Riigikogu Toimetised Socio-political journal

Crisis Communication Maturity Model for Local Governments

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  Ainar Prääm

  Head of IT Department, Development and Administration Division, Rae Municipality

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  Mati Mõttus

  Lecturer in Computational Cognition, Tallinn University

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  Peeter Normak

  Professor of Informatics, Tallinn University

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  Kaur Kaasik-Aaslav

  Project Manager, Estonian Academy of Security Sciences

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  Catlyn Kirna

  Lecturer, University of Tallinn

Crisis communication in Estonian local governments is uneven and often underdeveloped.

The authors propose a maturity model to help municipalities assess readiness, identify gaps, and systematically build resilient communication systems, including non-digital solutions. The model is flexible and must be adapted to local conditions such as size, resources, and competencies. A key solution is creating a coordinated national system for sharing best practices and experience between municipalities. The authors also stress the need for further research to develop a comprehensive crisis communication framework and to better understand citizens’ perspectives.