Politik zum Anfassen

Politik zum Anfassen e.V. is a German non-profit registered association (eingetragener Verein) founded in 2006 by Monika and Gregor Dehmel. Its motto is "Wir machen Lust auf Demokratie" ("We make people want democracy"). The organisation develops and runs political education, participation and media projects for school classes and adults, working in a strictly non-partisan, independent and school-form-spanning way. It is based in Isernhagen in the Hanover region of Lower Saxony and describes itself as "echt überparteilich" (genuinely cross-party) and independent. The association's best-known format is the simulation game "Pimp Your Town!", which it has run with the state capital Hanover since 2009. In these games, students take on the roles of local councillors, form factions, draft motions, debate them in committees and in a full council session, and then hand their proposals to real politicians, who review and often implement them. Related formats include "Pimp My Island!" on Fehmarn, "City-Upgrade" in Hildesheim, the "Kinderrat" (children's council) for primary school pupils, the "WahlFUN" participation exhibition, mobile escape rooms, and the digital participation app PLACEm. The association also runs media and film projects, workshops on artificial intelligence, career-preparation projects and survey projects, and it has recently extended its work to companies through its "Demokratie.company" offering. Politik zum Anfassen finances itself primarily on a project basis and through cooperation with foundations. According to its German Wikipedia entry, more than 10,000 pupils of all school types take part in its projects each year, and the association has around 40 staff. It has received numerous awards: in 2011 "Pimp Your Town!" was named Germany's best education idea as an "Ort im Land der Ideen"; in 2017 the association received the Primus Prize for the "Kinderrat" project; in 2018 it received the special democracy-promotion prize of the Google Impact Challenge, and in the same year Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded the founders Monika and Gregor Dehmel the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany). In 2024 it received the Hans-Sauer Prize for the project "Pimp My Future!". The organisation is led by Dr. Heike Labenski as chair (Vorsitzende), with Monika Dehmel as founder and managing director (Geschäftsführerin) and Gregor Dehmel as founder and participation ambassador. It offers workshops and talks, works with municipalities, schools, parents and companies, and presents itself as a partner for practical, action-oriented and realistic democracy education "from KiTa to adult education".

Politik zum Anfassen e.V. was founded in 2006 by Monika and Gregor Dehmel as a non-profit registered association. Its stated purpose is to bring democratic institutions and the everyday functioning of democracy, especially at the local (municipal) level, closer to pupils, and to teach responsible use of media and artificial intelligence. The association works with simulation games, workshops, film and media projects, and digital participation tools, and it describes itself as independent, cross-party and spanning all school types. The best-known project, "Pimp Your Town!", has been run in cooperation with the state capital Hanover since 2009. In this simulation game, pupils are introduced playfully to the basics of local politics and then, like "real council politicians", draft motions in their factions (classes), debate them in committees and in a full council session. The pupils' motions are handed to real politicians after each game, who discuss them again, check their feasibility and implement many of them. A second class accompanies the game as a "press team", producing a film and a printed magazine. Because of the positive experience in Hanover, similar formats were run annually on Fehmarn from 2011 under the name "Pimp My Island!" and in Hildesheim in 2011 and 2012 as "City-Upgrade". As of 2016, Pimp Your Town! was also being run in Uetze, Hasbergen, Goslar, Hemmingen, Laatzen, the Hanover region, Cappeln, Jork and Isernhagen. Further simulation games were realised within the "Zukunftsprojekt Erde" (Science in Dialogue) framework in Hanover, Munich and Magdeburg. Even abstract topics such as a rulebook for a city district were implemented with pupils in a parliamentary process, for example the "Sahlkamp-Charta". A characteristic feature of the association's simulation games is close cooperation with local politics, which enables both the later implementation of pupils' motions and the holding of the game in the respective town hall. In its media projects, the association has developed formats such as "Kulturscanner", in which school classes split into small working groups, independently acquire specialist knowledge about cultural institutions and then present it entertainingly to peers. For members of the Bundestag such as Kerstin Tack (SPD), the association also addressed federal political topics with pupils: in the "WahlkreisTACKtiker" project, pupils made films on topics such as data protection or career preparation, gathering opinions and facts in their surroundings and turning them into surveys, interviews, comics or short scenes. Further film projects produced films on complex social issues such as forced marriage or naturalisation; the film "Kartoffel werden", for example, is distributed by the Hanover naturalisation authority to people wishing to be naturalised and explains the path to German citizenship in simple, understandable terms. For several years the association has also offered workshops on artificial intelligence, explaining and trying out how AI can be used in practice, where people encounter AI in everyday life, how AI works and what challenges arise from it. The "Kinderrat" democracy project targets primary school pupils, aiming to teach them the effectiveness of local democracy while making their home town more liveable; for this programme the association was recognised by the German Stiftungszentrum in 2017. Other projects include career-preparation formats such as Berufshelden, Bewerbungspaten and the Ich-Kampagne, which help pupils recognise and present their own strengths and prepare for job interviews and assessment centres, partly through cooperation with companies. Survey projects such as Umfrage1417 have pupils conduct a survey class by class, evaluate it and present the results publicly, usually on the topic of young people's leisure behaviour and quality of life in their district or town, providing insights for youth facilities and local politics. With the PLACEm app, pupils can safely carry out participation procedures and elections. The association has received numerous awards. In 2011, "Pimp Your Town!" was named Germany's best education idea as an "Ort im Land der Ideen". In 2015, the Realschule Isernhagen won the Best Witness Award at the international Kid Witness News student film competition with the association's support. In 2017, the association received the Primus Prize of the Stiftung Bildung und Demokratie for the Kinderrat project. In 2018, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded the founders Monika and Gregor Dehmel the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande, and the association received the special democracy-promotion prize of the Google Impact Challenge. In 2024, it received the Hans-Sauer Prize for the project "Pimp My Future!". According to its German Wikipedia entry, more than 10,000 pupils of all school types take part in the association's projects each year, and the association has around 40 staff. It finances itself primarily on a project basis and through cooperation with foundations. In 2026 it announced Demokratie.company, a programme of democracy projects for companies, including the Demokrateam event and certification as a "Kommunalpolitikfreundlicher Arbeitgeber".

• 2026

  Demokratie.company programme for corporate democracy projects announced.

• 2024

  Association received the Hans-Sauer Prize for the project 'Pimp My Future!'.

• 2018

  Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded the founders the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande; association received the special democracy-promotion prize of the Google Impact Challenge.

• 2017

  Association received the Primus Prize of the Stiftung Bildung und Demokratie for the Kinderrat project.

• 2016

  Pimp Your Town! running in Uetze, Hasbergen, Goslar, Hemmingen, Laatzen, the Hanover region, Cappeln, Jork and Isernhagen.

• 2015

  Realschule Isernhagen, supported by the association, won the Best Witness Award at the international Kid Witness News student film competition.

• 2012

  City-Upgrade run in Hildesheim for the second time.

• 2011

  Pimp Your Town! named Germany's best education idea as an 'Ort im Land der Ideen'; Pimp My Island! launched on Fehmarn; City-Upgrade run in Hildesheim.

• 2009

  Pimp Your Town! simulation game first run in cooperation with the state capital Hanover.

• 2006

  Politik zum Anfassen e.V. founded by Monika and Gregor Dehmel.

Non-partisan, independent and non-profit political education that combines participation with fun and impact, from kindergarten to adult education, with a focus on local democracy.

• Pimp Your Town!

  Simulation game for pupils on local politics, run with the state capital Hanover since 2009.

• Pimp My Island!

  Simulation game run annually on Fehmarn from 2011.

• City-Upgrade

  Simulation game run in Hildesheim in 2011 and 2012.

• Kinderrat

  Democracy project for primary school pupils, recognised in 2017.

• PLACEm

  App for safe digital participation procedures and elections by pupils.

• Kommuki

  Open-data platform.

• WahlFUN

  Participation exhibition.

• Mobile escape rooms

  Mobile escape room formats for political education.

• Kulturscanner

  Media project in which school classes research and present cultural institutions.

• WahlkreisTACKtiker

  Film project with Bundestag members on topics such as data protection and career preparation.

• Kartoffel werden

  Film explaining the path to German citizenship, distributed by the Hanover naturalisation authority.

• Umfrage1417

  Survey project in which pupils conduct and present surveys on youth leisure and quality of life.

• Demokratie.company

  Corporate democracy projects including Demokrateam and certification as a local-politics-friendly employer.

1. 1Politische Bildung und Jugendbeteiligung - Politik zum Anfassen e.V.politikzumanfassen.de
2. 2Demokratie.company - Politik zum Anfassen e.V.politikzumanfassen.de
3. 3Demokratie.company - Demokratie-Projekte für Unternehmenpolitikzumanfassen.de
4. 4Politik zum Anfassen - Wikidatawikidata.org
5. 5Politik zum Anfassen - Wikipediade.wikipedia.org