Civic engagement for sustainable public welfare (ENGAGE)

The project examines the conditions under which different forms of participation contribute to "sustainable public welfare". It employs a concept of "sustainable public welfare" that takes into account the well-being of people "here and now" as well as "there and later", i.e. the safeguarding of the ecological, social and economic conditions of future welfare creation. It assumes that (sustainable) public welfare cannot be defined a-priori, but is constantly redefined in the course of social negotiation processes.

The participation of various civil society actors is crucial for achieving "sustainable public welfare". However, new forms of participation are often accused of involving only a certain part of the citizens and potentially serving their interests. In such contexts, participation could perpetuate inequality rather than promote the common good. Against this background ENGAGE pursues the question:

Under which conditions does participation contribute to sustainable public welfare?

To answer this question, ENGAGE investigates different participation formats (citizen participation at national and local level, through associations and self-organized initiatives) with regard to aspects such as process design, inclusion strategies, framework conditions and impact. The close involvement of practice partners and the special emphasis on knowledge transfer guarantees practical relevance.

In cooperation with the other partners, Öko-Institut is working on work packages 1 (definition of concepts), 2 (trend analysis) and 6 (dissemination). In addition, it is leading a case study on national participation formats in WP 3 and a case study on decentralized civic engagement in traditional and precarious milieus in WP 5. Examples are garden associations, hiking clubs and food banks. The methods used are qualitative interviews, stakeholder workshops, participant observation and qualitative content analyses with MaxQDA.