Gender-sensitive welcoming culture

 The project is based on the results of the project "Improving opportunities for qualified women to remain in the district of Görlitz", which examined the opportunities for qualified women in particular to remain in the region and developed recommendations for action and measures to keep well-educated women in the region.

The retention, immigration and individual development opportunities of young qualified women in the district of Görlitz are to be improved by mapping experiences (exemplary biographies), supporting communication and networking and organizing information and advice (sponsorships) for women and regional stakeholders. In order to support the group of young women already living in the region, but also potential newcomers, in their visibility, self-organization and promotion by economic and political-administrative actors, a gender-sensitive (welcoming) culture is to be developed in the district and networking is to be implemented on a sustainable basis. This also includes individual and institutional actors in the district who are addressed as decision-makers and multipliers in all sectors (administration, politics, business, civil society).

The objective is part of the district's development goals, which include strengthening the "welcoming culture and social skills", opening up new and attractive "individual life prospects", especially for young people, and "identification with the living environment", in addition to strengthening the economy by utilizing all relevant educational and qualification potential and the sustainable development of gender equality.

The objectives are implemented by

• the development of event formats - e.g. ProduzentinnenTOUR
• the development of a website as a digital platform
• Information, support and advice
• networking
• Lectures/symposium/salons

1. Qualified women in the district aged 20-45 (as a target group and actor group for improving their working and living conditions, individual development opportunities and functions in local community building and social integration)
2. Potential migrant women in this age group (as a further target group who perceive the opportunities in the district from the outside)
3. Individual and institutional actors in the local field of action (district) who act as decision-makers and multipliers

In June 2017, the "Praxis-Theorie-Salon" took place at Haus Schminke (Löbau) in collaboration with the Netzwerk Vorsorgendes Wirtschaften e.V.. The theoretical and conceptual perspective of the Network for a Precautionary Economy was combined with the practical challenges of sustainable, precautionary and gender-sensitive ways of living and working in Upper Lusatia.

Two questions were central:

1. What does it take to develop a precautionary perspective in practice? The example of a gender-sensitive welcoming culture in the district of Görlitz.
2. How can the challenges in practice be described from a socio-ecological transformation perspective? What questions are formulated in practice, how can these questions be dealt with scientifically and transferred back into the field of practice?

The project sponsor of the research project is the district of Görlitz, represented by the Equal Opportunities Officer, Ms. Ines Fabisch. The project is managed and administered by the TRAWOS Institute of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. The Free State of Saxony (Saxon State Chancellery) is funding the project as part of the demography funding guideline.