Half-time for the empowerment program "Get involved - do politics locally"
Discover your own strengths, meet like-minded people and overcome obstacles! In the winter semester of 2021, the program "Get involved - do politics locally" was launched as a joint project of the European Academy for Women in Politics and Business (EAF), the European University Viadrina, the University of Leipzig, the University Alliance Ruhr (Ruhr University Bochum, University of Duisburg-Essen, Technical University of Dortmund) and the cities of Bochum, Essen and Dortmund. The aim of the program is to familiarize female students with local political structures, to show them opportunities for participation and shaping and to motivate and strengthen them for political involvement at local level.
At the beginning of October, the 14 Ruhr Alliance participants got to know each other at a digital kick-off event and were given an overview of what to expect in the coming months. The first seminar weekend for all participants followed in Berlin in November. The students gained their first insights into local political structures and working methods, worked through existing obstacles to political engagement in practical workshops and engaged in personal discussions with politically active women and other female students. The highlight of the first day of the seminar was the discussion with alumnae from the first round of the 2020 program, who talked about the projects they carried out as part of the program and gave insights into their personal careers in local politics and university politics. There were also interesting guests on the second day of the seminar who answered the participants' questions. The fireside chat with GDR civil rights activist Kathrin Mahler Walther dealt with the question "What makes me a democrat?". The students used the many opportunities for exchange and networking with each other to develop joint and in some cases supra-regional project ideas, which they want to implement as "micro-projects" within the framework of the program.the regional accompanying program started on 30 November for the participants of the University Alliance Ruhr in Bochum. Through various events at the three locations in Bochum, Essen and Dortmund, it enables female students and local politicians to come together locally and engage in discussions at eye level. At the first event, the members of the Advisory Board for Women, Gender Equality and Emancipation as well as knowledgeable female citizens and residents from Bochum introduced themselves. In small discussion groups, the students asked questions about work processes, areas of responsibility and personal careers in local politics. At the same time, they made important contacts for the implementation of their projects.
The second seminar weekend with all participants of the program followed in December. The focus of the first part was the presentation, further development and concretization of the micro-projects. The second part of the seminar consisted of an in-depth look at local politics through discussions with local politicians from Leipzig, Frankfurt and the Ruhr region as well as a panel discussion with the equal opportunities officers from the cities of Bochum, Essen and Dortmund.
In the new year, the second half of the program will begin with the regional events in Essen and Dortmund, the third joint seminar weekend in Berlin and the implementation of the micro-projects.
The "Get involved - do politics locally!" program aims to give female students interested in politics an understanding of local political structures, show them the scope for action and motivate and encourage them to get involved in politics.