Võro Institute

Võro Institute (Võro: Võro Instituut, Estonian: Võru Instituut) is an Estonian state research and development institution dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Võro language and culture. It is managed by the Estonian Ministry of Culture.

The institute is engaged in a wide range of activities to meet the challenges facing lesser-spoken languages, including establishing school programs, conducting linguistic and regional research, preserving place-names and their corresponding stories, publishing Võro language research papers and learning materials, and organising annual language conferences. The aim of these activities is to encourage the Võro people to speak their own language and to preserve their characteristic life-style.

One of the institute’s stated objectives is to standardise Võro language for public and official use. It is a semi-official regulating body for Võro orthography and language planning.

The institute also manages a number of museums across the historic Võrumaa region.

Võro Institute has participated as a partner in many international collaborative projects on research and development of minoritised languages (linguistics, sociolinguistics, language planning, dictionaries, language resources, language technology, learning materials, literature, folklore, traditional culture etc.).

The last, still ongoing EU-funded cooperation project, where Võro Institute is one of the leading members, is an EU Interreg program project Surrounded by Heritage, project no. EE-LV00161. The project aims to enhance heritage culture teaching in municipal schools and kindergartens by promoting the use of contemporary and innovative practices and technologies. See more: https://estlat.eu/en/project-Surrounded-by-Heritage

Another still ongoing EU funded (Interreg program) project, where Võro Institute is the leader of the project, is HOW: Heritage on the Water: Community Engagement through Logboat Building and Archaeological Discovery., project no. EE‑LV00257, see more: https://estlat.eu/en/project-HOW

As another example of international cooperation in recent years, the institute participated in 2022 in the Nordic-Baltic (EE, FI, NO) project: PA-GRO-1535 Public governance and cultural heritage (managed by the Development Centre of Võru County) - Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Public Administration.

Võro Institute is ready to participate in new European cooperation projects in the field of multilingualism and lesser-used languages ​​and cultures. The institute sees its role as a member of some future cooperation consortium, using its experiences and expertise of Võro, as well as other Estonian and more broadly Finnic autochthonous regional and minority communities on all the above-mentioned topics (linguistics, sociolinguistics, revitalisation, language planning, dictionaries, language resources, language technology, learning materials, literature, folklore, traditional culture etc.).