adhocracy+ makes children and youth participation easier

Back in June 2018, the Brandenburg state parliament decided to add Section 18a "Participation and involvement of children and young people" to the municipal constitution. This obligated Brandenburg's municipalities to involve children and young people in all decisions that affect their interests in the future. Nevertheless, many municipalities still find it difficult to implement age-appropriate participation of young people. The free participation platform adhocracy+ can provide targeted support in the implementation of paragraph 18a. Participation projects can be set up, carried out and evaluated in an uncomplicated way.

Werder (Havel) is a good example of children and youth participation

Last year, the city of Werder (Havel) showed how children and youth participation can be strengthened in a very concrete way with a future budget, for which adhocracy+ was used as an accompanying measure. For the future budget, all residents of Werder could submit proposals for project ideas, such as the upgrading of a playground. One condition was: the projects had to be realizable either by the city itself or by a non-profit association. Ideas could be placed on a map via the city's participation platform and provided with a budget. The "participatory budgeting" module was used for this purpose. Alternatively, it was also possible to submit suggestions directly by e-mail and thus have them included in the process. The entire participation process was transparently communicated and documented through the use of adhocracy+. All proposals could be viewed publicly on the participation platform.

In a second step, the proposals were then prioritized and prepared for voting by children and young people through a raffled Future Council. A total of 38 proposals were put to an analog vote. 1,787 pupils from nine schools filled out a ballot and chose 12 favorites to be implemented in 2021. A total budget of €200,000 is available for two years. The 12 winning projects include a graffiti wall at a youth center and an outdoor fitness park. We think: a very successful project that combines online and offline participation!

On February 17, 2021, the results and conclusions of the Future Budget were presented in a video conference with almost 80 participants. The organizer was the Competence Center for Children and Youth Participation Brandenburg.

An example timeline on adhocracy+

#machtmal18a

Section 18a obliges municipalities in Brandenburg to grant children and young people participation and involvement rights in all municipal matters that affect them. The target group essentially includes children and young people aged 6-18. A child is defined as someone who is not yet 14 years old, and a young person is defined as someone who is 14 but not yet 18 years old - i.e. of full age. In an extended sense, paragraph 18a can also apply to young adults up to the age of 27.

With regard to the documentation of the participation process, which the law also provides for, adhocracy+ is a very suitable toolbox. Thus, all suggestions and comments remain on the platform even after a participation phase. Alternatively, they can be archived. Even face-to-face events can be displayed in the timeline, so that the entire participation process is visible to everyone on the platform. This is so important because it allows the people involved to know at all times which phase the process is in and to better understand how the results of the individual phases work in the overall process. In this way, the complexity of the process is significantly reduced.

Interested in youth participation with adhocracy+? We offer free workshops on adhocracy+ every month to make it easier for as many organizations as possible to work with the software. This way, we provide a practical introduction to the use of adhocracy+ for everyone who is interested.

Here you can test adhocracy+

This is how you can register your organization.