Non-profit organisations (NPOs) for sustainable development at community, regional and civil society level

Abstract

Civil society and civil society development is one of the most essential and fundamental questions of the functioning and development of societies. The history and traditions of Estonian societies and associations are long, reaching back to the middle of the 19 century. The topic of the development of civil society reached the public in the second half of the 1990s. The role of non-profit organisations (NPOs) in society is a key question, and they act in the interests of sustainable development at several levels. The civil society and community of NPOs in Estonia is strong and impressive in the EU context. On 1 January 2008 there were 26,363 registered NPOs, and the index of NPOs per 1000 inhabitants was 19.3. This number has continuously grown in the period 2001–2008. On the other hand, there are extremely great differences in the level of development of civil society and NPOs at community or local, regional and civil society level.