Partnership working is at the heart of successful Participatory Budgeting and this is nowhere more true in Dulverton, that has been pathfinding an ‘Our Place‘ approach to PB for many years. By combining forces with agencies like Devon and Somerset Fire Service, Dulverton was recently awarded Our Place status and is looking to develop it… Read More
Scottish Community Development Centre hosts PB learning event
Representatives of Participatory Budgeting (PB) projects from across Scotland met in Glasgow on the 15th October 2014 to share the rich experiences of PB in Scotland over the last 10 years. Funded by the Scottish Government, hosted by the Scottish Community Development Centre and Faith in Community Scotland it used a participatory format to capture… Read More
Boston youth among 15 international examples of PB
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
Leith Decides Open For Applications
The next £eith decides decision-making event is on 7 February 2015 at Leith Community Education Centre. The Leith Neighbourhood Partnership have handed over the decision-making on the allocation £22,092, in grants of up to £1,000, to the people of Leith. Leith Decides has been a long running and successful example from Scotland of residents deciding on small grants… Read More
Participatory Budgeting at the Consultation Institute Annual Conference
Jez Hall of PB Partners is running a workshop at this year’s Consultation Institute annual conference on the 22nd October 2014, at the America Square Conference Centre, London. The conference, entitled "The Power of the People", is one of the most high profile events in the UK consultation world. Speaking in the workshop section on… Read More
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
Byker Community Trust allocates £140k for community initiatives in 2015
Byker Community Trust (BCT) is a registered Social Housing provider in Newcastle, created through a community led stock transfer of 1,800 properties in 2012. On Sept 12th 2014 submissions closed for community based projects that will be funded in 2015 through participatory budgeting (PB) . The funding is aimed at making Byker a better place… Read More
Old PB Unit’s website is now closed
Up until early 2012 the PB Unit was the recognised lead organisation that advocated and supported the development of Participatory Budgeting in the UK. The PB Unit closed in early 2012 and from September 2014 its old website was closed down. With funding from The Department of Communities and Local Government, and managed by Church… Read More
Tulse Hill Community Led PB programme for reducing fear of crime
The votes have been counted in Tulse Hill’s first PB event. Eight pots of £400 were awarded as part of a program aimed at reducing the fear of crime. 80 local residents turned up to vote for 13 groups. The Tulse Hill Together Project was organised by the Tulse Hill Forum and funded by Lambeth Council. It… 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