The participatory budget in Porto Alegre
The text describes the experience of the participatory budget promoted by the Municipality of Porto Alegre (Brazil) since 1989. It describes the Porto Alegre participatory budget framework and the operational dynamics of this practice of public management of political power. This practice allows citizens to participate in designing local development strategies and to monitor the utilization of public funds.
Participatory Budgets: Feasible in Guatemala?
This article analyzes the feasibility of implementing a participatory budget (PP) in Guatemala. It begins with a brief discussion on the meaning and potential of the PP in Brazil to establish a starting point for its implementation in Guatemala. The text briefly concludes with a list of challenges for local governments to undertake in order to demonstrate the necessary political will to duplicate this proposed development of public funds.
A Guide to Participatory Budgeting
Participatory Budgeting (PB) programs are innovative policymaking processes. Citizens are directly involved in making policy decisions. Forums are held throughout the year so that citizens have the opportunity to allocate resources, prioritize broad social policies, and monitor public spending.
Happiness is Like Water in a Net: Presentation notes on the Porto Alegre Participatory Budget, Brazil
Tolstoy once said that happiness is like water in a net. When you bring the net out, it loses its density. The same happens to the democratic process. You can sell its basic rules (regular elections, freedom of speech and organization, rule of law), but you can't sell its flesh. You can't have an entire society reproduced. According to our view, Participatory Budgeting is not only a government program, we think of it as part of a broader process, the building of a new social contract.
Outline of the Participatory Budget in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Since 1994 CIDADE has been actively involved in the Participatory Budget in Porto Alegre and has been a major instrument in the democratization of municipal budgets, which are formulated with the direct participation of the public in setting priorities for public investment. It breaks radically with the practice of elaborating the municipal budget inside official meetings, and through this method the public are part of the decision making process for management of their local area.
Full text - Spanish