Citizen Participation

The office coordinates the activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia. The focus is on supporting democratic and constitutional reform processes in the region and strengthening civil society.

The transition to renewable energy will also require automatically coordinating generation and consumption. On the challenges of the digitized power system.

Conventional energy comes from a few large, powerful firms. But for renewable energy sources, it makes sense for the generation capacity to be owned by individuals and communities.

Instead of top-down reforms for the media, the countries in Southeast Asia need policies that prioritize the public’s interests.

Germany depends on the import of metallic, mineral and fossil fuel resources. The extraction of these raw materials takes place at the expense of the environment and leads to human rights violations. The German Federal Government has to take these consequences adequately into account.

Seven “Engagement Groups” circle around the G20 and attempt to influence its decisions. However, their relative power to influence outcomes differs greatly.

The Group of 20 (G20) is a “club” of nations with significant influence. There is a significant democratic deficit in the G20 since its decisions and actions are not governed by international law and it is not accountable to representative bodies.

Cities change and evolve constantly, and they do not act as a coherent entity. They are “co-produced.” To think of co-production as a concept should help us to think of a sustainable urban policy and action - shaped and developed by constructive conflict.  

The conference “Habitat III: Co-producing sustainable cities?” addressed the conditions for sustainable urban development. This was the look specifically on the relationship between civil society and City Government. On the Conference report.

Close on the heels of the UN adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 the HABITAT III conference offers the international community a timely opportunity to revisit and revision its commitments to putting human rights at the heart of sustainable urban development. The global context is adverse, marked by growing inequity, rising levels of homelessness and landlessness, forced migration, environmental degradation and climate change.

Why communities want to co-produce with the state? The experience of communities in the global south is that it is important not to pass over responsibility to the state, because if citizen’s involvement is reduced it is unlikely that the services will be maintained. Diana Mitlin explores a radical concept of participation.

Barbara Unmüßig correlates the Olympics with Brazil’s institutional, political and economic crisis. Did the organizers learn a lesson from the World Cup in 2014?

Around the world, autocratic regimes, and some that consider themselves democratic, are restricting the work of civil society groups that hold them to account.

People want democracy. The surveys show anywhere in the world. But what is the right way to help people on the way to a better life in a liberal democracy? With years of active work in promoting democracy we support mainly dedicated people in the existing or emerging civil societies.

The repression of NGOs and other civil society groups increases worldwide, which leads to a decline of democratic freedom. This issue should be added to the agenda of national parliaments and multilateral organizations.

Empowerment for women and youth is one of the main aims of the Moroccan association "The Human Touch". In this interview Fatima Ahouli, general secretary of the NGO, explains why it is so important to involve local residents in the planning of projects in the field of renewable energies.

Yaseen Samim is a politician and the spokesperson for the "Solidarity Network for Change". He hopes for the engagement of the new generation and a professionalization of politics in Afghanistan.