A report from Participatory Budgeting expert Yves Cabannes, emeritus professor of Urban Planning at University College London, explores the contribution made by PB to the service provision of cities and local authorities. Published by the International Institute of Environment and Development, the reports abstract says: "Over 1,700 local governments in more than 40 countries are… Read More
International
What's happening in Participatory Budgeting internationally
50,000 New Yorkers take part in the latest round of Participatory Budgeting
The USA based Center for Effective Government has just published a blog reporting the rapid growth of Participatory Budgeting in New York, since the first time it was trialled there only a few years ago. In 2011 pioneering elected officials of 4 city districts each put $1m of their own discretionary funds into a new… Read More
Fund My Community: $1m dollar online PB launched by Government of South Australia
The Government of South Australia has launched a $1m online programme called ‘Fund My Community‘. That’s Australian dollars so about £500,000. The initiative is part of its ‘Your Say’ programme, and they have created a video to help promote the idea. Through Fund My Community, the Government of South Australian is using participatory budgeting to… Read More
Can participatory budgeting support a more open government?
At a meeting in early March 2015 of the OGP civil society network, Sue Ritchie, acting chair of the PB Network, posed the radical idea of 1% of all public expenditure being decided through an open, participatory democracy process , based on PB best practice around the world. This in turn stimulated a blog by Oliver… Read More
Thinkpiece on democratic innovation published by Foreign Affairs website
In an article published on the 11th March 2015 on the respected Foreign Affairs website, Paolo Spada and Hollie Russon Gilman provide a overview of the development of participatory budgeting (PB) in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil since the late 1980’s. They consider what’s been achieved in the birthplace of PB, as it evolves… Read More
Report on Paris: ‘largest’ participatory budget in Europe
Paris has been experimenting with PB. Despite some criticism the initiative started as too ‘top down’, over years it promises to change the way Parisians engage with their city. Mayor Hidalgo has committed to invest 426 million euros from now until 2020, about 5 percent of the entire city budget. In a recent report by… Read More
New York expands PB in new social housing programme
New York has been pioneering a massive PB initiative over the last few years and this continues to grow. New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito recently announced in her State of the City address that the Council will appropriate new funding in the FY 2016 budget to expand the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process to… Read More
International report indicates budget engagement increases tax collection rates
Tiago Peixoto is regarded as one of the leading commentators and experts on Participatory Budgeting, not least through his work with the World Bank and elsewhere. In a new blog he cites recent international research on the relationship between engagement and increased satisfaction with local governance, especially in relation to a willingness to pay more… Read More
Participatory Budgeting Improves Public Service Delivery
A report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDP) provides a systematic overview of many international experiences of Participatory Budgeting (PB). While it is similar to many academic and governmental reports in that it qualifies its findings overall it concludes that PB does improve decentralized public service delivery. Put simply … involving citizens in deciding on… Read More
Everyone Counts: could Participatory Budgeting change democracy?
A new book by Josh Lerner, executive director the the North American Participatory Budgeting Project is the result of winning a new USA democracy award, coordinated by the Penn State Institute for Democracy. The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes outstanding individuals, groups, and organizations that produce exceptional innovations to further democracy in the… Read More