Citizens’ Assembly Network: A question of money
In the Baden-Württemberg municipality of Werbach, a randomly selected Citizens' Forum advises the local council on the allocation of the municipal budget. This is the first time in Germany that a local authority has sought advice on budgetary matters from a randomly selected assembly.
Elsewhere, randomly selected residents have been influencing the distribution of municipal funds for some time, albeit to a limited extent.
The city of Constance offers its citizens the opportunity to implement good ideas and projects with its Citizens' Budget. Financial support is provided for concepts that promote community spirit and benefit the population of Konstanz. A Citizens' Jury proposes projects to the city council that it considers worthy of support.
In Werder an der Havel, the city conducts a multi-stage participation process every two years with its Future Budget. As with a classic participatory budget, residents can submit project ideas for their city. What is special about the future budget is its strong focus on child and youth participation. Young people are not only allowed to contribute their own ideas, but also decide which projects will ultimately be implemented.
In conjunction with a randomly selected committee of children and young people who prepare the vote, this results in an interesting learning environment for democracy. The result of the vote is binding.
Reporting on the projects
- Anjela Griebel, Civic Engagement Officer, City of Constance
- Daniel Oppold, Service Centre for Dialogic Citizen Participation Baden-Württemberg
- Linus Strothmann, Es geht LOS, former advisor for resident participation for the city of Werder (Havel)
- Georg Wyrwoll, Mayor of Werbach
The event will be recorded and the recording will then be made available to network members.
Citizens' Assembly Network
The Citizens' Assembly Network is an association of people who are committed to the greater use of mini-publics at the local level or who are involved in this area for other reasons. The aim of the network is to facilitate an ongoing exchange on open questions relating to citizens' assemblies, such as the selection of topics, the sortition procedure, implementation, costs and the implementation of mini-public recommendations. You can find out more about the network here.