| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The Organisation of the process in close partnership with civic society 651 charter talks could be organized. In order to reach out so many and such diverse citizens, an innovative approach was used: All organisations in the city (businesses, clubs and associations, social partners, religious communities …) were invited to become partners. An invitation letter from the Mayor was sent out to all cooperation partners of the City. It was also expressed in public (Media …) as an open invitation to anyone interested in participating. Partner organisations had two obligations: They organized Charter talks (for their employees, customers, members, neighbourhood etc. and provided a room. They registered it online or by phone. The charter office staff selected from a pool of 300 moderators based on their availability. The moderators were paid by the City of Vienna. Every group result was posted online by the moderators. The other obligation of partner organisations was to use their communication channels (media, www …) to spread awareness of the project.
The following timeline was developed:
• Presentation of the project and press conference: 12 March 2012
• Topic collection: 19 March to 1 April 2012
• Presentation of topics by the advisory committee: 13 April 2012
• Charter talks: 13 April to 14 October 2012:
• Second online phase: 28 September to 14 October 2012:
• Presentation of the Vienna Charter: 27 November 2012
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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A process as broad as this one, which sought to involve all parts of Viennese society, cannot and should not be organised by political decision-makers and the city administration alone. Therefore, we chose a new, innovative approach: All organisations in the city (businesses, clubs and associations, employer associations, trade unions, religious communities, political parties, etc.) were invited to become partners of the Vienna Charter. An invitation letter from the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor was sent out to all cooperation partners of the different Administrative Groups of the Vienna City Administration. It was expressed as an open invitation to anyone interested in participating, and was also publicised on the homepage and in interviews to reach a wide range of people.
325 partner organisations from an impressively diverse range of fields declared their intent of supporting the process actively by holding Charter talks and/or using their information channels to spread awareness of the project. This included large companies (such as Siemens, McDonald's, IBM), both sides of industry (Austrian
Chamber of Labour, Austrian Economic Chamber, trade unions), various cultural and sports associations and clubs, migrants' organisations, communities of faith (the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, the Islamic Community of Austria, the Jewish Community, the Buddhist Community) and the Freethinkers Association, three of the four political parties represented in the Vienna City Council (Social Democrats, People's Party, the Greens) and the district organisation Margareten of the Communist Party, self-help groups of people with special needs, and the Homosexuals' Initiative. These are just a few examples to illustrate the wide range of partner organisations.
A list of all partner organisations is available online at https://charta.wien.gv.at/start/charta/partnerorganisationen/liste/ .
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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In November 2010, Municipal Department 17 - Integration and Diversity was given the task to develop and implement the concept for this project.
Concept work, preparation and organisation was mainly done by the regular staff of Municipial Department “Integration and Diversity” (MA 17). During 2012, an average of three persons (full-time equivalents) were working full time in this project. One person out of the staff of the communication department of the City of Vienna was in charge of PR work.
The external agency neu&kühn was contracted for the online implementation. They were involved in the online concept development and its technical implementation, and moderated the online forum during the online phases.
The partnerorganisations contributed by providing a meeting place for the charter talks and doing the information work to invite people to the talks they hosted. Every Charter talk was moderated by two moderators, they were paid an agreed remuneration/fee.
This project was funded by the city of Vienna.
Costs: 450.000€ for:
a) Development of new technology: The external agency neu&kühn was contracted for the online implementation. They were involved in the online concept development and its technical implementation, and moderated the forum during the online phases;
b) MA 14 – Implementation of the new technology for the City of Vienna
c) Moderation: Costs for external moderators
d) material (folder, sticker …).
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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In total, 651 Charter talks were held in all districts of Vienna and at nearly any kind of venue imaginable (in club houses, pubs, offices, schools, people's flats, parks, and public swimming pools). Some 8500 people participated in them, investing a total of 12,700 hours into discussing good neighbourly living. The participants represented a true cross-section of Vienna's population: children, young people, senior citizens, blue and white collar workers, entrepreneurs, non-working persons as well as people with different mother tongues and countries of origin, people with special needs, people with different religious beliefs, worldviews and political opinions, and people with different sexual orientations.
Particularly at the beginning of the talks, the participants were sometimes unsure what to do: What exactly are you supposed to do at a Charter talk – just talk? And what exactly are you supposed to talk about? The hesitation was visible¬. We are used to talking about concrete topics or to making demands of someone who is not present (the building management, our boss, politicians…). We are also used to speaking in a certain role (e.g. as a representative of an organisation). But talking to each other as individuals, without any of the familiar rituals of conversation? At times, this required some effort, but the results were worth it: People who already knew each other well from work, even were in the same team, said how surprising and enriching such conversations were and how the experience would influence their working relationship as well. The same went for members of the same club or people who always went to the same park: "We never talk like this," they said.
The most fascinating Charter talks occurred where borders of some kind were crossed: Where a football cage in the yard got teenagers and adults talking, where women from the tenants advisory committee and Muslim women started talking in a municipal housing project, or where people with different political, religious, or other beliefs began communicating with each other. All the emotions, all the things that were set in motion in these conversations, can be guessed at when the participants talk about them, but they could never be fully captured in a protocol or summary.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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There was a continuous monitoring done on several levels: The “advisory board”, meetings of the moderators of Charter talks, a group of representatives of main partner organisations and on the political level by a group of members of the Vienna city council.
Since everything was online in a transparent manner (all results of charter talks, including a short with description of the group) it was possible to see for everyone in Vienna, that the participants represented a true cross-section of Vienna's population: children, young people, senior citizens, blue and white collar workers, entrepreneurs, non-working persons as well as people with different mother tongues and countries of origin, people with special needs, people with different religious beliefs, worldviews and political opinions, and people with different sexual orientations.
Data was collected concerning the participants of the charter talks concerning the number and gender of participants of each charter talk.
Parallel to this internal monitoring, an external survey was done by the Austrian Academy of sciences, Institute of Technology Assessment.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Two questions were discussed intently during the preparation. The first one was the duration of the process. Media and communication experts recommended a short and intense process of no more than a few months or even just a few weeks. They argued that the attention of the public and the media could not be maintained for any longer. Potential partner organisations who work directly with people and had experience with group processes, on the other hand, considered it necessary for the group phase to last at least one year. Finally, a compromise was found in an eight-month process.
The second question was how to structure the topics under discussion, i.e., which aspects of living together in a city to address. One suggestion was to choose topics based on experience and/or surveys. This idea was discarded, as any pre-selection of topics would have run counter to the idea that it should be the people of Vienna who determined the content of the Charter. Therefore, it was decided to introduce an initial online phase during which everyone could suggest topics.
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