Ida-Viru women’s employment program allocates €615,845 to staff
Thursday 10th September 2026 on 11:45 in
Estonia
Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has launched a three-year program to help non-Estonian-speaking women in Ida-Viru County enter the labour market, ERR reported. The program has a total budget of €799,365, of which more than €615,000 will cover the personnel costs of 11 people.
The program is aimed at women aged 40 to 64 who do not speak Estonian. A total of 450 women are expected to participate, with 45 ultimately finding jobs.
According to the financial plan, the European Social Fund Plus will cover 70 percent of the budget, or €559,555.95. Estonia will provide the remaining 30 percent, or €239,809.70.
Direct personnel costs are the program’s largest expense, totalling €615,845. Of that amount, €439,741 will go directly to staff carrying out the activities, with additional personnel costs for preparing the program and 15 percent in indirect costs.
Kristi Melesk, head of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ employment department, said the high personnel costs were justified by the program’s intensive one-to-one counselling and the need to develop the service from scratch.
The team includes a project manager, a part-time program manager, an Ida-Viru coordinator and six full-time bridge-builders. A part-time training coordinator and designer were later added without increasing the project’s total budget, as planned costs were redistributed.
The bridge-builders will act as counsellors and direct contacts for participants. They will help women regain confidence, prepare CVs, identify suitable job opportunities and maintain contact through joint activities. The counsellors are Ida-Viru residents who have completed training and will begin working with participants in September. Their monthly salaries have not been set centrally.
Melesk said the program would not duplicate the work of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund because it seeks to reach people who do not go to the agency themselves. Many have become inactive in the labour market, stopped looking for work or no longer see their role in it, she said.
The program will also work with employers to connect participants with suitable vacancies and give them a better understanding of the employment opportunities available in the region.