Triin Toomesaar to head religious affairs department at Estonia's Interior Ministry
From November, civil society development specialist Triin Toomesaar will lead the Religious and Civil Society Affairs Department at Estonia's Interior Ministry. The current head, Ilmo Au, is leaving the ministry.
Triin Toomesaar, a civil society development specialist, will take over as head of the Religious and Civil Society Affairs Department at Estonia's Interior Ministry in November. The current head, Ilmo Au, is moving on to work outside the ministry, according to Estonian public broadcaster ERR.
An open competition for the post ran in August and September. Ministry spokesperson Kaja Sepp said the previous head had chosen to take on new challenges elsewhere, so the position was simply filled again. In her view, there is no basis for calling this a reorganisation of the department's work.
Au had dealt with religious matters at the ministry since 1 February 1993. Last February, structural changes took effect at the ministry, merging two departments into the current Religious and Civil Society Affairs Department.
The department's tasks
The department develops and implements policy on religious associations and civil society, analyses questions of religious life, plans and coordinates the development of civil society, and coordinates the work of institutions in this field that fall under the ministry's remit. Toomesaar's base salary will be 4,850 euros per month.
The new head's background
Toomesaar studied public administration at Tallinn University of Technology and later earned a master's degree in political science at Tallinn University. She began her career in 2012–2014 as a teacher of Estonian language and literature at Jüri Gymnasium under the Noored Kooli programme. In 2015 she became executive director of the foundation Kiusamisvaba Kool, and also taught school lessons on civic engagement, gender equality and online culture.
In March 2021 she was invited to serve as adviser to the President of Estonia on civil society matters. Until the end of Kersti Kaljulaid's presidential term, she also headed the president's cultural foundation.
From 2006 to 2023 Toomesaar was a member of the Social Democratic Party. In 2023 she ran in the Riigikogu (Estonian parliament) election in the Harju and Rapla constituency, receiving 698 votes, but was not elected.
