It is not only since the waves of protests in recent weeks that we at the Berlin Governance Platform have been asking ourselves the question: What can we do to make democracy fit for the future? What innovation is needed to convince people (again) of its advantages? How can we contribute to developing answers to the acute challenges?
Since 2021, we have been developing the approach of Municipal development councilsand are proud to finally bring it to the world in more detail with our new publication! Based on our experiences in the pilot project "Shaping the future together locally", we have written down the following: What makes a Municipal Development Advisory Council? How exactly does such an advisory board work? And what lessons have we learnt from practical experience?
In the brochure "Municipal Development Councils - Concept and Practice", we now present the four basic conceptual elements of our approach for the first time. (1) Multi-stakeholder approach, (2) Recommendation function for an elected decision-making body, (3) Moderated dialogue and (4) Future strategies for the common good are the cornerstones of our work with this format. We describe the theoretical background of the concept and report on the diverse experiences in our partner municipalities Arneburg-Goldbeck, Niesky, Kalletal, Hoyerswerda and Rottenburg am Neckar.
The pilot project has been completed, but the work on and with municipal development councils continues: with Cottbus, Frankfurt (Oder), Meinersen and Duisburg, we are currently supporting four more municipalities in the implementation and are also implementing the approach in large cities for the first time. Further information here.
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