democracy and e-participation
• democracy education 
• special focus on youth and immigrant participation

Speakers were invited from government offices, academia and civic society organisations. Presentations were followed by workshops where participants shared and elaborated good citizen participation and involvement practices. These recommendations are thus integrated in the EPACE materials and publications.

On the second conference day, Democracy Exchange Network was planned and discussed in conjunction with presentations of some successful networks. It was decided that more e-consultation shall be conducted on clarifying various needs and expectations for the network. The network will be piloted as a medium for sharing experiences in the field of facilitating democracy issues.

Around 80 people participated to the conference from Estonia and different European countries. EPACE's concluding conference will be held in June 2010 in Helsinki, Finland.

View conference pictures gallery.

See full Programme 


Speeches - Monday 7 December 2009

Welcoming words
Heiki Loot, State Secretary, State Chancellory of the Republic of Estonia

Introduction to EPACE and aims of conference
Sari Aalto-Matturi, Director of Democracy Unit, Ministry of Justice Finland
A decision in principle on promoting democracy in Finland

Democracy policy and public deliberation – good practices and strategies going forward
Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Founder and President of AmericaSpeaks, United States
Carolyn Lukensmeyer's speech in mp3 format (26 Mbytes)

Counting what counts – regulation and measuring the success of citizen engagement
Edward Andersson, Deputy Director and Head of Practice, Involve, United Kingdom
Edward Andersson's speech in mp3 format (15 Mbytes)

Learning to participate: experiences of democracy education in enhancing youth and immigrant participation
Marju Lauristin, Professor, University of Tartu, Estonia

My Estonia - experiences and outcomes of deliberative citizen initiative project
Valdo Kalm, Member of Advisory Council of My Estonia project
My Estonia  - Executive Summary

Working groups - Working group topics and presentations

Democracy policy and administration of democracy issues
Marcus Brixskiöld (Chair), Director and Head of Division for Democratic Issues. Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality, Sweden
Policy for democracy in Sweden - 2010 document

Helen Hughes, National Adviser, Third Sector and Communities, Improvement and Development Agency, United Kingdom

Urmo Kübar, Executive Director, Network of Estonian Non-Profit Organisations NENO, Estonia

Ivar Tallo, Member of the Board, e-Governance Academy Foundation, Estonia (preliminary findings of research)


E-democracy
Lasse Berntzen (Chair), Vestfold University, Norway

Tomas Ohlin, Prof., Senior Adviser, Division for Democratic Issues, Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality, Sweden
Swedish Rådslag on e-democracy 

Renate Mitterhuber, City of Hamburg, Germany

Oili Salminen, Web Designer, Ministry of Justice in Finland Democracy Unit. Finland

Kristiina Reinsalu (14.12.2009), Local Government Programme Director, e-Governance Academy Foundation, Estonia (preliminary findings of research)


Citizenship education & youth participation
Markus Söderlund (Chair), Head of Development, Finnish Youth Co-Operation - Allianssi, Finland

Riitta Mikkola, Chairperson, The Association for Teachers of History and Social Studies, Finland

Matthew Upton, Director of Youth Services, The Campaign Company Ltd, Young Mayors & Young Advisors -programmes, United Kingdom

Emma Stark, The Skolval 2006 project, Sweden

Katrin Olt, Chief Expert, Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia

EPACE democracy education preliminary findings of research

Immigrant participation
Niklas Wilhelmsson (Chair), Senior Planning Officer, Ministry of Justice, Democracy Unit, Finland

Morten Spies, Head of Secreteriat, The Council of Ethnic Minorities in Denmark

Marisa Horta, Director of the Lisbon' National Support Centre for Immigrants, Portugal

Minna-Maija Salomaa, Project coordinator, University of Helsinki Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, Finland

Jipe Kelly, WA Regional Development Officer, Integrating Ireland

EPACE_Immigrant participation_prelíminary findingsof research

Presentations -Tuesday 8 December 2009 

Proposal of Democracy Officials' Network
Network proposal
Sari Aalto-Matturi_, Director of Democracy Unit, Ministry of Justice Finland 

European information networks in education and training:
Kristiina Volmari & Matti Kyrö
Finnish National Board of Education, Eurydice Unit, Finland

Council of Europe democracy work: Forum for the Future of Democracy and CAHDE Committee on e-democracy
Lasse Berntzen, Vestfold University, Norway


General

Officials, researchers and civic society organisation representatives were cordially invited from all around Europe.The main language of the conference was English. Admission was free of charge.

The Conference was held held in the Nordic Hotel Forum at the city centre of Tallinn.


About EPACE

EPACE is a data collection project on several themes related to democracy and citizen participation. Results will form the basis for a guide on good practices, pilot projects and a European network of democracy officials. The results will be available in summer 2010. Project partners are the Ministry of Justice in Finland (coordinator), the State Chancellery of the Republic of Estonia and the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality in Sweden.

EPACE receives support from the European Commission Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme (2007 - 2013)

Contacts

If you would like to know about the conference, please contact Government communication officer Hille Hinsberg at the State Chancellory of the Republic of Estonia:

E-mail: forname.surname@riigikantselei.ee

If you would like to inform of a good practice or have other EPACE project related queries, please contact Project planning officer Maria Wakeham or Researcher Laura Ahokas at the Ministry of Justice in Finland:

E-mail: forname.surname@om.fi 

Thank you for also supporting the conference!

U.S. Embassy in Estonia
NENO - Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations

E-democracy working group is organised in collaboration with Platon+ project.
Platon+ is an EU project that aims to raise awareness of research done in the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities, support dissemination of research results, and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration with the involvement of Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities. http://www.platonplus.net/