Newcastle's children and young people receive award for PB

UDecide won the award for Innovative Engagement 2008 for their Children & Young people's participatory budgeting pilot from the Academy of Sustainable Communities.

The judges comments on deciding to give them the award were:

"A simple, creative and responsive process that can have a real impact on communities, now and in the future. It also has great adoption potential across different situations."

They won the award because the project demonstrated that it has opened doors to involvement in powerful processes and demonstrated to decision-makers that young people can act wisely. The project co-ordinators say; “The range of presentations and the work that children and young people
in particular have put into them has been both powerful and moving for adults to observe, and highly empowering for the children involved.”  A U decide participant, aged 9, says: “It’s good to let children decide how to spend public money. If it’s just adults, we won’t get what we need.”

To read the full press release from the Academy of sustainable communities click here