Participatory Budgeting (PB)

What is PB?

Participatory budgeting, or PB as its more commonly known, is a recognised process that allows local people to decide how money is spent within their city or local community. It is used all over the world, including other parts of Northern Ireland, to improve civic participation and give people a voice in the decisions that affect them.

PB exercises vary in size and scope, but they all follow the same process:

1. Money is allocated to address a specific issue or local need.
2. Ideas on how to address that need are generated.
3. Local people vote for the project ideas they think will have the greatest impact.
4. The projects with the most votes get funded.
5. Once the projects have been delivered, each project reports back to their community, showcasing what they did and the difference they made. This is usually done at a celebration event.

In many PB exercises residents, community groups and other organisations are invited to put forward their ideas and projects for how to address that need. They then compete for a share of the PB funding. Only the best projects, as voted by the local community, get funded.

In some cases, a local council or similar organisation provide a list of projects for communities to choose from or invite communities to prioritise how an allocated budget should be spent. Voting can be done in-person at a special event or through an online voting process.

PB in Belfast

As a council, we want our residents and communities to feel that they are listened to and that they can have a say on the decisions that affect them. Similarly, the Belfast Community Planning Partnership, who is responsible for the Belfast Agenda, is working to ensure that local agencies and local communities work better together so everyone can enjoy a good quality of life. Therefore, we want to expand our engagement practices and improve how we involve local people and stakeholders in discussions and deliberations. We feel that PB will help us do that as it allows local people to influence what happens in their area and to decide how money is spent within their community.

Although PB is not a new process, it is a new concept for Belfast. So, to help us get started, the Active Belfast Partnership will take forward the first PB process in Belfast. The theme of this first test PB project is “Move more and eat well - to feel better”

Community organisations, schools, clubs or groups of two or more people - anyone really who has a good idea for to help people move more and eat well to feel better - can put in an application for funding of up to £1000. Belfast residents will then decide which projects gets funded by voting for the projects they think will make the best impact on local health and wellbeing.

We hope that this PB project will empower local people and give our communities a greater say on what happens in their area. It will also help us understand how PB works and how it might be used in other ways across Belfast. To find out more about our first PB and how you can get involved, click here or on the image above.