• Project number: F 2423
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Completed Project

Description:

The website www.demowanda.de, which was set up as part of the project, has now been taken offline.

This project evaluated an interdepartmental monitoring programme that provides easily accessible, up-to-date information on developments relevant to the world of work in Germany on the demowanda.de Internet portal. This monitoring programme had been commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS) under the German Federal Government's demographic strategy.

The fact that this was the first time context-specific, specialised data and research findings from various departmental research institutions had been pooled on a large scale effectively made the monitoring programme a pilot project. A multidimensional approach of this kind is essential for the understanding of complex social challenges such as demographic change. This is the only way of adequately identifying interactions between different areas of life that have to be taken into account in reporting in order to develop sustainable solution strategies.

Against this background, the practicality of the website and its suitability as a monitoring tool were to be analysed and, with a view to project implementation, findings reached that would contribute to interdisciplinary work and the process design of interdepartmental projects. Various survey methods were used (document analysis, online user survey, guided interviews, and web statistics analysis). Overall, the monitoring was assessed favourably, even though the lack of practical guidelines was commented on. Adequate resources, clear mandates for all participants, and clarity about roles and decision-making competences are key factors in the success of such or similar projects (involving the participatory development of monitoring systems with large numbers of participants).