Villages of Otepää municipality

Otepää municipality is located in Valga county in South-Eastern Estonia. It is an area of 520.2 m², which ranks 39th among 79 municipalities in Estonia. It is clearly a center-hinterland type municipality with one larger center - the town of Otepää. Otepää municipality differs from several other county municipalities in that there are 4 sustainable schools in the municipality. Preserving local schools is a very important issue for communities. In the last two years, the number of inhabitants in Otepää municipality has increased precisely due to the positive migration balance. Although the natural increase is still negative due to the age structure of the municipality (high proportion of the elderly), the positive migration balance has compensated for this in the last two years. In the last two years, many young families with children have started living in the municipality, due to which the local government has had to open an additional group in kindergarten. At the same time, the number of inhabitants has increased in villages, while the number of inhabitants of the town of Otepää continues to decrease. For the villages in the Otepää area, smart village means finding innovative solutions through collective problem solving. In the strategy process, 4 areas of smart approach were mapped: 1) Community collective intelligence - new knowledge, perspectives, ideas; 2) Information technology intelligence - electronic bulletin boards, information picks, electronic application system; 3) On demand services - transport, intelligent logistics for children's hobbies; 4) Social innovation - intergenerational communication.

Country

Estonia

Type

sparsely populated areas

Degree of urbanization

rural

population of 6412

Check out the village strategy:

Strategy of network of villages in Otepää municipality 2022-2026

Village Solutions

Village life with youth into TIKTOK

The aim of the project is to bring together the youth and village communities of Otepää municipality so that young people, communities and the municipality as a whole would be visible on social media channels, especially in Tik-Tok´, which is popular among young people. To this end, in cooperation with the youth centers of Otepää municipality, content creation trainings are conducted for young people so that they learn to create high-quality video material. Villages are offered internships and video postings at village events. By the end of the project, the young people will have their own Tik-Tok channel, and the villages will receive valuable material to post on their social media platforms. In addition, the project unites various youth centers, schools and villages in the municipality into a common cooperation network. The project is ongoing and will be finalised by the end of 2022.

Village Street Fair

Village Street Fair format organized in cooperation with the village communities of Otepää municipality, where the communities come to Otepää's major events (such as the Winter Market) with a unified design and area to introduce what is done in the villages and sell local goods. The village street is connected by bus stops named after each village and a large "Village Street" plaque and chain lights. The village street has been organized in the winter market of the city of Otepää for three years in a row. For the last two years, there has also been an event to recognize the villagers. The village street has gained attention among the residents of the rural municipality and brought rural communities to the consciousness of the entire rural municipality. Local small producers are also increasingly looking to join the village street concept. The marketing activities of the village street have also ensured good sales results.

Contact Information

Association of Otepää villages, maris.frosch@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/Otep%C3%A4%C3%A4-K%C3%BClade-%C3%9Chendus-100863742007841/
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