Participatory budgeting is a democratic procedure for drawing up a budget in which citizens without a political mandate take part in the process of planning the budget.

In this form of public participation the focus is on local financial policy. Allocating public funds is a key instrument of economic policy, with which the distribution of resources – and thus the power structure – are determined. Participation by ordinary citizens in drawing up the budget makes this central sector of public administration more transparent, and is directed toward structuring public expenditure to achieve social justice and meet actual needs. Apart from this, the process of negotiating the allocation of funds on the basis of consensus strengthens people’s awareness of the meaning of democracy and boosts their willingness to play an active part in civil society.

The procedure was introduced for the first time in Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, originally as an experiment in democracy; it was then gradually transformed into an institutionalized participation process.

The idea of participatory budgeting (originating in Brazil and other non-European countries such as Uruguay, South Africa, New Zealand etc.) has also been implemented in various different ways in Europe: in Germany, e.g. in Berlin Mitte, Berlin Lichtenberg and Emsdetten, in France, e.g. in several towns in the Paris region, and in Spain, e.g. in Cordoba. To date rather more than 300 communities are estimated to have initiated participatory budgeting. More details are available here!

In Austria efforts are being made to introduce participatory budgeting particularly at the district level in Vienna, though actual implementation is yet to come. An interesting example of sectoral participatory budgeting has been developed in Vienna in connection with providing grants for cultural activities in the new-media field. Working together with Netznetz, a platform for net art and net culture (website in German only), the city administration has developed a participatory sponsoring model. Since January 2006 the community of artists has been involved in reaching decisions about making grants; projects are put forward for consideration through an internet-based voting procedure and are submitted to the relevant department for approval.

Gender budgeting is closely related to participatory budgeting. Gender budgeting is already a very widespread approach internationally; it involves monitoring public finance as regards the impact of revenue and expenditure policy on women and men, and restructuring it with the aim of gender equality. As with participatory budgeting, it is essential to make the process of planning the budget transparent, while tapping the know-how of gender experts from the scientific community and NGOs and making it possible for interested citizens to participate. Gender budgeting initiatives start from (a) gender-differentiated analyses of particular budgetary measures and (b) the effects of overriding principles laid down for budget or economic policy in general on women and girls / men and boys. Taking unpaid work (done predominantly by women) into account is an example of a new departure in methodology.

You will find more on the subject of participatory budgeting on the following pages: 

>> Characteristics of participatory budgeting

>> The participatory budget in Porto Alegre

>> Participatory budgeting initiatives in Europe

>> The citizens’ budget in Berlin Lichtenberg