Grants promote minority integration

  • 2013-07-10
  • From wire reports

COME TOGETHER: MISA efforts include introducing Estonians to minority cultures within the country.

TALLINN - The Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA) has supported 11 projects with more than 31,000 euros in order to expand students’ knowledge of Estonian society, the value in being an Estonian citizen and to enhance their tolerance in a multi-cultural team, MISA said in a statement, reports LETA. The additional aims of the project competition included supporting cooperation between students with various first languages and ingraining the tradition of the citizen’s day.

“The project competition attracted 34 applications dealing with the themes of the War of Independence, explaining the opportunities of specialized studies and work to students, giving meaning to Estonia as a homeland and introducing well-known Estonian cultural figures with a different cultural backgrounds,” said Toivo Sikk, coordinator of the Multicultural Education Unit of MISA.

Sikk was pleased that the competition proved popular, but he emphasized that before submitting their projects, the applicants must take more care in reading the guidelines of the competition, acquaint themselves with the terms and aims, and make sure they meet the budgetary requirements of the competition.
Grants were given to Voru Kesklinna Gumnaasium (Central Secondary School of Voru), 6th School of Narva, non-governmental organization “Sebra,” Kammer School, Ehte Humanitaargumnaasium (Ehte Secondary School of Humanities), Foundation Unitas, Estonian Basic School of Sillamae, Youth Organization Plast, non-profit organization Tartu Koidu Keskus, non-profit organization Vaba Vaade and the Secondary School of Tapa.
The project competition is funded by the Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the Estonian Integration Strategy 2008-2013.

Support is also given to promote minority cultures in Estonia.
MISA has allocated 197,606 euros via the basic financing round of applications for the cultural societies of ethnic minorities, and in total has supported the activities of 142 ethnic cultural societies and nine umbrella organizations, it says.

The aim of this round of applications was to secure the activities of the cultural societies of ethnic minorities, and support their work in preserving and advancing their national heritage and language in Estonia.
The project competition enabled the state to acknowledge Estonia’s multi-culturalism as well as introduce the characteristics of traditional ethnic cultures and activities of cultural societies of various ethnic minorities. The project competition also advances the cooperation between different cultural societies and cooperation with Estonian cultural societies.