Maintaining a democratic society entails the participation of all residents in municipal decision-making processes.Such participation enables people to communicate their needs and concerns to the decision-makers and to help find needs-oriented solutions. People with a migration background, however, are less involved in municipal decision-making processes than the non-migrant population. This expert brief provides an overview of the forms of participation for and of people with a migration background in selected rural areas, and discusses the opportunities they open, their potentials and challenges. The focus thereby is on those forms of participation that are initiated by the municipal administration, are implemented with the participation of the administration or which establish contact with the administration.