Our Village: Freienhagen and Streitberg in the state competition
In a neck-and-neck race, Waldeck-Freienhagen (Waldeck-Frankenberg district) and Brachttal-Streitberg (Main-Kinzig district) prevailed in the 37th "Unter Dorf hat Zukunft" competition. Both villages have thus advanced to the next round - and will take part in the state competition of the national competition.
The winning villages thus prevailed over 11 other villages that also took part in this year's regional decision. The Waldeck-Frankenberg district, the Main-Kinzig district and the Hochtaunus district formed a common region, which was visited by an eight-member evaluation commission consisting of people from all districts in the past weeks.
Waldeck-Freienhagen (Waldeck-Frankenberg) took first place and receives prize money of 5,000 euros; Brachttal-Streitberg (Main-Kinzig district) came in second with prize money of 4,000 euros. Both towns qualified for the state competition. Schlüchtern-Wallroth (Main-Kinzig district) came in third and will receive 3,000 euros. Frankenberg-Geismar (Waldeck-Frankenberg) took fourth place and receives 2,000 euros and Vöhl-Basdorf (Waldeck-Frankenberg) reached fifth place and prize money of 1,000 euros. Other successful participants were Battenberg (Eder)-Laisa, Diemelsee-Adorf, Lichtenfels-Rhadern, Vöhl-Asel and Willingen-Bömighausen - all from Waldeck-Frankenberg - as well as the villages of Steinau an der Straße-Sarrod and Steinau an der Straße-Ulmbach from the Main-Kinzig district and Usingen-Kransberg from the Hochtaunus district.
Local people have worked with enthusiasm and pride to present their places: Maps, brochures and lectures - also in dialect - were prepared, many projects explained and typical regional delicacies served. Various performances rounded off the special programme. Topics such as the loss of infrastructure, networking, climate protection, mobility or vacancy were discussed as well as joint action of the different age groups and associations or the preservation of traditions. The villages surprised with many creative ideas: The commission was shown numerous examples of how to revitalise formerly vacant buildings. Residents took initiatives to sell buildings. New citizens, returnees or refugees were warmly welcomed and addressed personally or given an information brochure. The focus was also on inner development and strengthening village structures.
"The evaluation was not easy and was also made more difficult by the different starting points of the villages," reports the head of the evaluation commission Sigrid Göbelk from the village and regional development department of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district. "Our heads were spinning on the day of the decision and we often had to use the documentation and photos of the visits. It was a long process." The result was very close: "More often identical scores were awarded, the two winning locations differed by only 0.5 points, which made the decision."
The commission was pleased about every village that took part in the competition. According to the local representatives who travelled with the villages, the structural, economic, social and cultural development of a village is given new impetus by the competition with its enormous civic commitment. "It is very impressive what the villages have achieved together and what great potential there is in rural areas," said the Commission, summing up this year's competition and congratulating all the prize-winners and participants. To support this commitment in addition to the prize money, each village receives a bonus of 500 euros from the responsible districts.
This commitment is also praised by the District Administrator of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district Jürgen van der Horst: "I congratulate the winning villages on their success and thank all participating villages for their impressive commitment. Actually, they have all won, because in them active citizens are committed and work together for the future of their region."
Special prizes from the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection for outstanding projects in the individual subject areas of €250 each will be awarded for:
Area 1: Development concepts and economic initiatives
Usingen-Kransberg - for the development strategy of the day care centre through the "KinderGarten" project (imparting knowledge in the area of nature and landscape through the construction of a teaching and learning area on a private property with cultivation and care of herb, fruit and vegetable plants, construction of a bee house, implementation of forest days).
Area 2: Social commitment and cultural activities
Steinau an der Straße-Ulmbach - for the conversion and further use of the former Nahkauf shop into a "refugee oasis". Nahkauf shop into a "refugee oasis" (voluntary establishment of a multifunctional centre with a clothing store, a meeting place/cafe, language classes for refugees and people with a migration background).
Area 3: Building design and settlement development
Diemelsee-Adorf - for increasing the attractiveness of the village through the subsequent use of vacant buildings and the renovation of building fabric (conversion of electrical shop into care station for the Diakonie, conversion of vacant building into ice cream parlour/cafe with sale of regional products, concept for provision of public services in the former shopping shop). Shopping shop)
Area 4: Green design in the village and the relationship to the landscape:
Vöhl-Asel - for the transfer of knowledge in the area of fauna and flora (project: bat nature trail, installation of nesting opportunities, design of open spaces suitable for the village (seating area/leisure area/water treading basin/natural water design) with the use of plants suitable for the village as well as explanations on this through display boards).