Whilst the Domus Dorpatensis Foundation has a long history of training activities (events, workshops, student development programmes, consultations, etc.), we have not developed in-house expertise in professional training within this framework. This has prevented us from participating in larger training tenders and projects, through which we could systematically share our consultancy experience and our knowledge of democracy and civic education with the third sector.
In this project, we developed our staff’s training skills and laid the groundwork for offering training activities that empower the voluntary sector in the future. We also developed an in-house training system to ensure that, in the future, Domus Dorpatensis will continue to bring new, developmental topics for the third sector to Estonia and disseminate them through training and other activities (e.g. consultancy).
The grant amounted to €19,996
Project funding
The project was funded by the Active Citizens Fund under the EEA Grants, administered by the Open Estonia Foundation in collaboration with the Network of Estonian Non-Governmental Organisations.
Project Manager: Triin Mirjam Tark
The project involved:
TRAINER TRAINING PROGRAMME
Five of our staff members acquired basic skills in adult education during a six-month training programme, and two staff members continued their development as trainers whilst applying for the trainer qualification. This exciting and enriching programme was organised for us by trainers from the Innowise Training and Development Centre.
We developed a new course on democracy for sixth-formers, which we piloted at the Edumus online school. In the course, we explored the topic of democracy in greater depth, including its historical development and existing systems, and discussed why these particular systems have emerged and what we can learn from this as we develop democracy today.
IMPLEMENTING THE PRINCIPLES OF A LEARNING ORGANISATION
We explored the concept of a learning organisation in greater depth, interpreted it in our own terms and created a new model for promoting the transfer of knowledge and skills within the organisation. One component of this model is, amongst other things, an internal training system.
TRAINING ON HYBRID WORK ARRANGEMENTS FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS
We developed a new training programme on hybrid working arrangements and piloted it with the participation of six non-governmental organisations. During the three-day practical training course, the participants gained a clearer understanding of the objectives and needs of a hybrid working environment, drew up a plan for developing the working environment, and agreed on the first steps to implement the changes.
As part of the online course, we also filmed five videos on various topics, which are freely available on YouTube to anyone interested. In the videos, you can learn more about theories, the philosophy of democracy, the foundations of democracy, the sectors of society, and the main threats to democracy.
INFORMATION EVENT
In collaboration with the Union of Non-Governmental Organisations and the Student Union Foundation, we organised an educational event for non-governmental organisations and student organisations, with the aim of identifying ways to pass on knowledge within an organisation. During the events, we also introduced the concept of a learning organisation and shared DD’s experience as one such example.