Regular network meetings create connections and provide a platform for encounters.

Engaged City

Photo: Henning Schacht

The Engaged City – that is a multitude. Namely, a network of 113 towns and cities in which engagement offices, volunteer exchanges and similar organisations organise and support the voluntary work of citizens. The sponsors exchange ideas among themselves and identify common themes in order to strengthen the municipal infrastructure for commitment and participation in Germany.

For the self-perception of the engaged cities, it is crucial that civil society organisations cooperate on an equal footing with politics, local government and business enterprises. For this, it is vital that a well-equipped local coordination office accompanies the cooperation and ensures the transfer of knowledge and experience. This demonstrably increases the number of people involved and the degree of cooperation in a municipality. The Engaged City programme has been running since 2015 in partnership with five other foundations and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. In mid-2020, the programme office was transferred from us to the Federal Network for Civic Engagement (BBE) in Berlin, which is also another partner. Proof of success: In the meantime, federal states and regions as a whole have also joined the network – first Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, then Schleswig-Holstein and the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

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