Triin Toomesaar to lead Estonia’s religious affairs and civil society department

Triin Toomesaar will take over as head of the Ministry of the Interior’s Department of Religious Affairs and Civil Society in November, ERR reports. The current head, Ilmo Au, is leaving for a new role outside the ministry.

The ministry held an open recruitment process for the position in August and September. Spokesperson Kaja Sepp said the appointment did not amount to a reorganisation. Au had worked on religious affairs at the ministry since February 1, 1993.

The department was formed in a structural change last February, when two departments were merged. Its responsibilities include developing and implementing policy on religious organisations and civil society, analysing religious life, planning and coordinating civil society development, and coordinating related work by institutions under the ministry.

Toomesaar’s monthly base salary will be 4,850 euros. She studied public administration at Tallinn University of Technology and later completed a master’s degree in political science at Tallinn University.

She began her career as an Estonian language and literature teacher at Jüri Gymnasium from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, she became chief executive of the Bullying-Free School Foundation. Alongside that work, she gave guest lessons in schools on civic participation, gender equality and Seto culture.

In March 2021, Toomesaar became an adviser on civil society to the president and led the president’s cultural endowment until Kersti Kaljulaid’s term ended. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party from 2006 to 2023 and ran in the 2023 parliamentary election in Harju and Rapla counties, receiving 698 votes but not winning a seat.