Cat Johnson has posted a useful blog offering a list of 15 innovations in citizen participation, running from Porto Alegre to Boston’s recent youth led programme. She lists 15 projects from around the world that demonstrate the potential of the PB process. Citing from the report "The first city in the U.S. to instate youth… Read More
International
What's happening in Participatory Budgeting internationally
Phillipine’s grassroots budgeting practice wins Open Govt. award
The Philippines government’s budgeting practice allowing civil society groups and local governments to identify projects had won an award in New York City. In a statement Thursday, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) the Philippines received the Gold Open Government Award for Grassroots Participatory Budgeting in the inaugural Open Government Partnership Awards last Sept…. Read More
Paris Mayor launches £426m Euro PB programme
In autumn 2014, a democratic innovation is taking place: the participatory budget for Paris. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, has committed that 5% of the investment budget of the City (representing €426 million between 2014 and 2020) will be decided by Parisians through a form of online and paper ballot Participatory Budgeting. In many ways… Read More
New Yorkers see Participatory Budgeting grow to $25m
Since 2011 a few districts of New York have seen Participatory Budgeting (PB) become a regular annual event. Based on the success of those early programmes now it is growing to encompass almost half of the city. More and more councilmen and women are choosing to include it in their promise to electors. Last April… Read More
How budgets should help realise human rights
Governments’ budgets are fundamentally about people’s human rights. They are the central means by which governments provide people with access to quality education, decent health care services, a safe working environment, potable water, and goods and services essential for lives with dignity. Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights sets… Read More
What happened when the city of Boston asked teenagers for help with the budget
In the USA they take a more direct approach to their politics. This report, from Hollie Russon Gilman describes a recent initiative in Boston that has re-energised youth participation and changed the way the budget is decided. This extract shows that Boston remains at the forefront of democratic innovation, hunderds of years after that memorable… Read More
New York continues to embrace Participatory Budgeting
Participatory Budgeting has been taking off in New York over the last four years. Between March 29th and April 6th 2014, residents of ten participating council districts were able to vote on how to spend over $14 million of public money. If you lived in one of the districts below and 16 years of age… Read More
International learning visits that drive innovation in Public Services
Photo: Liz Tapner of SELNET meeting Danish Visitors, March 2014 In collaboration with Strategihuset, a Danish consultancy promoting cooperation and dialogue between civil society representatives and public welfare organizations, PBPartners runs regular international learning tours for senior public sector and non-profit leaders. These bring opportunities for sharing knowledge about the difficult changes facing the public… Read More
8th “Best Practice in Citizens’ Participation” Awards
Photo: DVD of a previous submission to the OIDP awards The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (OIDP) runs an annual award for good practice in local government. The award is now in its 8th year. The award is meant to recognize those innovative experiences and ideas coordinated by local governments in the field of participative… Read More
White House Open Government Report endorses PB for USA
The US has released its 2nd Open Govt. National Action, and the promotion of participatory budgeting is part of it. Here’s an excerpt of the White House blog: "The United States will promote community-led participatory budgeting as a tool for enabling citizens to play a role in identifying, discussing, and prioritizing certain local public spending… Read More