Retrospective
InNoWest and FHP Mobil at Local Events in Brandenburg
Elections will be held in the municipalities of the state of Brandenburg on the 9th of June. In the run-up to the elections, the working group of independent welfare organisations in Potsdam and Potsdam-Mittelmark has organised a series of local events under the motto "Together for social justice" to engage with citizens and local politicians running for office. The aim was to engage in dialogue, inform and discuss the associations' election demands and develop ideas for further political education formats.
Together with the FHP Mobile, colleagues from the "Participation and ESD" sub-project of the InNoWest network of FHP, HNEE and THB took part in the events in Bad Belzig (14th of May) and Teltow (28th of May) and subsequently took part in further discussion and participation formats at events organised by the Demokratieforum Prignitz in Wittenberge (23rd of May) and the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Brandenburg in Eberswalde (1st of June). At the last two events, the focus was more on issues of local activation and participation, for example on the questions: How can we work together to make the city fairer and more sustainable? How is it possible to organise participation in line with needs? The discussion format developed for the events (ice cream cones for social justice) was also used at the FHP's "Democracy Day" on the 29th of May.
The associations' election demands on social justice were the starting point for a total of 130 discussions. The discussion partners were asked to select the 2 – 3 most important topics and to visualise these with 2 – 3 matching coloured balls in a paper "ice cream cone". The prioritised list was sent to the local event group at the end of the day together with key words on the topics of discussion. These ranged from experiences in the process of German-German reunification to information deficits regarding local participation opportunities, the lowering of kerbs and the cost of the on-demand bus.
The events were part of a whole series of local talks on democracy, justice and participation organised by Brandenburg's welfare associations and local democracy networks and initiatives before the local elections and again in autumn before the state elections in Brandenburg.
