Dr Andrew Fisher connects strength based engagement and participatory budgeting. Find out what happened at Speke Up – Tackling Serious and Organised Crime Through Strengths Based Engagement in Speke Merseyside, a project led by MutualGain. “There is evidence that suggests a strong correlation between low social capital and high levels of crime and disorder. High… Read More
Resources
Learning about Participatory Budgeting through best practice
Participatory Budgeting within Social Housing.
Housing Associations, Cooperatives, Tenant and Arm’s Length Management Organisations are uniquely well placed to initiate and lead participatory budgeting (PB), as they often already have well structured tenant engagement processes, and much of their income comes directly from rents. PB is an ideal way to take that engagement further, and respond to the interests, concerns… Read More
I got goosebumps: Community Voting Day in Haringey
"I thought it was very very interesting, I was excited, I got goosebumps hearing about the projects and I thought this was an amazing thing to do." So said one of the participants in the "Community Voting day", held in Northumberland Park, Tottenham in 2017. Gayle Wallace, Director of G.W Training & Consultancy Ltd managed… Read More
Pushing at the limits: Participatory Budgeting and prisoner rehabilitation in Canada
Jez Hall writes about how PB can push the limits of empowerment to the most unusual of suspects. One of the amazing things about Participatory Budgeting(PB) is how it can push boundaries and break down walls. Even the walls around the criminal justice system? A step too far? Whether its in empowering young people by… Read More
Dundee Decides: Largest single PB in the UK in 2018
PB Partners and the Democratic Society worked with Dundee council on Dundee Decides on an innovative £1.2m PB programme that ran in 2018. PB Partners provided regular strategic advice and guidance to the delivery team and also facilitated an independent review to inform future developments. Demsoc provided advice on the digital platform that underpinned the… Read More
The growth of PB in Russia and Asia: Major report on learning to date
The PB Network are pleased to host a new report, co-authored by international participatory budgeting expert Yves Cabannes on the development of PB in Russia and Asia. This report follows up the Networking Session on Participatory Budgeting in Asian and Russian cities and regions that took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the World Urban… Read More
Hear the Voice, Make the Change: Guide to evaluating PB processes
Released in June 2017 this comprehensive guide from PB Partners lays out 10 essential actions to record, monitor and evaluate the impact of a PB programme. This briefing has been produced in response to Scotland’s Community Choices programme and aims to support public sector organisations wishing to evaluate their ‘mainstream’ Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiatives. The… Read More
What Works in Participatory Budgeting: Taking stock and thinking ahead in Scotland
What Works Scotland (WWS) has produced a new paper presenting findings and reflections from ongoing research in the WWS Participatory Budgeting programme, and signposting future directions for inquiry and practice. Key Points from the research are: Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic innovation that is becoming central to community empowerment and public service reform in… Read More
Orchard projects in Leeds are thriving through Participatory Budgeting
Alan Thornton, project worker for Leeds Orchard Live, who are supported by Helping Britain Blossom describes how they used participatory grant-making to distribute £3000. Small scale funding perhaps, yet vital to promoting orchard groups in Leeds. "Leeds is a city with a growing ‘orchard-ing’ culture. And its growing through PB. On Saturday 14 January 2017,… Read More
Video: Participatory Budgeting in Edinburgh
Participatory budgeting (PB) allows communities to be directly involved in decisions on the priorities and spending of public budgets. In Edinburgh, PB has been implemented since 2010. As an approach it can offer significant benefits in increasing community participation, improving the effectiveness of public spending and promoting greater community cohesion.