The thread of the third workshop was taken up in a last workshop held in person on November 18, 2021. We provide a summary of the workshop (in German) here.

15 stakeholders and 5 team members met for an afternoon in a guest house in Bohmte in the district of Osnabrück, about 18km south of Lake Dümmer. After the welcoming and a speed introduction of each one, the participants were presented with posters illustrating the outcome of the previous workshops. They had time to reflect on and discuss the themes of the previous workshops while walking through a poster gallery presenting the graphical visualizations.

The Poster Gallery – discussing the workshops held so far

World Café

What have we learned? What do we need? Which topics do we want to work on?
Which structures do we need in order to do so?

The participants then came together in the World Café format: at three tables, they were discussing two questions each. For each discussion round at one table workshop participants were given 25 minutes before they would change to another table to discuss the questions posed there. Through this process, each participant had participated in a discussion at each table. A moderator at each table was facilitating the conversations and participants and moderators wrote down the main discussion points on a poster. 

At the first table participants answered the questions: What did we learn? What needs have been identified?

At the second table they were asked: What would you like to work on in the further transformation process in the Dümmer region? Which topics should be addressed?

At the third table they reflected on the questions: Are the existing structures sufficient to achieve your goals? What do you need in the region to achieve the goals and milestones? 

Discussing the way forward

The moderators presented the discussions’ resumée with the help of the posters and participants engaged in a moderated in-depth discussion round on the main points raised at the three tables. The participants agreed on the following points:

• Possible financial support:
  – the projects discussed (e.g. cross-district cooperation; topic-specific working groups) should be part of the LEADER region strategy plans that several municipalities apply for in spring of 2022
  – other funding possibilities must be used additionally
• New position: that initiates, coordinates and implements the various activities with the support of the stakeholders
• Communication of the project results to regional stakeholders & into the region: findings and ideas from the participatory process should be presented in the Dümmerbeirat and in the Dümmerforum
• Exchange platform: more exchange and networking between regional mayors, between municipalities and with the neighbors, e.g. from NRW
• Tourism: the tourism sector will draft a new tourism concept for the region in 2022 | be informed about what is happening in the other district | tourism has to be linked with the modernisation & development of the public transport system | tourism managers & climate protection managers should link their activities
• Exchange between nature conservation & local authorities is needed:
  – topic coming up for both: planning of wind farms; need to plan this together
  – combining nature conservation & climate protection:
         o create positions for climate protection managers
         o strengthen exchange between municipalities and nature conservation institutions
         o think and plan across local, district and federal state borders!

                                                                                the tables’ posters

What would you like to see happen next?

• a working group that meets regularly so that the issues don’t get lost in the day-to-day work
• a group that collects all information about activities in the region and makes it public; one gets so little information about what is happening in the different sectors
• involve the actors south of Dümmer in activities; strengthen the cross-district cooperation
• carry the results of the workshop into your appropriate working group