The award honours the Centre for Mediation and the non-profit organisation Apple Tree Foundation Personalities and projects that make a special contribution to mediation, understanding and peaceful conflict resolution. An independent jury honoured the Municipal development councils as an exemplary approach to constructive dialogue. A bronze sculpture designed by sculptor Alfons Neubauer was awarded, based on an ancient model and as a symbolic sign of dialogue and understanding.
Since 2014, the Berlin Governance Platform has been developing formats to strengthen dialogue and democracy that constructively address social conflicts and make them workable. The Municipal Development Councils are a multi-stakeholder format for citizen participation at municipal level that has been piloted in ten municipalities to date.
The award is both a confirmation and an incentive for us: we are currently working on further developing the tool, scaling it up and making it usable for social issues of the future, such as the municipal heating transition.
We are delighted and would like to thank the jury and the initiators of the award for their recognition and encouragement!