Needs of regular systems and threatened civil society organisations in the area of "Vielfaltgestaltung" (federal programme "Demokratie leben!")
Expert Group on Democracy Promotion and Democratic Practice
Project head: Dr. Olaf Kleist , Till Sträter , Dr. Mirjam Weiberg
Project team members: Hümeyranur Imamoğlu , Dr. Nora Ratzmann , Dr. Christian Sowa
Diversity and group-based hostility (German: Gruppenbezogene Menschenfeindlichkeit, GMF) are increasingly recognised as challenges for society as a whole, which structurally permeate all areas of life. This also affects institutions that are central to the democratic community, such as schools, youth welfare offices, administrations, police, civil society organisations, etc. In addition, civil society organisations, especially those that work against group-based hostility or represent those affected by group-based hostility, are often directly threatened by hate, hostility and violence.
Federal programmes such as "Demokratie leben!" ("Live Democracy!") comprehensively address (structural) discrimination, not least with the aim of sustainably transferring innovative approaches to reducing group-based hostility and strengthening diversity into regular institutions. However, the actual needs of regular institutions and of affected civil society organisations have often been insufficiently recorded and have not been systematically analysed.
The project focuses on an initial investigation and systematisation of the needs of regular institutions and of affected organisations with regard to diversity and the reduction of group-based hostility. In addition, the general and specific threats to which civil society organisations are exposed in the field of diversity management are to be surveyed. The results are to be used for creating a more targeted design of democracy promotion as well as of projects on group-based hostility and diversity shaping within the federal programme "Demokratie leben!", in order to be able to design methods and approaches that fit the needs. The focus is on a) making hidden and insufficiently investigated needs known, b) ranking needs, c) best-practice in addressing discrimination and diversity. Furthermore, the project should contribute to the creation of basic knowledge for a possible monitoring of needs regarding group-based hostility and diversity in regular institutions.
Funding: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Third-party funding)
Cooperation partner:
German Youth Institute, Halle (DJI)