Connect Wageningen is a city council party by youth, students, internationals and newcomers in Wageningen, for all Wageningers. Established in early 2017, the party ran for local elections in March 2018. Our first election resulted in 2 seats in the city council of Wageningen!

Connect Wageningen is founded by Mark Reijerman, with the idea for a greater inclusion and better representation of citizens in the city council of Wageningen. We aim to represent youth and newcomers. With 25% of inhabitants in Wageningen being students and Wageningen consisting of over 100 nationalities, Connect Wageningen wants to make their voices heard in the city council. Additionally, Connect Wageningen wants to improve the cooperation between Wageningen University & Research and the municipality including closing the gap between the university and local citizens.

Vision

Our vision for local politics is one that is easily accessible, inclusive, transparent, and represented by the people of the city. One that is connected to-, involved with-, and empowers all citizens to participate in society by strengthening bonds through using locally available resources.

Our vision for Connect Wageningen is to become an enduring local political party who is a leading example for youth, students, and young changemakers across the world that can use our knowledge and experience to drive change in their own region.

Mission

By representing youth, students, internationals and newcomers in Wageningen we build a more inclusive society.

All year long, we are visible, accessible, and transparent throughout the city to empower other citizens to participate and create their own city. We do this by being continuously connected every single day; we engage in society and use the knowledge and resources locally available, and offer opportunities to young citizens to build a community of the future. These enable us to accurately influence policy making and drive change.

We do all of this, while striving to make Wageningen a better place for all. Even if the best choice for Wageningen comes at the expense of our own image. Only this way we can guarantee that we will make integer choices.

Above all we are all people and volunteers who want to have a fun time. This ensures that people will have fun working together with us. Therefore, gezelligheid is important to us, internally and externally.