ARTICLE ︎

Participatory budgeting for people power

Published in Open Democracy

“Under participatory budgeting programmes, citizens of the municipality decide how and where to use the money spent on their behalf. It’s an immersive process and often a creative one, through which citizens take control of their immediate local area. This process allows citizens to learn about the wider processes involved in ensuring that their area flourishes, and about the realities of their neighbours’ lives. It’s historically led to the breaking down of cycles of poverty and inequality, the exorcising of preferential treatment of special interest groups and a cementing of local identity and purpose.”

(Full article available here)