In addition to the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (TRAWOS Institute, headed by Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen), the Georg August University of Göttingen (headed by Prof. Dr. Claudia Neu, lead partner) and the Thünen Institute for Regional Development Bollewick (headed by Andreas Willisch) are involved in the project.
Civic engagement in Germany takes countless forms and occurs in a wide range of constellations. The spectrum of engaged actors and their activities is virtually inexhaustible, and the range of their practical forms is constantly expanding. Numerous studies show that civic engagement and the self-organisation of public services are particularly essential for local quality of life in rural, peripheral villages and municipalities, and play a key role in addressing the challenges of social change. The various forms of social change—meaning both ongoing developments (demographic, economic, and cultural) as well as structural transformations (long-term consequences of reunification, the coal phase-out)—have demonstrably had long-term effects on life in rural areas. They are changing both the needs and the forms and objectives of engagement in rural regions. These lasting changes require, on the one hand, adaptation and inventiveness among engaged individuals themselves; on the other hand, they also suggest an update of the state’s perspective on engagement and its support needs. In particular, phenomena such as population ageing, outmigration, or the decline of local infrastructure—whether the reduced frequency of local public transport or the closure of the last village pub—are visibly affecting social life in rural communities. At the same time, innovative ideas and forms of action are emerging that sustainably improve rural life and address and mobilise both young and old. While volunteers are gained in some places, they are lost in others. At the same time, forms of engagement are changing, as are the interests and goals of the actors involved. Developments over recent decades have inevitably led to blurred definitions of engagement and volunteering, and call for an empirically grounded update of concepts and research approaches.
Despite observable regional and local particularities, systematic comparisons of civic engagement at the municipal level—and especially between East and West Germany—remain largely absent. This gap makes it difficult to precisely examine the complex contextual factors (such as socio-geographical location, population structure, socioeconomic conditions, and regional cultures) that shape civic engagement in rural areas. In response to this research gap, the ENKOR project aims to investigate voluntary civic engagement in nine rural municipalities in East and West Germany from a comparative, multi-method perspective. The project examines the forms, actors, and contextual conditions of engagement over time. Within this research design, the following guiding questions will be addressed:
Forms of Engagement: What characterizes civic engagement in rural areas today, given their specific challenges? Which forms and types of engagement, as well as which actor constellations, can be identified, and what specific processes of change are observable?
Contextual Factors: Which contextual conditions influence civic engagement in rural areas? What role do pre- and post-1989/90 conditions play in East and West German regions?
Configurations and Interdependencies in Civic Engagement: How do regional contextual conditions, engaged actors, and local forms of engagement influence one another? What tensions and interrelationships exist between civic engagement, the public sphere, and democracy?
Tradition and Innovation: Which forms of innovation in civic engagement—whether leisure-oriented, charitable, ecological, or otherwise—emerge across different regions? Which contextual conditions and actor constellations foster innovation?
What challenges and obstacles do these innovative actors face?
Future Potentials: What potentials exist within different regional configurations of civic engagement? Which forms of self-organization and external support appear conducive or obstructive to their development? Can new groups of actors be involved? What role can participatory forms of knowledge production and application—such as citizen science or participatory research approaches—play in these processes?
The overarching aim of the collaborative research project is to provide an in-depth understanding of regionally differentiated configurations of civic engagement in rural areas, including their local forms, actors, activities, specific challenges, and dynamics of change, and to explain their distinctive characteristics.
To expand existing knowledge on the prevalence, conditions, forms, contents, impacts, and support needs of volunteering and civic engagement across different rural contexts, local residents will be actively involved in the research process through village workshops (Dorfwerkstätten). As experts of their own lifeworlds, citizens will contribute their knowledge and experiences directly to the study.
In a subsequent step, the findings generated through these village workshops will be compared with the results of the case studies. Based on this combined knowledge, local residents will participate in engagement workshops (Engagementwerkstätten) aimed at developing tailored solutions and potential support measures for current and prospective volunteers.
By employing participatory and ethnographic-exploratory research methods, including the Citizen Science tool Landinventur (https://landinventur.de), the project contributes to the further development of relevant research methodologies and conceptual approaches to civic engagement.
Finally, the insights gained throughout the project will be translated into policy recommendations for the future promotion and strengthening of civic engagement in rural areas. In doing so, the project seeks to contribute to the political objective of creating and sustaining equivalent living conditions across regions.
The research project adopts a multi-method, participatory, and comparative approach. It is structured around three main work modules:
The use of the Citizen Science tool “Landinventur” in combination with the parallel municipal case studies provides a detailed picture of the current state of civic engagement in rural areas and its typical configurations and transformation processes. Using a digital questionnaire covering the four thematic areas of “Living,” “Harvesting,” “Economic Activity,” and “Engagement,” local residents conduct an inventory of their village. In doing so, they collectively assess the current situation while also identifying local needs and challenges. This approach makes it possible, for example, to capture informal and non-organized forms of civic engagement and to recruit local multipliers and experts as co-researchers in the selected municipalities.
The case studies aim to develop a deeper understanding of the functions, forms, actors, and dynamics of civic engagement. To achieve this, ethnographically oriented case studies are designed and conducted. These studies serve two purposes: first, to document and analyze different forms and types of engagement, complementing the findings of the Landinventur; and second, to reconstruct the interdependencies and interactions among the various actors involved within specific local engagement configurations.
Local engagement workshops provide a participatory forum in which citizens discuss the opportunities and challenges facing civil society activities in their communities. Building on these discussions, participants collaboratively develop policy recommendations and practical strategies to support and strengthen civic engagement in rural areas.
Results and Recommendations from the Nationwide Pilot Project of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the German County Association (DLT).
What characterizes civic engagement in rural areas today? Who participates? In what forms and constellations? Are there regional differences? Where are the main challenges? And where should the journey of engagement lead? The ENKOR team – consisting of the University of Göttingen, the TRAWOS Institute at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz, and the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies – celebrated the conclusion of the three-year project together with all participants on April 18, 2024. The results of the field research were presented, reflected upon, and discussed in the context of literature, art, and cinema.
As one of 15 projects funded under the Federal Program for Rural Development and Regional Value Creation (BULEplus) of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) that investigate civic engagement in rural areas, the ENKOR research consortium participated in the 4th networking meeting on “Voluntary Engagement in Rural Areas” in Hofgeismar, Hesse. Dr. Anna Eckert (Thünen Institute for Rural Studies e.V.) presented selected findings from the municipal case studies. The focus of the presentation was the participatory format of the engagement workshops, which aimed to provide feedback to the communities under study and to jointly develop recommendations for action and strategies.
In the three districts of the third Saxon study municipality, village workshops were held on March 23 and 24, 2023. In cooperation with the municipal administration, the ENKOR team invited residents to take part in “Landinventur.” A total of 39 interested participants engaged in the “reassessment” of their village and helped identify social spaces and active local actors.
Proposal acceptance "Rural Engagement in times of structural changes: actors, forms and constellations" für Session auf der 3rd European Rural Geographies Conference in Groningen (NL) 2023
Abstract:
Civic Engagement appears to be one of the key dimensions with regard to the ability of rural communities to respond to the challenges of large-scale socio-structural changes. Recent studies (Freiwilligensurvey 2019) show, that Civic Engagement in general is changing – some forms of engagement struggle to find new members, while other forms apparently attract many young people. Our three-year research project (ENKOR) aims to identify, categorize and analyse novel and established forms of civic engagement in rural areas and their individual capability to cope with common rural phenomena like overaging, shrinkage, de-industrialization and migration. The projects objective is to understand and uncover the given interdependencies and entanglements in between rural development in general and civic engagement in rural areas in particular. We want to present and discuss several forms of engagement that we found through our empirical research and introduce a preliminary typology that depicts the main characteristics of these forms against the backdrop of the ongoing structural changes/transformation in/of rural areas. Furthermore, we want to evaluate the impact of the term “constellation”, understood as an interdependent figuration, for the empirical research of rural civic engagement. The following questions will be discussed: Which forms of civic engagement emerge in rural areas in the context of social-structural changes? Which ones of them appear to be “novel” (such as refugee initiatives or solidarity-based housing projects and farms) forms of engagement and how do “established” (such as clubs, volunteer fire departments or local politics) forms react to socio-structural changes? Do novel and established forms of social engagement coexist independently/parallelly or do they have a strong influence on each other?
Acceptance of the panel "Civic engagement and socio-structural changes in rural areas. Current developments" auf der 3rd Rural Geographies Conference in Groningen (NL) 2023
Abstract:
Rurality is anything but a clear and consistent concept. It appears to be quite the opposite: a vast and colourful continuum of differently structured social spaces with specific characteristics and histories. Rural areas itself have always been very heterogeneous and embedded in social, cultural, economic and regional contexts. These contexts create and form regional constellations, which are in turn differently capable to react to socio-structural changes. Until recently, the capacity of rural areas for dealing with these changes had rather negative connotations in Germany. This perspective is changing though. Especially the constitution of civic engagement as one of the most important elements within these constellations seems to be a central aspect of their resilience or vulnerability towards these processes. Engagement significantly influences the competence of rural areas to react to these changes. But how do certain rural areas encounter processes of transformation such as shrinkage, overaging and de-industrialization and what role do civic engagement and social innovation play in this context?
The panel will focus on the role of civic engagement in rural areas that are facing large-scale socio-structural shifts and will try to discuss the following questions: Which elements influence the capability of rural areas to react towards socio-structural changes and how is this connected with civic-engagement? Why does “shrinkage” in some areas appears to be a healthy and innovative process, while in others it means loss and decline? Are rural areas more or less creative in dealing with the effects of socio-structural changes than urban regions? Which forms of civic engagement emerge in rural areas in this context? Which ones of them appear to be “novel” (such as refugee initiatives or solidarity-based housing projects and farms) forms of engagement and how do “established” (such as clubs, volunteer fire departments or local politics) forms react to social change? Do novel and established forms of social engagement coexist independently of or do they influence each other?
We are specifically looking for contributions that distinguish different kinds of civic engagement in rural areas and their interplay with socio-structural conditions and changes.
To submit an abstract, we ask for a brief description of the theme and content you would like to present on (max 250 words). The abstract should also include a (working) title, up to 5 keywords, your name and your co-authors if applicable. The deadline is 31 January 2023. We appreciate a maximum of two abstract submissions per person.
Project presentation and discussion on the role of civic engagement in rural areas and its connection to professional social work with students in the Social Work degree program at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Görlitz campus.
Colloquium with students of the Management of Social Change program: field access and research question(s), at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Görlitz campus.
The digital stakeholder meeting organized by the TRAWOS Institute enabled the many committed participants from the nine study municipalities to come together online and exchange views across locations on engagement-related topics, questions, and concrete challenges. In group sessions, participants worked on the topics of refugee support, current developments in the field of civic engagement, and needs regarding the support and promotion of civic engagement. This was followed by an opportunity for discussion and the documentation of the key findings in the form of a report.
A research project involving three consortium partners across three federal states brings specific challenges. For this reason, another consortium meeting of all ENKOR partner institutes took place in Berlin in October 2022. After the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person meeting provided an opportunity for intensive exchange and allowed participants to discuss previous progress, results, and the future course of action.
In October 2023, village workshops were held in all four districts of study community 2 in Saxony.
Residents from all four villages were warmly invited to come together, engage in dialogue, and share information about their local areas. Using the citizen science tool “Landinventur” (www.landinventur.de), the aim was to jointly record and map life in the individual districts together with local residents. The residents themselves collected the data, thereby creating a detailed picture for the public and policymakers of how people in rural areas live, reside, and work in the 21st century. The goal was to deliberately challenge and reshape the image of declining and “left-behind” villages.
The ENKOR team attended the municipal council meeting in study community 3 and introduced themselves and the ENKOR project to the interested audience. The project was welcomed by all those present, and future collaboration with the municipal council and the mayor was agreed upon.
With a discussion format under the motto “Who engages in what way and with whom?”, the ENKOR project presented itself at the Überland Festival in Görlitz on 03/09/2022.
The ENKOR team attended the municipal council meeting in study community 2 and introduced themselves and the ENKOR project to the interested audience. The project was welcomed by all those present, and future collaboration with the municipal council and the mayor was agreed upon.
The ENKOR project was presented to an interested audience as part of the Long Night of Science at the campus of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. The event provided an opportunity to discuss the project's background, objectives, and approach with representatives from various disciplines, particularly practitioners, and to incorporate their questions and feedback into the research process.
Annual Conference of the Working Group on Rural Areas of the German Society for Geography “Rural Areas and Societies in Transition” in Bautzen
At the annual conference of the Working Group, ENKOR presented its work on May 5, 2022, on the topic of configurations of civic engagement in rural areas: an East–West comparison.
Participation in the 15th Future Forum on Rural Development – Expert Forum 2: Innovative Engagement: Forms, Benefits, and Challenges, on 21 January 2022, online.
The following topics are discussed: the theoretical and conceptual framework of the project, including the concept of civic engagement and its implications for the visibility, legitimacy, and support of engagement, a typology of rural areas, and the selection/operationalisation of contextual variables.
On 11 September 2021, workshop “Engagement in Rural Areas? Research, Challenges, Ideas” at the Überland Festival in Görlitz.
The joint project, which will run from 2021-2024, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) with a total of almost 1 million euros.
Dr. Thomas Prennig
