Experiences Of Participatory Budgeting Research Articles

VINTE ANOS DE ORÇAMENTO PARTICIPATIVO: ANÁLISE DAS EXPERIÊNCIAS EM MUNICÍPIOS BRASILEIROS

O estudo teve como objetivo analisar as experiências de Orçamento Participativo (OP) nos municípios brasileiros, tendo tido como foco principal o seu processo de implantação e os principais resultados alcançados. As variáveis que serviram de base para o estudo foram organizadas em cinco dimensões de análise: participativa, administrativa, normativo-legal, financeira e territorial. Para tanto, foi feito um levantamento das publicações referentes aos municípios brasileiros que tiveram experiência de OP em três ou mais gestões desde 1989, tendo-se obtido um total de 43 artigos referentes às experiências de 26 municípios. O método utilizado foi a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados mostraram que, para todos os municípios, o ciclo do OP durante o processo de implantação foi formado por oito etapas. Contudo, as variáveis analisadas mostraram que a tendência do processo do OP foi de assumir contornos próprios de acordo com as características e necessidades de cada município. Em resumo, as variáveis que explicaram as experiências bem-sucedidas do OP foram vontade política e cooperação entre os membros da prefeitura e da sociedade; continuidade administrativa e maturidade no processo; participação da comunidade nas assembleias; coesão entre planejamento, técnica, administração e OP, e a credibilidade do processo. Ressalta-se que, apesar do avanço do Orçamento Participativo, os municípios analisados sequer passaram da segunda fase, ou seja, os municípios apenas legitimaram o OP. Em outras palavras, as práticas participativas são ainda marginais na cultura política nacional. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Orçamento participativo, municípios, democracia, políticas públicas, participação popular. ABSTRACT The object of this study was to analyze the experience of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in the Brazilian municipalities, focusing on the process of implantation and the main obtained results. The variables on which the study was based were organized in five dimensions of analysis: participative, administrative, normative legal, financial, and territorial dimension. For this purpose, a survey of publications concerning the experience of Brazilian municipalities in PB in three or more governments since 1989 was carried out, obtaining 43 articles relating to the experience of 26 municipalities. The method used was content analysis. The results had shown that in all municipalities the cycle of PB during the implantation process was composed by eight stages. However, the analyzed variables revealed that the process of PB tended to acquire new outlines according to the characteristics and needs of each municipality. In brief, the variables that explained the well succeeded experiences of PB were political diligence and cooperation between members of the city council and society; administrative continuity and maturity in the process; participation of the community in the assemblies; cohesion between planning, technique, administration and PB; and the credibility of the process. It is emphasized that, despite the development of Participatory Budgeting, the municipalities analyzed did not even pass the second stage, which means they had only legitimized the PB. In other words, participatory practices are still considered marginal in the national political culture. KEYWORD: Participatory Budgeting, municipalities, democracy, public politics, popular participation.

A theory of participatory democracy based on the real case of Porto Alegre

Participatory democracy is a process of collective decision making that combines elements from both direct and representative democracy: Citizens have the power to decide on policy proposals and politicians assume the role of policy implementation. The aim of this paper is to understand how participatory democracy operates, and to study its implications over the behavior of citizens and politicians and over the final policy outcomes. To this end, we explore a formal model inspired by the experience of Participatory Budgeting implemented in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, that builds on the model of meetings with costly participation by Osborne et al. [2000. Meetings with costly participation. American Economic Review 90, 927–943].

A model and case for supporting participatory public decision making in e-democracy

In this paper, focusing on participatory public decision making processes, I propose a framework for group support systems and discuss related research issues. As a case illustrating the feasibility of participatory public decision making, I present the participatory budgeting experience in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The case is analyzed based on the proposed framework.

New Public Spheres in Brazil: Local Democracy and Deliberative Politics

AbstractBrazilian cities have been the sites of significant experiments in participatory and deliberative governance. Participatory budgeting has to be singled out as one of the most important of these. After the landmark experience in Porto Alegre, participatory budgeting has been expanded to 170 Brazilian cities. Is the expansion of participatory budgeting equivalent to the expansion of the deliberative and distributive characteristics of the Porto Alegre experience? This article argues that the conditions that account for the emergence of participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre are unique to that city’s social or political characteristics. It focuses on the role of existing civil society associations in the emergence of participatory budgeting, as well as in its institutional format. It also shows that the presence of civic associations is linked to the deliberative and distributive results of participatory budgeting and that these conditions may not be present in other participatory budgeting experiences.

Children and Young People Build Participatory Democracy in Latin American Cities

Children, Youth and Environments 15(2), 2005 Children and Young People Build Participatory Democracy in Latin American Cities Yves Cabannes Graduate School of Design Harvard University Citation: Cabannes, Yves. (2005). “Children and Young People Build Participatory Democracy in Latin American Cities.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(2): 185-210. Comment on This Article Abstract This paper presents case studies from four cities in Latin America—Cotatachi in Ecuador, Barra Mansa and Icapui in Brazil, and Ciudad Guyana in Venezuela—all of which involved initiatives to foster the active participation of children and young people in the governance of their cities. It describes the larger context in each case, the methods used to involve young people, the process as it evolved over time, the challenges experienced, and the impact of the initiatives. All four projects included the adoption of participatory budgeting as an approach to participation by young people. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons drawn from these cases. Keywords: Children, youth, local governance, participatory budgeting, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela© 2005 Children, Youth and Environments Children and Young People Build Participatory Democracy in Latin American Cities 186 Introduction This paper presents four case studies from Latin America, all of them focused on efforts over a period of several years, starting in the late 1990s, to assert the right of children and young people to an active role in their cities. The cities in question are Cotacachi (Ecuador), Barra Mansa and Icapui (Brazil) and Ciudad Guyana (Venezuela). These cities vary considerably in terms of their size and other characteristics, but they shared in common the willingness to foster the active participation of young people. The case studies all focus on “Urban Consultations,” the cornerstone of interventions supported by the Urban Management Program (UMP) for Latin America and the Caribbean.1 These UMP consultations aimed to facilitate dialogue between urban administrations and other sectors of the community—in this case, children and young people—with an interest in resolving the community’s most pressing problems, and in strengthening the capacity of local participants to support these improvements. The experiences described in these four case studies all attempted, to a greater or lesser degree, to extend or adapt the phenomenon of participatory budgeting to include young people. Since 1989, participatory budgeting has become an important tool and area of innovation for the promotion of citizenship, democracy and local development in many Brazilian municipalities, and increasingly also in other South American countries and in Europe. The common thread in these participatory budgeting experiences is the involvement of local residents in decisions about the allocation of some part of the municipal budget. Every experience is unique, however, and there are variations with regard to the level of influence exercised by local citizens, the percentage of the total municipal budget involved, the extent of citizen involvement in the control and management of work after the budget has been approved, and the degree of formality or flexibility in the process.2 While these variations are evident in these four case studies involving young people, what they share is perhaps more important. All of them indicate the need, and provide the opportunity, to identify and address the priorities of young people, to provide a space within which they can function as citizens, and to consider the ways in which power can be shared at the local level with these young citizens. Cotacachi, Ecuador: A Municipality “Built on Childhood and Youth” Context The cantón of Santa Ana of Cotacachi, in the north of Ecuador, is geographically, ethnically and culturally diverse. Its three zones, the urban area, the sub-tropical zone and the Andean zone, range from 1600 to 4939 meters above sea level. The population of 37,250 consists of mestizos, blacks and indigenous people, the latter representing around 60 percent. Children and young people between six and 24 years make up 40 percent of the population. Livelihoods revolve around agricultural production, handicrafts, tourism and some Children and Young People Build Participatory Democracy in Latin American Cities 187 hotel industry. Limited access to land and the continuous division of family holdings has meant a sharp increase in rural impoverishment, resulting in considerable outmigration . The population growth rate...

The People's Budget? Politics, Participation and Pro‐poor Policy

Recent moves towards ‘participatory’ budgeting have raised hopes and expectations that spending and revenue generation can be made more pro‐poor if informed citizens and their non‐traditional political organizations participate directly in budgeting decisions. This article reviews experiences of participatory budgeting and pro‐poor policy‐making in Brazil, Ireland, Chile, Mauritius, and Costa Rica. It draws attention to several important issues: Who participates? What kind of institutional framework is necessary? What happened to the revenue‐generation side of pro‐poor budgeting? It points out that making spending and taxation more ‘pro‐poor’ has historically depended on pro‐poor political parties gaining power.

Participatory budgeting: a significant contribution to participatory democracy

This paper describes participatory budgeting in Brazil and elsewhere as a significant area of innovation in democracy and local development. It draws on the experience of 25 municipalities in Latin America and Europe, selected based on the diversity of their participatory budgeting experience and their degree of innovation. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the range of experience that can be included in participatory budgeting – in terms of the level of funds being considered, the extent of control and mode of involvement of local citizens, the relationship with local government, the degree of institutionalization and the sustainability of the process – and it considers the questions that are raised by this diverse set of possibilities.