Information about participatory budgeting

What are the risks and benefits of participatory budgeting?

Participatory budgeting has been extensively studied. It has been discovered that the method increases interaction between the citizens and the representatives of local administration as well as improves the sensation of mutual trust and understanding.

For the citizens, participatory budgeting provides an opportunity of being involved in the decision-making process all the way from innovation to making the final decisions. Participation in the participatory budgeting increases the citizens’ understanding about the local government’s ways of operating, the stages of the decision-making process as well as the economic realities, for example.

The government in turn obtains more information about the views and hopes of the citizens. By means of participatory budgeting, resources can be allocated to the objects that the citizens find the most important. At its best, participatory budgeting benefits both the citizens and the government – transparency and increased interaction often lead to more efficient use of resources and reciprocal learning.

The benefits of participatory budgeting will not realise without the principles of the system (openness and devolution of power). In such a situation, the citizens will lose their trust in both the government and their own possibilities of making an impact.

The implementation method of participatory budgeting must always be applied according to the objectives and the available resources. Successful participatory budgeting requires expertise and enough resources.