Funded projects
Combating disinformation by promoting cohesion and community. This is the approach taken by the funding programmes of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community. The Federal Government is providing several million euros in funding to support projects campaigning against antisemitism and right-wing extremism. This increasingly includes work to combat disinformation and conspiracy theories.
2 Min. Lesedauer
The funded projects offer, among other things, workshops and presentations on topics such as disinformation and conspiracy theories.
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Disinformation, inhumane statements and actions or hate on the Internet are a threat to democracy and social cohesion in Germany. For this reason, since 2015 the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has been supporting projects throughout Germany that promote democracy and diversity and counter inhumanity under the federal programme “Live Democracy!”. The programme funds more than 500 initiatives with local, regional and national priorities. These include, for example, projects aimed at developing their particular target group's media and news skills and raising awareness of disinformation and conspiracy theories.
Promoting diversity, combating extremism
At national level, 14 centres of excellence have been established since 2020. Their purpose is to improve and consolidate local involvement in support of democracy and diversity and against extremism and antisemitism. The centres of excellence are also points of contact for civil society, public administration and model projects under the federal programme “Live Democracy!” and so form the link between measures, projects and initiatives. The budget for the federal programme “Live Democracy!” was increased by a further €35 million to €150.5 million in 2021 compared to 2020. This shows how important promoting democracy is to the Federal Government and it is also a crucial signal to the many people involved in this work in Germany.
Project work is particularly important in structurally weak areas.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is also involved in the "Cohesion through Participation” programme. Its aim is to fund projects that promote democratic participation especially in rural and structurally weak regions. The Federal Government provides €12 million a year for this purpose.
Alongside the funded projects, the programme has also trained more than 2,000 individuals as democracy trainers. They raise awareness within their organisations on how to recognise antidemocratic attitudes, assist with the development of prevention strategies and provide on-site advice in cases of conflict.