PB Training Course in Portugal

There will be an advanced training course on participatory budgeting in Europe June 22-23 in Coimbra, Portugal.

For more info (in spanish or portuguese), see:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/curso-op/indexesp.php

Reportback on International Participatory Budgeting Conference in Spain

From March 28 - April 1, 2007 the city of Málaga, Spain hosted an international conference on participatory budgeting. I’m posting the conference program and most of the powerpoint presentations below, as well as some of the most interesting bits of information. This is all based on my understanding of the speakers’ presentations of course, but it's accurate to the best of my knowledge.

Conference Program

Spain
- Most of the PBs in Spain, or at least those at the conference, have a strong emphasis on “autorreglamento” – a process in which the set of rules of the PB are written by the participants themselves. Often the first step in initiating a PB is an extended process of autorreglamento, in which city residents plan the initial rules and structure of the PB.
- Many Spanish municipalities with PB are now trying to find ways to coordinate annual PB processes with medium and long-term strategic planning.
- In Sevilla, the largest European city with a PB, the budget assemblies are generally organized autonomously by “grupos motores” (motor groups): local residents that are particularly enthusiastic about the process. During the election of budget delegates in assemblies, each person votes for 2 women and 2 men, to promote gender equity.
- In the small Spanish town of Las Cabezas de San Juan, organizers used some very creative and provocative imagery to inspire people to participate in the PB. The process was called “El Reparto” (no good translation, but roughly “the divvying up”), and posters portrayed different animals partitioned to be carved up:

As Javier Encinas, one of the organizers, explained, this imagery aimed to bring the PB to the level and language of everyday life, to better provoke people and get them to associate with the process.
- In Palomares del Rio, another small Spanish town, these same organizers inspired residents to do a needs assessment and discuss local problems by making a telenovela (TV soap opera). The residents picked a different town problem for each episode, and then filmed the telenovela focusing on this problem, in typical soap opera style. The telenovela was aired on TV and generated much publicity, while mobilizing residents to get involved in town planning, and have fun at the same time!
- Both Sevilla and Córdoba have active youth PBs, with 4,000 youth participating in Córdoba and 5-6,000 in Sevilla.
Powerpoint Sevilla (Spanish) (Paula Garvín, Vice-Mayor of Sevilla)
Powerpoint Córdoba (Spanish) (Inés Fontiveros, Vice-Mayor of Córdoba)

Germany
The Berlin district of Lichtenberg (260,000 inhabitants) launched PB in 2006, after a 5 year process of preparation. The PB decided 30 million of the 500 million Euros total budget. Not surprisingly, the process is rather technical and rational, and focused on the administrative system since there is little community self-organization. The district solicits budget proposals through 3 forums: Open Councils (assemblies), the Internet, and a random survey of 10,000 residents. Each proposal then has to find at least 5 people to endorse it before it can be assessed. It is then assessed by an evaluation workgroup composed of 12 elected citizens. If it passes the evaluation, it is then sent to the district parliament for approval. In 2006, 367 projects were evaluated and 42 of those moved on to the parliament. One challenge is how to bridge the gap between proposal submission and evaluation, since it was not always clear how projects were evaluated. (Daniel Tietze, District of Lichtenberg)
Powerpoint (Spanish)
Powerpoint (English)

Italy
In Italy, most PBs start with focus groups and surveys to define the rules, then have an experimental phase, at the end of which the rules are approved. The PBs are generally driven by leftist parties and emerge as a result of top-down electoral priorities. Most of the processes are in peripheral edge cities, outside of larger metropolises. (Michaelangelo Secchi, Cooperativa Mesaverde)
Powerpoint Milano (Italian)

Portugal
Nine municipalities and three city districts are doing PB, with the first starting in 2002. The processes are mostly in the South of the country and were initiated by Socialist and Communist parties. (Nelson Días, In Loco Association)
Powerpoint (Portuguese)

Senegal
The mayor of the town of Matam (20,000 inhabitants) spoke about its PB, one of many in the country. To give an indication of the different context, before 2002, the city didn’t know its budget – no one tracked it. The PB process in Matam involves a constant exchange between the city and neighborhood committees. The city asks committees to prioritize projects and decide their costs, then the committees and city employees develop the budget together through many meetings (co-management). The city council even includes one spot for a councilor from the town’s international diaspora, who mobilizes resources from the diaspora that are used for the PB. (Mayor Abdoulayé Drame)
Powerpoint and Photos (French)

Dominican Republic
In the Dominican Republic 120 cities have some form of PB, even though the first process only began in 2003. All three major parties are doing PB and 40% of the country’s population lives in a city with PB. These processes are just for capital budgets and just territorial (not thematic). Since 2005 a national organism (Unidad Nacional de Seguimiento y Asistencia Técnica) has been promoting and coordinating PB throughout the country, which is one of the main reasons for the rapid growth. (Frances Jorge, Dominican Federation of Municipalities)
Powerpoint (Spanish)

Uruguay
PB is being implemented at the county level in the Departamento de Paysandú. The county is a mix of rural and urban areas, with 113,000 people, 1 city of 80,000, and 8 other local town boards. The process started in 2005 and is annual, and it includes a mix of territorial and thematic assemblies (the mix is different in urban and rural areas, to reflect local contexts). (Helena Heinzen, Secretary General of Paysandú)
Powerpoint (Spanish)

Ecuador
The mayor of Cotacachi (42,000 inhabitants) spoke about its PB process, which is 6 years old and notable for its strong links with other local participatory processes (in health, education, etc.) (Mayor Luz Marina Vega)
Powerpoint (Spanish)

Brazil
The city of Fortaleza (2.4 million inhabitants) uses a multi-year PB planning process called Participatory Planning of Public Administration. It addresses macro-level and long-term policies, dealing with infrastructure and services. (Mayor Luizianne Lins)
Powerpoint (Portuguese)

Canada
In Canada there have been two horizontal extensions of PB (at the municipal level but outside the municipal budget) and two submunicipal extensions (in neighborhood or district budgets). In Guelph, PB has been implemented in a coalition of neighborhood organization, using multiple public and private funding sources. In Toronto, public housing residents are doing PB through the public housing authority, Toronto Community Housing. In West Vancouver, PB was used in one elementary school, allowing students to decide how part of the school budget was spent. In Montreal, one city district initiated PB in 2006. (Josh Lerner, New School for Social Research)
Powerpoint (Spanish)
Powerpoint (English)

Update on Porto Alegre

Aaron Schneider published an update on participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre yesterday:

Crisis in the Home of Participatory Budgeting: Technical Accuracy and Hierarchy
Cidade
11/04/2007


Excerpt:
"My high hopes are based on ideas and practices that are core to participatory budgeting,even if not always present. The ideas of which I speak include deliberation, which is the
construction of common understandings among citizens to create a self-conscious, independent and innovative civil society. The practices to which I refer include participation, by which civil society organizations are mobilized to support and legitimate state efforts to address pressing social needs, especially those associated with poverty and inequality.
(...)
They are being replaced by an alternative idea, technical accuracy, and an alternative practice, hierarchy. I do not argue that technical accuracy and hierarchy have no place in urban administration. Indeed, they are constructed from a proud Brazilian tradition of positivism and rationality, particularly strong in Rio Grande do Sul culture and history. Yet, this reorientation is dangerous in the current context. This was made clear to us in a preparatory meeting in the Northeast Region of the city on Saturday, March 24th, 2007."

full article