Participation has proven to be a powerful driver for the development of a vibrant local democracy. Involving stakeholders in shaping their environment promotes systemic trust, bonding and commitment to their own environment and creates better decisions – if the participation process works well. Conversely, unsuccessful participation creates frustration and alienation. This is true for both adult and youth participation. For decision-makers who want to implement participation, the first question is what good participation is and how it can be achieved. Thanks to the upsurge of the concept of participation in recent years, there is now a wealth of criteria catalogues and quality characteristics of participation in general and child and youth participation in particular. They address the questions of what? and how? of good participation in different ways. The scientific monitoring with the focus on “Local Cultures of Youth Participation in Rural Areas” would like to contribute to an overview and a better understanding of these catalogues of characteristics and thereby highlight the most important influencing local aspects for youth participation. In particular, the sometimes very different local and case-specific circumstances and requirements should be taken into account.

Duration: 11/2017 – 10/2018
Client: Deutsche Kinder- und Jugendstiftung (DKJS)
Team: Kerstin Franzl (Project manager), Ansgar Düben