[Volunteering shapes rural areas. Opportunities and limits of civic engagement for municipal safeguarding of sustenance].

Rural areas are challenged differently by demographic change than urban areas. Prognostic data for the newly formed German states illustrate very clearly that the safeguarding of sustenance in rural areas requires redirection in order to maintain vivid municipalities that are prepared for the future. Civic engagement has a special meaning in this context, as it can open new possibilities for action. It is hoped that civic engagement by many inhabitants can be one answer to urgent challenges for safeguarding sustenance at the local level. Projects to screen the potential of civic involvement have been set up at the political level. Research has been initiated in order to identify success factors to cope with these trends, e.g., the program "Aktiv im Alter" (Active Ageing) and the workshop series on how volunteering/civic activities can help shape rural areas. The analysis of the projects makes visible the potential inherent in self-organization and civic engagement in many municipalities. However, it becomes clear that framework conditions need to be adequate. Also, there is a limit to what can be achieved through self-organization and civic engagement. This approach does not release politics and administration from their responsibility to take care of the safeguarding of sustenance.