Institutionalizing Dialogue Network (DE0049)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? In the work of the federal ministries, early, interministerial and target-group-oriented involvement of (the affected elements of) civil society in the shaping of policy has scarcely been on an institutionalised basis to date. To remedy this, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, established their first structured participation format in December 2022: Dialognetzwerk zukunftsfähige Landwirtschaft, or the dialogue net- work for sustainable agriculture. The creation of the dialogue network is rooted in the German Sustainable Development Strategy and the 2030 Agenda, the successful implementation of which will depend on the early involvement of civil society and cross-sectoral cooperation. The network brings together practitioners from agriculture and nature conservation to discuss how to shape a sustainable transformation of our agricultural and food systems and channel the results into the work of the two ministries. The key now is to develop the dialogue network further, cement the trust that has been established and perpetuate the interaction to the benefit of all concerned.

What is the commitment? The two federal ministries will develop the concept for a refined and long-term version of their dialogue network for sustainable agriculture. The foundation for this will be a report reviewing how the format of the interministerial and cross-practice dialogue network can support both ministries’ policymaking in the long term. The experience gathered is also – where possible – to serve as the basis of a blueprint for other government departments to adopt the concept.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The concept is intended to enable ministries to institutionalise innovative participation formats as part of the policy consultation process. Conditions that will allow for ongoing and early participation in practice will be worked out and trialled to establish new methodologies and configurations in all the parties involved. This will enable experience from agriculture and nature conservation in practice to feed into the work of the cooperating ministries and open, trust-based and forward-looking dialogue on the sustainable transformation of our agricultural and food systems to take place.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Institutionalising the cross-departmental dialogue network will promote long-term co- operation between the executive and people working on the ground and foster their participation in government action. This aligns with the ambition to establish a new culture of cooperation and promote participation, and it will make a pivotal contribution to the implementation of the German Sustainable Development Strategy and the 2030 Agenda.

Additional information: See (in German): • http://www.bmel.de/DE/ministerium/organisation/dialognetzwerk/dialognetzwerk.html

Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable | Start date - Implementation by

Feedback from members and methodology review as an interim step in compiling the report | Mid-2024 - End of 2024

Publication of the report (incl. concept for institutionalising the dialogue network) | Mid-2025 - End of 2025

Action Plan Review

Commitment 6. Dialogue network for sustainable agriculture

Commitments 6, 7, and 8 involve developing dialogue forums on sustainable agricultural policy (Commitment 6), opportunities for children (Commitment 7), and homelessness (Commitment 8). For agricultural policy, the responsible ministry has been working with practitioners since 2017 and now aims to evaluate and refine their approach into a blueprint for institutionalized participation. Members of the Open Government Network highlighted the approach as noteworthy for its wide-ranging participation with more than 50 members and the involvement of two ministries. However, the IRM has not assessed this commitment as promising as the network was already established before the action plan. The evaluation and guidelines are good stand-alone initiatives but could be combined with an evaluation of other participation forums such as those included in the action plan. Commitment 7 and 8 deal with the development and implementation of national action plans in their respective fields and feature the participation of underrepresented groups in policymaking. Commitment 8 involves creating a national homelessness forum to guide the implementation of the national action plan, composed of representatives from the federal, state, and communal administration, and civil society organizations. Although the details of the forum are still being determined, it could enable an effective dialogue between different levels of government and civil society. In addition to these stand-alone measures, the IRM recommends the federal government evaluate the benefits and challenges of these diverse participatory forums and develop central guidelines for participation which specify to what end they can be used, barriers (especially for institutionalized participation), and integration of the recommendations in policymaking.