Open Letter from Saxony’s Innovation Projects in the Federal Program “Demokratie Leben”

The federal programme “Demokratie Leben!” plans to discontinue all innovation projects at the end of the year and significantly change its funding guidelines. For us as an organisation, this could mean the end of our work.

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In Saxony alone, 19 projects, including ours, are affected by the plans of Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien. Together as LAG Vielfalt Sachsen, we are calling on policymakers not to abandon East Germany and rural regions. Important structures must not be dismantled, and the democratic fabric of society must not be further put at risk.

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The planned changes would also severely restrict work for queer acceptance. And this despite the fact that:

• many projects have already begun their work and were designed to run for four years
• the evaluation of these projects has not yet been completed
• the majority of projects are already integrated into regular structures (e.g. schools, municipal institutions, youth and child services, the healthcare system, or workplaces) and work with the broader democratic society

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Read the open letter now on our website (in german).

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LAG Vielfalt Sachsen is a network of Saxon Partnerships for Democracy and statewide innovation projects in Saxony.