A group of representatives of local and central public authorities from Moldova have visited Estonia to learn from their experience in e-governance and innovations. From 21 to 26 September 2015 the group visited several localities in Estonia.

At the Ministry of Finance, the agency responsible for regional development and local administration policies, the participants learned more about the structure and general operational framework of local public administration in Estonia. Of great interest for Moldovan participants was the Law adopted in 2006 which encourages voluntary amalgamation of small localities, with financial support from the state, at a first step. One of the arguments for this reform is the economic and financial one. Small mayor’s offices need increased administrative costs, without being able to efficiently provide quality public services. Currently Estonia, with a total area of ​​45,227 km2 and a population of 1,315,819 inhabitants, has only 213 rural municipalities and 30 cities/towns.

During the meetings with the representatives of the e-Government Academy, the main non-governmental actor in the field of e-government in Estonia, and with the Advisor of the Prime Minister in this area, Siim Sikkim, the participants learned about the e-transformation of Estonia and the legal framework that promotes and encourage these changes.

“In the last about 15 years, more than 2,000 e-services have been developed. In addition, the Xroad interoperability platform allows rapid and secure exchange of data from various registers held by public institutions that underpin these services, and the ID card and digital signature of citizens are main tools to access them,” Siim Sikkim said.

The Moldovan delegation also learned about the e-Cabinet tool – paperless meetings of the cabinet of ministries, electronic voting being used in the last 8 (local, national and European) elections, e-residency, e-registers of non-governmental institutions (parties, businesses, NGOs) and many others that are part of the everyday e-life in Estonia. Recently, all data of the public budget, of all public institutions, including mayor’s offices, can be accessed and analysed easily online.

To better understand how to apply these technologies in mayor’s offices, the group of participants have visited several localities and found that interaction between the citizens and the mayor’s office, and between the officials of the mayor’s office, happens mainly online. The mayor of Rakvere, Mihkel Juhkami, have shown the functionality of the integrated document management system, of the Intranet and other systems based on geospatial maps of the land plots in the locality (such as e-cadastre or e-cemetery).

“The website of Kohili mayor’s office contains the geolocation of all public institutions, data for tourists, roads and others”, Mihkel Juhkami said.

Specialists of Someru mayor’s office have presented public procurements processes managed on-line only, and also an online application for issuance of administrative acts and various certificates.

Laane Viru region Governor, Marko Torm, and specialists from the regional administration have shown how the register of civil documents is used for the application and issuance of online certificates.

Local democracy has also reached the virtual system in Estonia, the working meetings of the specialized commission being held electronically, and public meetings, including all set of supporting documents of the local council can be followed online by citizens.

At Rapla region hospital, the Moldovan participants saw how the e-health system works and e-records of patients are being used by the hospital employees and citizens. At the school in Peetri commune, the Moldovan delegation learned about e-tools to enroll children in schools and kindergartens, so as the possibility of parents, teachers and students to see online marks, attendance at classes and homework of children (e-school / e-catalogue), etc.

The Digital Policy Advisor of the Prime Minister explained that Estonia's success in providing public e-services is due to the partnership between visionary central and local government, a proactive ICT sector, wide access to the Internet and an open population to implement ideas and new technologies.

Silvia Turcanu, mayor of Chiscareni village (Sangerei), who remained very impressed with the visit, said: “An extraordinary visit. In Estonia I had the opportunity to see innovations applied in all spheres of life: register of voters, paperless meetings of the Prime Minister cabinet, e-signatures and health e-records of patients, LPAs with websites containing information about all public revenues and expenditures, all digitized contracts. Everything is electronic: citizens submit electronic applications, they receive answers electronically; meetings of councils are organized and held without papers, only with computers. What I understand? That ATTITUDE makes the DIFFERENCE”.

Valeriu Gutu, Mayor of Cioresti (Nisporeni), after this study visit, asks: “Why it is possible in Estonia, while in Moldova things are moving so hard? Investments in mayors in Moldova are worth appreciation. We return home more motivated to do smart things for the benefit of our citizens.”

The study visit to Estonia is part of the strengthening capacities of local public authorities, development of e-services and innovation in 30 local governments where the Joint Integrated Local Development Programme (JILDP) works.

The Joint Integrated Local Development Programme is implemented by the Government of Moldova with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), with the financial support of the Government of Denmark and Sweden.