About the project

A youth forum will be set up to strengthen the participation of young people in the "Partnership for Democracy". Existing structures, such as youth parliaments, youth advisory councils and/or youth councils, can be used or conceptually further developed for this purpose.

Coordination and specialist centre "Demokratie leben!" initiates youth forums in the Salzland district:

The aim of a youth forum is to play an active role in shaping the organisational process in the city in the area of child and youth work and thus provide new impetus.

Already in the first funding period of Demokratie leben!, youth advisory councils/youth forums were established in 4 cities, which have become permanent fixtures in recent years. They are available to young people in their city as contacts for all problems and also advise the city administration and politicians on youth-orientated topics. They also initiate their own events. Meetings have been held regularly again since June 2020.

Bernburg

Students from Carolium Grammar School and Campus Technicus Secondary School are joining forces to help shape Bernburg. Some of the members also act as representatives of youth clubs in Bernburg.
Other committed young people are very welcome to join. If you are interested, please contact: Luisa.Liebefinke@stejh.de

Egeln

Four motivated pupils from the municipality of Egelner Mulde have joined forces to form a youth advisory council. Young people are urgently needed here.

Aschersleben

One of the longest-running youth forums is based in Aschersleben. Representatives from various schools and vocational schools also work together here. Interested parties are very welcome.

Article on the homepage of the city of Aschersleben

Staßfurt

The Youth Advisory Council has also been very active for some time and is looking forward to welcoming new members.

Article on the subdomain "Kinder- und Jugendnetz" of the city of Staßfurt

The federal programme "Live Democracy! Active against right-wing extremism, violence and misanthropy" is the successor programme to the federal programme "TOLERANCE SUPPORT - STRENGTHENING COMPETENCE".

In the years 2020 to 2024, the follow-up programme aims to promote civic engagement and democratic behaviour at municipal, regional and supra-regional level. A "Partnership for Democracy" will be established through targeted cooperation between the regional monitoring committees, project organisers and regional network offices. The focus here is on the expansion of proven structures and participation approaches. However, new concepts for democratic participation are also being developed and trialled in order to ensure that democratic civil society is strengthened locally. The further development of the three existing regional network centres into coordination and specialist centres is crucial for reaching all relevant local stakeholders for activities against right-wing extremism, violence and misanthropy as well as for the development of a democratic community. All local networks are actively involved and a link to the problem areas is established. Existing local alliances are intensively involved and contribute to the implementation of sustainable structures.

The "Partnership for Democracy" is used to recognise the special, situation- and context-dependent problems and needs in dealing with hostility towards democracy, the rule of law and (group-related) misanthropy in the community and to be able to act quickly and, if necessary, take countermeasures.

A prerequisite for the development of a "Partnership for Democracy" is the formation of a local or regional monitoring committee, which, in addition to representatives from as many relevant departments of the municipal administration and other state institutions as possible, is made up of local or regional actors from civil society.

The Monitoring Committee

• is a strategic committee that meets regularly to develop, implement and realise the "Partnership for Democracy" and anchor it in the long term;

• supports and accompanies the cooperation between state and civil society actors in the "Partnership for Democracy";

• defines the key points of the overall strategy after consultation in the Democracy Conference;

• analyses local and regional support options and organises their integration;

• advises the coordination and specialist unit and the lead office on the practical work of the "Partnership for Democracy", in particular on implementation and updating as well as sustainable anchoring;

• decides on the individual measures to be implemented to realise the objectives of the "Partnership for Democracy" and monitors them.

Subsidies

Three partnerships for democracy are active in the Salzland district:

• Bernburg (Saale), Staßfurt, Aschersleben
• Calbe (Saale), Barby, Bördeland
• Schönebeck (Elbe)

Bernburg, Staßfurt and Aschersleben are under the direction of the Salzland district together with the co-operation partner St. Johannis Bernburg Protestant Youth Welfare Foundation.

Calbe, Barby, Bördeland and Schönebeck are run by the organisation Rückenwind e.V.

In recent years, the funding available from the federal government for Bernburg, Staßfurt and Aschersleben has totalled around 100,000 euros. The trend is rising from year to year. In the last two years, the state of Saxony-Anhalt has also added a further 10,000 euros to each partnership. In 2020, the region received 125,000 euros in federal funding and 10,000 euros in state funding.

Number of projects

Micro-projects (up to 500 euros) have proved very successful in recent years. Of these, 30 can be offered for implementation each year.

Associations, institutions, churches and charitable organisations are happy to take advantage of this support.

Larger events were also supported, such as BISS - the Salzlandkreis moves, Instant Acts and the Intercultural Week in the Salzlandkreis. The number of enquiries has risen steadily each year, with the result that between 7 and 10 major projects are now supported annually with more than 500 euros (e.g. the Bärenhausen children's town, the children's café in Staßfurt and the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Aschersleben).

The lead office is located in the municipal administration in the Youth and Family Department. It acts as a central point of contact on site for the Federal Ministry and the administrative office at the Federal Office of Family Affairs and Civil Society Functions, a point of contact for local stakeholders and a partner for the coordination and specialist office to be set up.

The lead office is responsible in particular for

• the legally binding application for the "Partnership for Democracy" for federal funding from the programme;

• the legal responsibility for implementing the "Partnerships for Democracy";

• the proper utilisation of funds and the forwarding of the allocated federal funds to third parties;

• the legally binding request for funds from the registry;

• the settlement of the funding to the registry (proof of utilisation) and the associated initial audit of the proper use of the federal funds;

• the organisation, appointment and provision of a coordination and specialist unit and the monitoring committee.