This briefing has been produced in response to Scotland’s Community Choices programme and aims to support public sector organisations wishing to develop ‘mainstream’ Participatory Budgeting(PB) initiatives. It complements the recent Guide to Participatory Budgeting Grant-making released in September 2016 It is relevant to any organisation working in the UK with an interest in furthering democratic… Read More
Resources
Learning about Participatory Budgeting through best practice
Rural transport community led commissioning featured as model of good practice
The Uist and Barra Public Bus Service Redesign project has used innovative methods to improve service outcomes for rural communities through procuring services in a new way. By using participatory budgeting methodology the community has had the opportunity to be fully involved in the design and procurement of their bus services. Together with the use… Read More
Small is beautiful: Buckfastleigh builds Participatory Budgeting from the ground up
In October 2016 Buckfastleigh Town Council held the first open deliberation in their Participatory Budgeting inspired process for engaging residents in the work of the Town Council. Often PB starts with a funding pot and a request for bids, which then go to a public vote. Yet too often these participatory grant making processes, which… Read More
Grant Making Through Participatory Budgeting: A ‘How To’ Guide.
Grant making through Participatory Budgeting: A ‘How To’ Guide for Community Led Organisations and community engagement workers. Launched in September 2016, this guide was written by PB Partners, at the request of the Scottish Government, to support the £2m Community Choices programme. Specifically written with community led organisations in mind but also useful for front… Read More
RSA sets up the Citizens Economic Council
Though not quite participatory budgeting, the RSA’s new Citizens Economic Council project is certainly inspired by it. In the prospectus for the Citizens Economic Council research was undertaken on PB in Porto Alegre, seen as the founding example of a worldwide phenomena. The RSA prospectus makes the case for why we need a better and… Read More
Guidance on E-PB from the PB Unit
One of the jobs the UK PB Network does is save and make available the valuable work done on PB over many years. So we re-publish many toolkits produced in the days of the the PB Unit, that ran from 2008 to 2012. One of these, not previously on this site is the first coherent… Read More
Buckinghamshire’s Area Forums using PB
In Buckinghamshire, some Local Area Forums have held ‘community budgeting’ schemes over the past few years. These schemes have taken place in Aylesbury, Amersham and Wendover. To see the details of the projects that have benefited from this community budget money, view the previous years’ reports. Its unclear if the project is continuing in 2016…. Read More
Can Children Take Part in PB?
This article is an extract from the full story on the website of the Center for Urban Pegagogy in the USA and was published in 2012. How can someone who is too young to vote have a say in the future of their neighbourhood? What does civics really look like in action? In the spring… Read More
SQW’s Evaluation of Participatory Budgeting in England 2011
In 2011, just as the New Labour sponsored English National Strategy for PB was winding down, the evaluation of the programme undertaken by SQW was published. Though its no longer readily available on UK government websites, unless you know where to look. Therefore a copy of the report "Communities in the Driving Seat" has been… Read More
Third Force News reports political commitment to £100m for Participatory Budgeting
In a recent article, Third Force News, the ‘voice of the Scotland’s third sector’ reports a commitment from the SNP to extend the role of participatory budgeting(PB) to 1% of Glasgow City Council’s Budget if it takes control of the city in upcoming elections. In a city with a population of around 600,000, that is… Read More