Participatory budgeting

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Participatory budgeting is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. Participatory budgeting is usually characterized by several basic design features: identification of spending priorities by community members, election of budget delegates to represent different communities, facilitation and technical assistance by public employees, local and higher level assemblies to deliberate and vote on spending priorities, and the implementation of local direct-impact community projects. Various studies have suggested that participatory budgeting results in more equitable public spending, higher quality of life, increased satisfaction of basic needs, greater government transparency and accountability, increased levels of public participation (especially by marginalized residents), and democratic and citizenship learning.

[edit] Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre and Brazil

The first full participatory budgeting process developed in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, starting in 1989. Participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre is an annual process of deliberation and decision-making, in which thousands of city residents decide how to allocate part of the municipal budget. In a series of neighbourhood, regional, and citywide assemblies, residents and elected budget delegates identify spending priorities and vote on which priorities to implement.

Many Brazilian scholars have studied the impact of Participatory Budgeting both on government spending, allocation of resources and target areas. They have found that was a trend towards spending more in less favoured neighborhoods, inhabited by lower income families. Nevertheless, most if not all of theses studies have based themselves on government collected data, and no independent studies have been performed so far to check the validity of those results.

Critics of participatory budgeting have pointed out that there is no law compelling the government to actually follow what has been decided by the regional assemblies, how much of the actual budget should be used, and how the assemblies should be composed. It is said they are usually attended almost only by militants to the Worker's Party and akin organisations, whom stack the meetings, hence making them decide what the government had decided beforehand. Finally, it is common that the government publishes the budget according to what has been decided by the participatory budgeting process, but does not implement it later. The government files, which are the source of all academic research done so far, would then provide a false picture of success to a system that would in practice not be different from the normal running of a liberal democratic system.

[edit] Participatory Budgeting around the World

Since its emergence in Porto Alegre, participatory budgeting has spread to hundreds of Latin American cities, and dozens of cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. More than 200 municipalities are estimated to have initiated participatory budgeting. In some cities, participatory budgeting has been applied for school, university, and public housing budgets. These international approaches differ significantly, and they are shaped as much by their local contexts as by the Porto Alegre model.

In Europe, towns and cities in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom have initiated participatory budgeting processes. Participatory budgeting has been implemented in Canada with public housing, neighborhood groups, and a public school, in the cities of Toronto, Guelph, and West Vancouver. Similar budget processes have been used in communities in India and Africa.

[edit] External links

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