Closing event of the empowerment program
In April, the empowerment program "Get involved - do politics locally!" came to an end after seven months with a closing event at the Kunstmuseum in Bochum.
The program was launched in the winter semester of 2021 as a cooperation between the European Academy for Women in Politics and Business (EAF), the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Leipzig University, Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Duisburg-Essen, TU Dortmund University and the equal opportunities offices of the cities of Bochum, Essen and Dortmund. While female students from Leipzig and Frankfurt (Oder) were given the opportunity to participate in the first round of the program in 2020, 14 female students from the Ruhr region also took part in the second round. The participants were offered a broad program of workshops, discussion rounds, film screenings, lectures and exchange formats. The participants from all regions spent three seminar weekends together in Berlin and in the digital space. The Bochum, Essen and Dortmund locations supplemented the program with regional events.
Participation in local politics
The aim of"Get involved - do local politics!" was to increase the political participation of young women and encourage interested female students to get involved in local politics. Various focal points were set in the program to achieve this goal. A central focus was on local political structures and actors. Short presentations and many discussion rounds with local politicians answered questions about how local political structures are set up, what tasks a councillor has, what a career as a mayor might look like, what challenges women specifically face in politics and how these can be overcome. Strengthening their own skills and exchanging ideas with like-minded people were other important focal points of the program. In addition, the participants developed their own projects to help shape local politics. The students implemented exciting and diverse projects in small groups, including across the different locations, which dealt with topics such as safe cycling in the city, access to free drinking water on campus, the visibility of local politicians and getting involved in local politics. The students were also creative in their implementation and always supported each other. A podcast, campaigns in public spaces, workshops, public events and various digital information materials were created.
Participants feel encouraged
At the participants' farewell on April 28 at the Kunstmuseum in Bochum, in addition to the artistic performance by Miedya Mahmod, there was a final round of talks among the students, who reported on their experiences with the program. Many said that they had developed a better understanding of local political events and that "not knowing everything" no longer stopped them from getting involved in local politics. They also reported that they now feel encouraged to continue their involvement with their projects or in local political structures. At the end, Cécile Weidhofer from the EAF presented each participant with her certificate.