Digital participation at the local level enables genuine local involvement and strengthens trust in administration and politics. However, its potential often remains untapped, especially in small communities. This is precisely where our new project “Lokal.Digital.Gemeinsam.” comes in. The aim is to help smaller communities implement digital participation easily and securely – even with limited resources and staff.
In the project, we share our many years of practical experience and expertise in the field of (digital) participation and provide advice and support when it comes to implementing participation projects. With “Local.Digital.Together,” we focus on three key topics:
- Practical use of digital participation at the local level
- Outreach participation using digital and analog methods
- Communication in conflict situations
Local government officials receive 18 months of support in the form of practical learning modules and workshops to strengthen their participation skills. In addition, a strong community is being built for the exchange of experiences with other municipalities. Digital forums, regular online meetings, and on-site events bring together people from politics and administration to advise each other and develop ideas on how to promote democracy at the local level.
Our open-source platform adhocracy+ is already being used in numerous municipalities and makes it easy to set up local projects. This network of administrative staff and local elected representatives allows us to target our network and also facilitates a broad exchange on the topic of participation beyond it.
