Participatory budgeting is a policy tool that directly involves community members in decisionmaking about allocating government resources. There are many detailed guides to getting started with participatory budgeting in your community; here is one such introductory guide prepared by CitizenLab.
As you might expect, a key component of successful participatory budgeting is communication and transparency. If community members are not informed of the process, they can’t fully participate, which undermines the democratizing goal of participatory budgeting. In this way, participatory budgeting processes align with human rights values and norms, which also stress the human right to participation, and government obligations of transparency and accountability.
In addition to expanding community engagement, participatory budgeting can also be harnessed to address human rights concerns facing a community, such as housing, water, food, or other basic rights. In Recife, Brazil, for example, the participatory budgeting process includes community forums on issues such as culture, education, and senior and youth services. Recife’s process also includes a separate child-focused budget process to ensure that children’s issues receive the attention that they need.
Please watch the video and review this detailed case study of Recife’s participatory budgeting process.