Each year, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have had the opportunity to apply for funding to tackle critical issues in the social and health field, ranging from suicide prevention to addiction recovery counseling.

Hanna Vseviov, deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Social Affairs, explained that this fall, NGOs can still apply for state funding in six areas: suicide prevention, addiction issues, child protection, elderly advocacy, family welfare as well as labor issues in the social field.

Compared with previous years, however, the total budget earmarked for these six areas will be slashed by €479,000, or one-fifth. According to Vseviov, exactly how much support will be cut from which of these areas will be determined by the end of November, when funding application rounds are slated to be launched.

"How this money will be distributed will also depend on what goals we set for these rounds, or what outcomes we aim to achieve," she explained. "That's what the ministry is currently working on – establishing the principles and expectations for what activities we want to fund next year. But overall, there will be less money."

To date, the state has collaborated on these issues with NGOs such as the Estonian Union for Child Welfare (LKL), the Estonian Association of Large Families (ELPL), the Estonian Social Work Association (ESTA) and the NGO Golden League (KL). These organizations, in turn, cooperate with other groups to implement projects.

The Ministry of Social Affairs, on its part, is hoping that the reduction in funding will have a minimal impact on the availability of services, such as counseling services; the state hopes in particular that NGOs will cut costs in other areas.

"We ourselves see that it would be better to reduce spending on development activities, commissioning analyses, training and outreach efforts and maintain everything necessary for these vulnerable groups," the deputy secretary general explained.

In January 2024, one strategic partner, the Estonian Red Cross, received €2 million in support to improve public first aid skills. The Estonian Coalition for Mental Health and Well-being (VATEK), meanwhile, received €315,000 to promote the state's mental health activities.

Funding axed for gambling addiction counseling in current form

The Ministry of Social Affairs also plans on making changes to what services will be supported using available funding. For example, starting next year, gambling addiction counseling services will no longer be funded in their current form.

According to Vseviov, the ministry instead plans to contract an NGO to provide more comprehensive counseling services that would also include other addictions, such as digital addiction, alcohol use disorder or nicotine addiction.

This year, the Estonian state allocated €160,000 in operating costs to the Gambling Addiction Counseling Center (HNK). This November, however, it will be launching an application round for all addiction counseling services with a two-year total of €340,000 in funding.

The ministry official stressed that this does not mean that it will become harder for people with gambling addictions to receive counseling in the future. Namely, tobacco and alcohol counseling have been provided and funded in recent years by the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) instead.

"Thus, under the new application round, we do not plan on funding the provision of counseling services related to these addictions," she explained. "We do, however, [plan on] funding various activities aimed at prevention, awareness and so on. The main focus in funding counseling services will remain on people with gambling – but also digital – addictions."

Gambling Addiction Counseling Center fate uncertain

To date, the state has tackled the gambling addiction issue in cooperation with the Gambling Addiction Counseling Center (HNK). Center CEO Silver Sternfeldt said that although all counseling activities have now been combined under a single application round, they still plan to apply for funding for the coming years.

He noted that the center, which until now has focused on gambling counseling, may not necessarily need to shift its focus; rather, it's possible that interest groups could submit a joint proposal for counseling services.

Moreover, according to Sternfeldt, it isn't out of the question that HNK may not receive any state funding at all next year.

"We have no assurances about that," he confirmed.

This year, the state allocated €160,000 to HNK, which provided free counseling and psychotherapy for gambling and digital addiction. According to the CEO, this funded a total of 900 counseling sessions.

The center employs five part-time psychologists and maintains the hotline short code 15410, a call center as well as its homepage. Funds were also used to rent premises for the counseling center, cover accounting costs as well as other operating costs.

Sternfeldt noted that if the counseling center has to scale back its activities, the first to be cut would be participation in national or international conferences as well as other networking activities.

"The value of these conferences is that we know what's really going on in the world of gambling addiction," he explained. "We can talk to psychologists and gambling operators from around the world. We stay up to date on the latest research, practices and tools."

Peaasi chief: Suicide prevention action plan at risk of being mothballed

In the area of suicide prevention, one of the Social Affairs Ministry's key strategic partners has been the mental health promoting nonprofit Peaasi, which this year received nearly €200,000 in funding.

Peaasi CEO Anna-Kaisa Oidermaa acknowledged that the reduction in funds allocated for strategic partnerships didn't exactly surprise her, as budget cuts have been publicly discussed for some time already.

Even so, she said that the cuts also raise several questions.

"A suicide prevention action plan should be completed in Estonia in November as well," she highlighted. "Our and our colleagues' hope was that this document wouldn't just end up shelved, and that serious steps would start to be taken based on [the action plan]."

Oidermaa highlighted that with the €200,000 in funding they received, Peaasi has taught people mental health first aid, to help people better support their loved ones. They have also provided various early intervention services as well as developed a system to support those who have lost loved ones to suicide.

At the Ministry of Social Affairs, Vseviov noted that the ministry had actually been planning on increasing the budget for these supports, however austerity has forced them to reduce the planned budget by €479,000 instead.

"Overall, NGOs will continue to be supported at the same level as before, i.e. with €3.8 million," the deputy secretary general explained. "However, since the support period will in some cases be shortened (e.g. from three years to two), this may also reduce support for some NGOs compared with previous years."

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