Hello Bundestag – Constituency Councils for Democracy

The “Hello Bundestag” project is trialing a new form of participation whereby citizens discuss national policy issues at constituency level. Six different constituencies will see constituency days held on various topics over three stages. Each stage will include around 35 participants, all selected at random through an outreach lottery. These citizens will use specially prepared, and properly researched, supporting material to develop recommendations on a range of political issues. At the end of each constituency day, the participants will have the chance to discuss their results with their constituency’s elected representatives. An expert council will also be in place to develop recommendations for the institutionalization of constituency councils together with both the elected Bundestag members and the randomly selected participants. The project is supported by a partnership between the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the ZEIT-Stiftung, and the Open Society Foundation, as well as in part by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Leading researchers in the field of democracy and participation research are contributing their expertise to the project.