Military service between 8 and 11 months is compulsory for all male citizens in Estonia starting from the age of 17. Despite being mandatory by law, many men do not participate. From the outside, the Defense Forces give an impression of a relic from another time: a hierarchical, conservative, and mostly male organisation. Is there a way to redesign the organisation and improve a vital service for the state at a time when the neighbouring country is Russia?
“Sign me up for military service!” is an unlikely phrase one could hear in Estonia until the war in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022. Intriguingly, this is also the catchphrase and programme that the Estonian state service design group, titled Innovation Team, approached the Estonian Defence Forces to develop the process of joining and participating in the military service and “raise the will to defend”. Their task, multilayered and complex, faced a context where if the military service was voluntary, only 10% of young men would sign up for it. (…) Read more here.