On the 26th October 2015 the PB Network held our national Participatory Budgeting(PB) conference. Over 70 people gathered for a stimulating day of workshops, debates and presentations.
The conference was held at Studio Innovate rooms in the heart of Birmigham city centre, as well as a range of breakout spaces. Providing us with a modern high quality venue over 2 floors were we couldnetwork, exchange ideas and learn from each other.
The conference included many opportunities to find about what is happening in the world of PB … internationally, at the national level and within your community.
- Stimulating high profile speakers included world renowned PB expert Giovanni Allegretti and leading academic Prof Graham Smith of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster.
Presentation were made by Kathleen Glazik, policy officer at the Scottish Government Community Empowerment Unit, who introduced a specially recorded video address from…
Alex Neil MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights
- Workshops were tun to build learning on a wide range of topics. From digital engagement to new models of policing and on delivering wellbeing, all delivered by leading practitioners including DEMSOC, Caroline Latta, Paul Twivy and Dr Andrew Fisher.
- PB ‘Unconference’… our open space afternoon where in free flowing debate and deliberation we tackle the issues that mattered to those promoting participatory democracy. Facilitated by experts in creating dynamic learning communities.
The event ran from 10.30 am through to around 4.30pm. Competitively proiced fro conferences of this type, we also offered free bursary places, as we wanted to include as wide a selection of voices as possible. The conference simply looked to cover its costs, with the aim of spreading best practise and building a stronger PB network, able to accelerate the cause of citizen empowerment and open government. From the groundbreaking work currently happening across Scotland through to the smallscale innovative PB work in local communities across the UK and beyond, Participatory Budgeting is a proven method of engaging the hardest to reach, of re-building engagement with political processes, and modernising public service delivery.
- Conference resources are available on our conference report page
- Conference twitter feed at
#PBNet2015