Field of action: Participation
The technical term “participation” (from the Latin “participio” = let take part) generally describes from the perspective of politics, administration and economy the possibility of passive participation of people in previously well-defined decision-making processes. Politics, administration and economy generally let participate, society in the form of citizens want actively participate and being involved in decision-making processes. This different way of looking at participation leads to conflicts which need to be resolved.
For the German Federal Association for Sustainability participation means in a more general perspective:
- one the one hand both the opportunity and the capability to engage in designing the direct living and working environment and
- on the other hand a responsible share in social, environmental and economic processes and in its results and incomes.
For this reason participation is a component of central importance for the definition of sustainable development as it has impact into all other areas.