When? 17 October 2022, 11:00-15:15
Where? VKU Forum (Invalidenstraße 91, 10115 Berlin)

Click here for registration and the conference programme

Organiser:
Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) of the University of Münster (WWU).
Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW)
Öko-Institut e.V.
Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE)

The promotion and protection of the common good is a central goal of social and political action. In times of urgent socio-ecological crises, this goal must also take into account the concern for sustainable development. Not only state actors, but also civil society makes an essential contribution here. Over the past few years, more and more people in Germany are getting involved and participating, and the landscape of involvement and participation is growing in diversity: in addition to involvement in associations and clubs, self-organised initiatives, for example, are gaining in importance, while in the area of political participation, state-initiated, dialogue-oriented participation in particular has experienced an upswing. However, many - especially newer - forms of engagement and participation are accused of representing only a certain part of the citizens, so that instead of the (sustainable) common good, the interests of influential social groups are promoted. At the same time, engagement and participation are confronted with various practical challenges and demands.

Against this background, the following questions arise: How do we ensure sustainable common good in times of transformation and crisis? What is the role of the sustainability and common good potential of civic engagement and political participation? And how can this potential be better exploited in various forms of engagement and participation - by associations, societies, self-organised initiatives, but also by the initiators and designers of political participation processes?

We cordially invite you to discuss these questions with us at our conference! The event offers researchers and practitioners from civil society and politics who want to reflect on their work the opportunity to learn about and discuss new findings from the perspective of trans- and interdisciplinary research and recommendations for action based on them. You can expect diverse contributions from science, civil society and politics as well as the presentation of findings from the three-year BMBF-funded research project "ENGAGE - Participation for a Sustainable Common Good".

We look forward to your registration!
 

How can civil society groups and institutions contribute to the common good? And how can these contributions be recorded and made visible? Discuss these and further questions with us:

On Sat, 08.10.2022, an online workshop organised by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research and the Öko-Institut will take place on the topic of "Our engagement: sustainable and serving the common good" as part of the ENGAGE project.

The workshop is aimed at people who are involved in or work in civil society groups or institutions; anyone interested in promoting or coordinating engagement (e.g. employees of municipalities or foundations) is also welcome.

Further information on the event and registration can be found here.
We look forward to your participation!
 

In their new blog post, Lena Siepker and Lilli Möller discuss the citizens' dialogue that was organised from 23-25 September by the ENGAGE team of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research in cooperation with the Office for Green Spaces, Environment and Sustainability of the City of Münster. The two authors deal with the demands of common good-oriented participation and its implementation in the planning process. For example, they talk about how the participation in the citizens' dialogue was designed in an integrative way. They also formulate eight guiding principles that show the goals for improving the sustainability of the food system in Münster that were developed by the 29 randomly selected citizens. You can find the blog post on the citizens' dialogue here.
 

On Wed. 6 October, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) of the University of Münster (WWU) and the Office for Green Spaces, Environment and Sustainability of the City of Münster will present the results of the citizens' dialogue, in which 29 randomly selected citizens of Münster developed ideas for a local sustainable food system.

From 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., all interested parties are cordially invited to visit the EMU science box on Stubengasse in Münster and to take advantage of exciting information and hands-on opportunities. At 9.45 a.m., the Councillor for Housing Supply, Real Estate and Sustainability, Councillor Matthias Peck, will also be on site to personally inform himself about the results of the dialogue.

The Citizens' Dialogue is part of the case study on informal participation at the municipal level within the ENGAGE project. More information on the case study can be found here.

The Berlin Institute for Participation released a guest article from the ENGAGE project. The article provides insights into project goals and first findings.

Find out why public welfare should be linked to sustainable development, who in Germany is involved in which kinds of civic engagement and political participation and how the research team aims to investigate the potential of civic engagement and political participation to promote public welfare.

The full article in German can be found here.
 

Anna Gall, author and member of the ENGAGE project team, explores this question in an article, published on 26.01.2021 on the blog "Nach(haltig)gedacht" of the Center for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN) at the WWU Münster.

The blog article deals with a comprehensive trend analysis on political participation and civic involvement in Germany, which was conducted as part of the ENGAGE research project. The analysis shows an increasing number of political participation processes and voluntarily engaged people. At the same time, however, inequalities concerning participation and civic involvement become perpetuated - with probably problematic consequences for the potential of promoting the common good.

The complete article in German can be found here.

On 15.09.2020 the first blog article on the research topic of the ENGAGE project was published under the title "Engagement für nachhaltiges Gemeinwohl: Echte Chance oder Utopie im Kampf gegen soziale und ökologische Krisen?" (in English: "Civic involvement for a sustainable common good: Real chance or utopia in the fight against social and ecological crises?") on the blog "Nach(haltig)gedacht" of the Center for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ZIN).

In this article, author and project collaborator Lena Siepker examines the relationship between the common good and sustainability as well as the challenges arising from this connection. The article thus highlights central research aspects of the ENGAGE project. It outlines fundamental concepts and shows the potential of participation for a socio-ecological transformation. Moreover, important questions are raised: Is the common good also conceivable without sustainability? How can diverging interests and needs of different groups be included? How can be dealt with inequalities?

The complete blog article in German can be found here.