Caspar Kolster

About me

I am driven by the conviction that better political processes are possible and necessary. The 21st century must bring about a new, more open kind of democracy to tackle the massive global challenges ahead inclusively.

I work at the intersection of practice, research, and training to spread the use of more inclusive decision-making processes from companies and NGOs to the parliaments of Europe.

Since 2019, I have been one of the founders and am now the director of APROPOS-Advancing Process in Politics, an NGO dedicated to exploring, applying, and spreading more deliberative and fit-for purpose decision-making processes in politics.

My skills

Facilitation Event facilitation (training by Peter Woodward and Mia Forbes Pirie, European Forum Alpbach's participatory leadership and facilitation team, IFOK Participatory strategies (trained by (r)evolutionary ideas, adaptive leadership network, IFOK) Project and event management APROPOS gUG (founding and directing a non-profit) Mercator European Dialogue Research and publications at APROPOS at GMF

Why you should work with me

My priorities in designing processes are to be to the point, participatory, and human-centred. These are the key qualities needed to organise conversations about systemic changes towards more sustainability.

Climate change has been a core topic of my activities since the beginning of my career: at IFOK, I worked on dialogues around installing sustainable energy infrastructures; for the institute for ecological economics (IÖW) and with (r)i, I worked on a practical guide to sufficiency politics (Landkarte Suffizienzpolitik). I volunteered to join a team implementing a novel knowledge map on ecological economics (MINE) in a collaborative process with Prof. Malte Faber. With the Mercator European Dialogue, I co-organised several events with policymakers on sustainability and economic scenarios of non-growth and planetary limits. For Klima-Allianz Deutschland, I designed and carried out a yearly strategic retreat.

My work experiences

As Facilitator:

Climate Network of the Berlin Districts network creation with a group of climate policy officers of the Berlin district-level administrations, starting 2020. Funded by Projektträger Jülich with EU Commission/federal and state-level ministries financing [with APROPOS]

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung process design and facilitation for the 20th foreign policy conference [with APROPOS]

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo facilitation for an adaptve leadership training course for the international talents program [with Sistema Italia]

Klima-Allianz Deutschland process design for and facilitation of the yearly strategy retreat [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

MINE-Mapping the Interplay between Nature and the Economy communication design (pro bono) for a knowledge platform on ecology and economics

Union Sozialer Einrichtungen e.V. facilitation of the yearly strategy retreat [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

Marshall2Me Workshop Series concept, process design and facilitation of a workshop series with young professionals [with German Marshall Fund]

Mercator European Dialogue process and communication design, facilitation and project management for a network of 200 members of parliament from across Europe [with German Marshall Fund]

Landkarte Suffizienzpolitik communication design for a knowledge platform on sufficiency politics [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes coaching for social entrepreneurs awarded with a government scholarship [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

Employed:

APROPOS gUG Co-founder and director, since 2020

Mercator European Dialogue / The German Marshall Fund of the United States  Trainee>Program Assistant>Program Coordinator, 2016-2019.

Deutscher Bundestag student assistant work for Martin Doermann MdB, vice-chair of the SPD group in parliament and member of the culture and traffic/infrastructure committees, 2015

IFOK GmbH student assistant in the cluster energy and infrastructures, 2012-2013

My education & training

Universität Konstanz/Universitat Pompeu Fabra Research Master (double degree MA/MSc) European Government (Political Behavior), 2013-2015

Universiteit Maastricht BA European Studies, hons., Semester abroad at Sabanci Üniversitesi, Istanbul, 2009-2012

St. Raphael-Gymnasium Heidelberg Secondary degree (Abitur) 1999-2008

My references

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung process design and facilitation for the 20th foreign policy conference [with APROPOS]

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo facilitation for an adaptve leadership training course for the international talents program [with Sistema Italia]

Klima-Allianz Deutschland process design for and facilitation of the yearly strategy retreat [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

MINE-Mapping the Interplay between Nature and the Economy communication design (pro bono) for a knowledge platform on ecology and economics

Union Sozialer Einrichtungen e.V. facilitation of the yearly strategy retreat [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

Marshall2Me Workshop Series concept, process design and facilitation of a workshop series with young professionals [with German Marshall Fund]

Mercator European Dialogue process and communication design, facilitation and project management for a network of 200 members of parliament from across Europe [with German Marshall Fund]

Landkarte Suffizienzpolitik communication design for a knowledge platform on sufficiency politics [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]

Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes coaching for social entrepreneurs awarded with a government scholarship [with (r)evolutionäre ideen]