What is Participatory Budgeting?
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a mechanism of public bodies which allows citizens to directly make decisions on a public budget. There is much debate around a clear and concise definition of PB which emcompases all that PB offers without being too prescriptive. The debate isn't resolved yet, however here are some options:
Our definition is:
"Participatory budgeting directly involves local people in making decisions on the spending and priorities for a defined public budget. PB processes can be defined by geographical area (whether that’s neighbourhood or larger) or by theme. This means engaging residents and community groups representative of all parts of the community to discuss and vote on spending priorities, make spending proposals, and vote on them, as well giving local people a role in the scrutiny and monitoring of the process and results to inform subsequent PB decisions on an annual or repeatable basis."
Wikipedia has defined PB ilike this:
"Participatory budgeting is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. Participatory budgeting is usually characterized by several basic design features: identification of spending priorities by community members, election of budget delegates to represent different communities, facilitation and technical assistance by public employees, local and higher level assemblies to deliberate and vote on spending priorities, and the implementation of local direct-impact community projects. Various studies have suggested that participatory budgeting results in more equitable public spending, higher quality of life, increased satisfaction of basic needs, greater government transparency and accountability, increased levels of public participation (especially by marginalized residents), and democratic and citizenship learning."
The World Bank says this about PB:
"Participatory budgeting represents a direct-democracy approach to budgeting. It offers citizens at large an opportunity to learn about government operations and to deliberate, debate, and influence the allocation of public resources. It is a tool for educating, engaging, and empowering citizens and strengthening demand for good governance."
The department for international development describes PB as:
"Participatory budgeting is an approach through which an entire community, or
particular elements of a community, can participate in the budget process. The level of participation can range from the consultative to the design and execution of budgets."
