Your views needed on PB values principles and standards to
help inform how PB is developed in the UK.
The
PB Unit has recently published some draft values, principles and standards
for PB in the UK.
We need
your views.
Do they provide enough clarity and guidance for PB without hampering
your style?
The document looks at the sticky issue of defining participatory budgeting
and has attempted to come up with something that fairly succinctly
explains PB.
The document then moves on to look at 9 values headings and the principles
and standards which underpin those values. The values are:
1) Local
Ownership
2) Direct Involvement
3) Support Representative Democracy
4) Mainstream Involvement
5) Accessibility
6) Transparency
7) Deliberation
8) Empowerment
9) Co-responsibility
We are
seeking your views on both how we're defining PB and the values, principles
and standards we've attributed to PB.
We're asking for you to respond before June 30th 2008 so that
we can use your views to develop a final version of the document.
To download
and view the document in full including the feedback form click
here 
To
visit the Involve wiki pages, to find out more about our consultation
and contribute online click
here
(You will need to sign up to post a comment)
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PB Unit E-bulletin – May 2008 edition
Pilot
Updates
Newcastle: After successfully piloting participatory budgeting
in three of Newcastle's outer wards since 2006, Newcastle is rolling
out PB to five wards in 2008, as well as continuing the city-wide
PB events with children and young people with £2.25 million
for 2008/09
Local councillors for each of the five wards have initiated the PB
processes, because they saw how successful PB could be from the original
pilot. Some of the councillors have even gone as far as providing
their own budgets to be used for PB demonstrating how keen they are
for local residents to get involved and have their say over council
budgets.
The five wards are South Heaton, Newburn, Walkergate, Denton and Ouseburn.
The money being allocated to spend via PB methods varies from £5,000
to £200,000 in each of the five wards. Each has a different
theme and different pots of money including devolved highways budgets,
Section 106 planning monies, individual councillor budgets and devolved
ward budgets.
Salford: Following the successful use of PB last year in the Claremont
& Weaste Community Committee area, the East Salford Community
Committee held 3 PB events on February 28th to agree local priorities
for both the remainder of the 2007/08 budget (£85k) & 2008/09
budget
Since 2006, Salford City Council has devolved decision making on £100,000s
worth of highways improvements to each of eight local Community Committee's.
Following the successful use of Participatory Budgeting last year
in the Claremont & Weaste Community Committee area, the East Salford
Community Committee held 3 PB events on 28th February, to agree local
priorities for both the remainder of the 2007/08 budget (£85,000)
& 2008/09 budget (to be confirmed).
Over 145 people attended the events on 28th February, where votes
were added together the three events at the end of the day to provide
the overall priorities for the area. Priority schemes included a mixture
of improved street lighting, path improvement, and traffic calming
measures.
PB Unit
News
Values
Principles & Standards: The PB Unit has recently published
some draft values, principles and standards for PB in the UK and we
need your views. Do they 'do it' for you? Do they
provide enough clarity and guidance for PB without hampering your
style? We want to know. See above to download consulation document
PB Toolkit Launched: The PB Unit has, today, published it's
toolkit on participatory budgeting - the one stop resource on participatory
budgeting projects. The much awaited participatory budgeting toolkit
has finally arrived!We think it's been worth the wait. We developed
a resource which will help your implement PB in your local area. It
has everything from templates and resources to step by step guides
and information on participatory budgting.
The toolkit is in two sections - Section A is information sheets on
participatory budgeting, everything from it's history, the current
pilots in England, different PB methods used in the UK to what the
PB Unit can offer you. Section B is the 'how to' guide - a step by
step process of how to implement two different kinds of PB processes
with resources and tools developed by the existing pilots and practitioners
which you can adapt and use for your situation. To download or order
a copy of the toolkit click here <http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/resources.htm>
Successful regional
seminar in Newcastle: In response to demand for an event in Newcastle
from those in the North East region, following the postponement of
our national conference in April, we have put on our first regional
seminar with the Government Office North East and Regional Empowerment
Consortia on 13th May. It was a 1 day event with people coming from
all over the region and from all walks of life including community
groups, public sector organisations and interested individuals. The
unit is planning to put on regional seminars in all the English regions
over the coming year, with an event in the North West in June.
New Website: The
new PB Unit website is due to be launched during May. The website
has been given a completely new look with lots of new features including
sections for communities, the public sector and organisers. Plus there
are case studies of pilots, FAQs on PB, resources and our latest news
and events. The new website will be the place to come for all things
‘participatory budgeting’. Please keep checking our site
as it will go live soon and we welcome your feedback on the new site.
We are still developing it so all comments count. We will also be
developing, in a second phase towards the end of the year, a login
area with discussion forums to talk about PB with other practitioners,
blogs, space to upload your own case studies, pictures and videos.
New member of the team:
Ana Miranda, a post graduate student at Manchester University, has
joined the PB Unit as a volunteer for a number of months. Ana is from
Brazil and has worked on participatory budgeting there. She is working
with Ruth on researching the international context of PB and developing
the evaluation framework.
Returning member of
the team: We are happy to welcome back Jenny Lazarus from her
travels in New Zealand. Jenny has returned to her original post as
Administrator in a job-share with Lorraine Shaw. Lorraine is working
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Jenny is working Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday to provide full cover for the unit.
Policy Update
Government and Involve pubish the ‘community power pack’:
The Department for Communities & Local Government jointly with
Involve, launched the Community Power Pack, designed to help local
groups organise and facilitate events about empowerment. Government
wants to hear your views on empowerment. On 9th April, the Department
for Communities and Local Government published the Community Power
Pack. The pack has been created to help local groups to organise and
facilitate discussions on the topic of empowerment. It contains suggestions
for the format of the meeting, advice for facilitators and organisers
as well as detailed information about key empowerment issues. Your
feedback will be used by Communities and Local Government to inform
and shape empowerment activities, including the Empowerment White
Paper. Click here for more information: <http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/powerpack>
Making headway with PB and Police and Health: The Unit has been
in discussions with civil servants at the Home Office and Department
of Health to push forward the PB agenda in more government departments.
There has been some really positive responses and we are working on
criteria for pilots with police and seeing how PB can fit with the
current health agenda. Watch this space…
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PB Unit
E-bulletin – March 2008 edition
WORKSHOP ON PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
Tuesday 13 May, 10.30 – 3.30
Collingwood-Stevenson Room
Newcastle Upon Tyne Civic Centre
Barras Bridge, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Newcastle, NE99 2BN
Following the postponement of our conference on participatory budgeting
in Newcastle Upon Tyne, the PB Unit is offering a workshop on PB particularly
aimed at those who live or work in the North East or have easy access
to Newcastle. The workshop will be hosted by Newcastle City Council
at the civic centre and led by the PB Unit. It will provide an opportunity
to:
· Look at the background and development of PB in the UK
· Explore the policy context of PB
· Learn from examples of PB from a range of pilots
· Take part in a simulation game to experience how PB works
· Reflect upon the different budgetary possibilities of PB
· Think about barriers to overcome
· Identify next steps in establishing a PB process
For further details please contact Lorraine Shaw.
Tel: 0161 236 9321
Email: lorraines@church-poverty.org.uk
Pilot
& other projects update
Newcastle –
Newcastle City Council has recently agreed to devolving £2.25million
for young people to decide how to spend it.
Manton (Nottinghamshire)
– Due to the success of the original pilot, New Deal for Communities
has agreed to continue the PB project with a further £50,000
of funding plus additional funding from the Primary Care Trust for
health related projects in Manton.
Lancaster –
Morecambe recently put on a very successful PB grant-giving event,
with local people in Poulton, Morecambe deciding on how £20,000
should be spent. A television crew attended and taped the event, and
are hoping to show it as part of a programme on channel 4.
Manchester –
The Fallowfield area of Manchester recently had an exciting PB grant-giving
event where local people decided on how £6,000 for environmental
projects should be spent.
PB Unit
News
New team member
– Phil Teese has recently been appointed as the Unit’s Programme
Manager, based in Manchester, and will be starting in April.
Toolkit – A
paper copy version of the PB Unit’s new toolkit will be ready
by mid-April. The toolkit provides useful information on PB, a ‘how
to’ guide with steps for implementing a PB process and useful
resources for PB events. A web-version of the toolkit, with interactive
elements, will be available later in the year.
Values, Principles &
Standards Consultation – The PB Unit is publishing a paper
on values, principles and standards for consultation. The purpose
of the paper is to provide parameters for PB without imposing too
many restrictions that innovation becomes prohibitive. The paper also
draws on the recent government PB strategy consultation in defining
PB. The paper will be published on the PB Unit’s website: www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk.
Showcasing PB Conference
– Unfortunately, due to matters out of our control, we have had
to postpone the conference on 1-2nd April until early autumn. More
information will be sent out shortly.
PB Workshop in Newcastle
– We are holding a 1-day workshop on PB in Newcastle on 13th
May. All conference attendees have automatically been included, although
everyone is welcome. Please contact Lorraine Shaw for more information
at lorraines@church-poverty.org.uk
Other
News
National Reference Group
– The National Reference Group met on 25th February in London
to discuss how other government departments can become involved in
PB. Following the Flanagan Review of Policing, the Home Office are
keen for PB to be implemented in neighbourhood policing. The group
also heard updates from a number of pilots including Newcastle, Lewisham,
St. Helens, and Birmingham and the recently published CLG PB strategy
was discussed. The group is currently reviewing it’s structure
and the various merits of joining up with other empowerment methods,
however, it is anticipated that the group will meet again in the autumn.
PB Strategy Consultation
– The Department for Communities and Local Government published
it’s PB strategy for consultation on 19th March. The strategy
defines what the department considers to be PB, with examples of how
PB has been implemented in the UK so far. It sets out the department’s
ambitions for PB in local government and it’s plans for the pilots.
The consultation period runs until 10th June and the consultation
can be found at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/
Empowerment White Paper – The government has produced
a white paper on empowerment “unlocking the talent of our communities”
and specifically mentions PB within the document as a means of empowering
local communities. The white paper is currently out for consultation
with the expectation that further consultation questions will emerge
as the strategy develops into the summer. To download the white paper
and for more information please go to http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/
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Participatory Budgeting Unit E-bulletin January
2008
Keighley
PB Pilot Update
The Keighley Participatory Budgeting pilot programme reaches the final
round of neighbourhood resident scrutiny panel meetings in Jan/Feb
’08.
£130K of Neighbourhood Renewal funding was distributed into
eligible neighbourhoods across Keighley in Nov ’06 – decisions
on which projects to fund were made by local residents.42 projects
were funded – ranging from childrens’ play facilities to
home security improvements.
Residents have been actively involved in the scrutiny process of project
delivery of the last 12 months, demonstrating the ability of local
people to make informed decisions throughout the PB cycle.
This model is now being rolled out in Lewisham following their ‘Decision
Day’ in September 07, showing that it can be adapted to a variety
of local conditions.
Wiltshire and Cornwall
County Councils
Both authorities are planning to use participatory budgeting as a
process for developing high quality community engagement as they move
from a two-tier to a unitary authority. Both will also be part of
the first rural PB pilots in partnership with the PB Unit and the
Commission for Rural Communities.
PB Unit
News
New member of staff
The PB Unit has appointed Ruth Jackson as our new Research and Information
Officer.
PB in Wales
Towards the end of 2006 the PB Unit worked in partnership with a broad
based communities organisation, Together Creating Communities (TCC),
to develop a PB pilot in the borough of Wrexham in North Wales. The
pilot was focused on a budget of the Community Council in the village
of Coedpoeth.
The successful pilot highlighted the enormous potential for PB in
Wales and TCC have been recently been successful in attracting grant
funding from Help the Aged and the Big Lottery in order to employ
a full-time development worker for PB in the area. The PB Unit will
be working in partnership with TCC to develop this piece of work.
Events
and Seminars
Showcasing PB Conference
The PB Unit will
be running a conference hosted by Newcastle City Council on 1st and
2nd April 2008. The conference will look at the work of the various
PB pilots which are developing in different areas.
There will also be opportunity at the conference to share some of
the thinking about values, principles and standards for PB as well
as a first look at a PB toolkit. The conference will be very participative
with a range of workshops and PB simulation games.
Details and booking from lorraine@participatorybudgeting.org.uk
New round of PB seminars
The PB Unit is partnering the Local Government Information Unit in
running a regular programme of seminars on PB in central London. The
first of these will be on Tuesday 12 February 2008. Details can be
found on the LGiU website
------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome
to the Participatory Budgeting e-bulletin
November 2007
The PB Unit works to empower communities through the development of
UK models of participatory budgeting
In this
issue:
1) Policy news and announcements
2) PB Unit News
3) News from pilot PB programmes
4) New resources on PB
5) Events and seminars
----------------------------------------
1) Policy
news and announcements
Launch of the Community
Empowerment Action Plan
Hazel Blears launched the action plan on the 19th October in a speech
to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NVCO) Conference.
In her address she commented "I see no reason why, in five years'
time, there shouldn't be a community kitty in every local authority.
We're supporting the work of the independent "Participatory Budgeting
Unit" - who help local authorities understand what they can do,
how they can do it, and what the benefits could be.
See the full text at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/speeches
Download the action plan at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/
Idea undertaking research
into current practise of PB
Communities and Local Government has asked the Improvement and Development
Agency (IDeA) to build up a picture of what is already happening in
councils throughout England.
If you have already tried participatory budgeting (PB), we want to
hear about your experiences with it. What service areas did you use
it for? How did local people respond? Would you do it again, and if
you did, what might you do differently next time?
See: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7377456
Negotiating New Local
Area Agreements
Published on the 18th September 2007 this document is the first part
of two-stage guidance on the negotiation process for negotiating a
new LAA. This first part tells the 'narrative' of each level of government
with respect to the LAA process. It also incorporates the lessons
learnt from feasibility testing, helps to 'de-mystify' the negotiation
process and helps to set expectations that each can have of each other.
See http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/
Consultation on third
sector representation
The Dept for Communities & Local Government has just published
the attached consultation document, "Principles of representation:
A framework for effective third sector representation in Local Strategic
Partnerships".
Closing date for comment: 12 February 2008.
More info at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications
Hazel Blears outlined
her support for PB at a conference co-presented by Opinion Leader
and The PB Unit on 25 Oct in London. The Secretary of State repeated
her commitment to working towards every local authority in England
doing some form of PB in 5 years time.
The National Association
for Local Councillors used its annual conference to explore PB
and how it relates to the role of local councillors. The conference
was on 17 Nov in Belfast.
----------------------------------------
2) PB
Unit News
Participatory budgeting
and Young People
On the 1st October around 20 experienced youth empowerment professionals
met in Manchester to consider opportunities for children and young
people to benefit from using PB ideas. Save the Children is, for example,
actively seeking funding to accompany new PB work, with the intention
that PB can help reduce child poverty by giving children and young
people a voice in decision making. Contact details were exchanged
at the meeting and the intention is to develop a body of resources
on the topic, initially through setting up a discussion forum.
If you are interested in pursuing this topic further please get in
touch with jez.hall@participatorybudgeting.org.uk
, or Imogen at i.gregg@savethechildren.org.uk
.
New staff at PB Unit
Alan Budge from Bradford Vision is now working on secondment with
the PB Unit. Alan brings considerable practical experience from his
work for the Keighley PB pilot.
Lorraine Shaw has also joined the Unit, providing administrative support.
Jobs advertised working
for the PB Unit
Details of two new posts working at the PB Unit are available at http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/news-items/jobs-available-in-caps-pb-unit.
Closing dates for applications are the 10th December 2007
----------------------------------------
3) News
from pilot PB programmes
Lewisham small grants
pilot
£51,000 of NR funds were allocated at a decision day in September,
held across two wards in the Borough of Lewisham. Projects were invited
from community organisations in the Evelyn and Bellingham wards, and
resources were decided through a 'peer voting' system. This was the
first PB event in London, and was particularly significant in terms
of mainstream political support: the mayor and deputy mayor were both
in attendance, the latter commenting ' this sort of afternoon makes
me very proud to be a local ward councillor.'
Lancaster City Council
supports pilot in Poulton area of Morecambe
A £20,000 small grants PB process is developing in the neighbourhood
management area of Poulton. It is hoped to hold the decision making
event in mid February 2008. A learning group drawn from the Poulton
Neighbourhood Management Board will work with council staff to design
and deliver a process aiming to encourage those not generally involved
in community affairs to apply for £2000 grants. The programme
will be called 'In your hands', a name proposed by pupils from a local
school.
PB Unit compiling list
of new pilots
Around 14 new pilot programmes for PB have been identified by the
PB Unit. If you are planning a PB event or activity, make sure you
let us know. In future issues of this newsletter we hope to be able
to signpost people to all the new work as it develops.
----------------------------------------
4) New
resources on PB
Government Backs website
on people and participation
People and Participation.net, a new resource to help people across
the country influence Government decision-making, has been launched
by Involve. The interactive website was built by citizen empowerment
group Involve and e-democracy pioneers Headshift. The site is supported
by the Department of Communities and Local Government, the Ministry
of Justice and the Sustainable Development Commission.
For further details see:
http://www.peopleandparticipation.net
or
http://www.involve.org.uk/
IDeA adds resources
on PB to its website
IDeA(the Improvement and Development Agency) has created a new section
on PB, giving an overview of best practice and recent experiences,
including case studies and links.
It draws on the experiences of six councils involved in piloting participatory
budgeting in their area, and considers what councils need to do to
make it a success.
See http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7314620
Cordoba website
Information on Cordoba's innovative PB programme, (in Spanish only)
is available at http://participacionciudadana.ayuncordoba.es
Elke Loeffler, from Governance International recently presented a
case study on Cordoba to the UK National Reference group for PB. Cordoba
was the longest standing experience with PB in Europe (running since
2000). A mix of territorial bottom-up approach and sectoral approach
is used. Elected citizen PB delegates play an important role in defining
the methodology (in particular the indicators used in the budget matrix)
and by monitoring the implementation of approved proposals. Final
selection of proposals is made by City Council with local councillors,
citizen delegates and representatives of local associations. In 2006
the proposals covered 3.6 percent of the budget.
Community budgeting
in Scotland
A number of projects in Scotland connected to a programme of community
budgeting have done interested work relevant to England and Wales
on coordinating multiple service budgets, particularly in rural areas.
Fife's community budgeting pilot is reported at:
http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/uploadfiles/
Contact PB Unit for information on other pilots in Scotland
Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing (the city's public housing authority) recently
posted on its website a new overview of its participatory budgeting
process. This is probably the clearest description of a PB experience
in North America, and of PB in public housing. See http://www.torontohousing.ca/key_initiatives/community_planning
US forum on PB launched.
As a result of two sessions on participatory budgeting at the US Social
Forum, a new United States PB Network is forming. At the meeting at
the Social forum a shortlist of useful international websites was
produced. Our own PB Unit (http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk)
but also
Italy's Cooperativa Mesaverde (http://www.mesaverde.it
,
Spain's Cooperativa ETC (http://www.cooperativaetcs.org
),
and Brazil's CIDADE (http://www.ongcidade.org
).
To be involved in the US
discussion group, please join the network's listserv at
http://groups.google.com/group/participatory-budgeting-us
OECD/World Bank paper with PB case studies
The OECD / World Bank paper "Beyond Public Scrutiny: a stocktaking
of social accountability initiatives in OECD countries" profiles
40 government accountability programs, including interesting examples
of participatory budgeting in Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain, France,
the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK.
See http://www.zebralog.net/open/BeyondPublicScrutinycoverandtext.pdf
The Participatory Budgeting
International Network
This international forum of PB experts has a considerable archive
of messages, and links to events overseas.
You can join the listserv
at: http://lists.topica.com/lists/participatorybudgeting
Or view the resource Site at: http://www.ParticipatoryBudgeting.org
5) Events
and seminars
Here, the People Decide?
New forms of participation in the city.
Two years…Four countries…Six cities……Any answers?
31st January 2008, Bradford University.
For two years Bradford University has been researching participatory
engagement with activists and practitioners into how they are able
to use new spaces for involvement in local decision-making: exploring
Manchester, Bradford and Salford in the UK, Porto Alegre in Brazil,
Medellin in Colombia and Caracas in Venezuela. They are holding a
one-day conference to discuss their findings. To book a place, contact
Heather Blakey: 01274 236044, email h.blakey2@bradford.ac.uk
For more information:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/icps/
----------------------------------------
Our Contact details:
Participatory Budgeting
Unit
Central Buildings
Oldham St
Manchester
M1 1JT
Email: mail@participatorybudgeting.org.uk
Tel: 0161 236 9321
Fax: 0161 237 5359
More information on PB
on our website
www:
http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/
----------------------------
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