Activities

ENL was founded in 2002 by 25 active youth associations in Estonia. Since then we have almost doubled our size, our members are national, political, school student and student associations, but also local and hobby organizations.

Activities
ENL is a partner for the state representing the opinion of youth. We advocate for the youth associations interests in legislation and for better financing of youth organisations. We also hold more than half of the seats in the Advisory Council of Youth Politics, giving advice to the Minister of Education and Research regarding youth politics and financing of youth organisations. ENL is also represented in several other governmental and local level committees, working groups and round tables related to youth and civil society issues.

ENL promotes the cooperation of youth associations on local level and supports the creation of round tables or cooperative organisations necessary for achieving that.

International Youth Day - 12th of August
ENL organizes the celebration of International Youth Day on 12th of August each year, where a couple of thousand young people from all over Estonia gather to listen to concerts, participate in debates and discussions on youth-related issues and compete in sports activities. The event also gives youth associations the opportunity to introduce their activities and carry out workshops among participants.

Youthwork Newspaper - Aken ("Window")
Aken is a national youth work newspaper published by ENL six times a year and its main aim is to provide information about youth work and reflect on important issues and events in youth work.

Best Youth Project Award
ENL ends every year with the award of The Best Youth Project. The best youth projects carried out by ENL members during that year are evaluated by member organizations and the best project teams are traditionally awarded with a motivation package for the whole project team.

International Affairs
Since 2004 ENL has been a member of the European Youth Forum and in 2002 ENL joined the Baltic Youth Forum as a representative of Estonian youth associations. Long relations bond us with Finnish youth cooperation Allianssi; we also cooperate with the National Youth Council of Latvia, Lithuanian National Youth Council, Danish National Youth Council, Swedish National Youth Council, Norwegian National Youth Council and regional youth council of Schlesswig-Holstein in Germany. Through these contacts and networks we help our members to find partners in other countries and offer them the possibility of participation in seminars and conferences abroad and to have a say in youth politics on European Level.

ENL members
ENL member organisations are NGOs and informal youth groups that work with and for youth. All youth associations and informal youth groups in Estonia can apply for the membership if they have been active for at least one year.

To our members we provide:

  • Advocacy for the interests of youth associations
  • Opportunity to have a say in youth policy development
  • Training to develop leadership skills, increase the capacity of youth organizations and assure their sustainable development
  • Contacts, exchange of experience and cooperation with other youth associations
  • Exchange of information in the field of youth and civil society
  • The possibility of using the resources of ENL, such as office space and equipment for meetings, etc