The „From special schools to the society with the help of effective networking and career program for youth. “ project benefits from a  grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants.

The aim of the project

As a result of the project „From special schools to the society with the help of effective networking and career program for youth.“, young people released from special schools will be coping better in the society and follow-up support availability and quality will have improved all over Estonia. The competence to offer good quality follow-up support will increase in Tapa and Kaagvere special schools. In addition, the follow-up support skills of the family members of the young people who have been released from special schools will have increased. The main purpose of this project is to develop a systematic follow-up support model, that improves the coping strategies of young people returning from special schools to the society and prevents repeated crimes.

The programme proposal was prepared in close collaboration with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) as a donor programme partner (DPP) and other institutions in Norway. Programme is managed jointly by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (MoER), the Estonian Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA)  and by the Estonian Youth Work Centre (EYWC) as a Programme Operator Implementing Agency (POIA).

Through the EEA Grants and Norway Grants, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway contribute to reducing social and economic disparities and to strengthening bilateral relations with the beneficiary countries in Europe. The three countries cooperate closely with the EU through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA).

 For the period 2009-14, the EEA Grants and Norway Grants amount to €1.79 billion. Norway contributes around 97% of the total funding. Grants are available for NGOs, research and academic institutions, and the public and private sectors in the 12 newest EU member states, Greece, Portugal and Spain. There is broad cooperation with donor state entities, and activities may be implemented until 2016. 

Key areas of support are environmental protection and climate change, research and scholarships, civil society, health and children, gender equality, justice and cultural heritage.