More on U.S. Government Assistance to Estonia

October 5, 2004

Press Release

U.S. Embassy Commits over Two and a Half Million Kroons to Estonian Projects in One Week

In the last week of September 2004 - the last week of the U.S. Government's fiscal year, the U.S. Embassy committed over two and a half million Kroons (over $200,000) from Support for Eastern European Democracy (SEED) funds to support projects carried out by both the Estonian government and by Estonian NGO's. These are the last such grants the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn will issue. Estonia, with its remarkable economic and political success, is no longer a recipient of U.S. Government development assistance funds, though military assistance programs continue, as do ongoing cultural and academic exchange programs. The goals of this last batch of grants include economic development, minority integration, science education, governmental capacity building, and disaster response planning.

The programs are as follows:

The U.S. Government provided funding to the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science to create new study materials for Russian and multi-lingual elementary schools in Estonia, with the aim of supporting non-Estonian youth in their linguistic and cultural integration in Estonia.

The NGO Living For Tomorrow will receive funds for a project that will create an anti-human trafficking hotline service for women and will build cooperation with the Finnish NGO Unioni, who are also active in the fight against human trafficking. The NGO AIDS Prevention Center will execute part of this project as well.

SEED funding will support members of the organization of Young Business and Professional Women of Estonia (Eesti Ettevõtlike Naiste Assotsiatsiooni noorte ühendus) to attend the “Women's Business Exchange” conference in Seattle, Washington, USA, to meet with American professional businesswomen to share business knowledge and develop contacts.

The e-Governance Academy Foundation will receive a U.S. government grant to solidify its long-term sustainability and expand Estonia's capacity to conduct international aid and outreach programs, especially in Georgia.

To increase Estonia's capacity to fight oil spills, and thus reduce future catastrophic damage to the Estonian environment, a SEED grant will be given to the Estonian Rescue Board to allow two of its members to travel to the United States and learn about U.S. measures in this field.

The Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Tartu will receive funding to further the "Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment" (GLOBE) program for innovation in science education in Estonian schools, with special emphasis on encouraging students to monitor the environment and report their data to a central global database.

In support of the GLOBE program, the Association of Friends of the Botanical Gardens of Tartu University will receive a grant to establish a strong community and network of former GLOBE pupils so as to bring new schools into the program.

Narva Business Advisory Services Foundation was provided funding to organize a U.S. Company Business Familiarization Mission to Tallinn and Narva, to help American companies identify business opportunities (partners, sales) in Estonia, and to expose Estonian companies to American business practices and promote economic development in the Narva region.

U.S. Scientific and Educational Programs Alumni in Estonia received a grant to hold a conference on “Opportunities for Knowledge Transfer via Community Partnership,” featuring prominent American marketing professor Alan Andreasen.

The U.S. Embassy thanks all of its former and current SEED program grantees whose creative ideas and hard work made this program a great bilateral success.

For further information, please see http://estonia.usembassy.gov./seedact.php
Or contact Tiiu Vitsut at 668-8158, or vitsutt@state.gov.