Research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) proves that democratic societies are richer than others; moreover, democratization leads to the economic development of countries as a whole, even if not all areas are engaged in the reforms. This study contrasts paternalism as the parental behavior of any hierarchical system that violates the freedoms and personal autonomy of individuals (groups); and participatory governance, which aims to involve individuals in the decision-making system at various levels. First introduced in 1989 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the participatory budget (hereinafter PB) has since been adopted in many regions, both in the European Union and worldwide, with communities in Ukraine starting to implement PB in 2015. Sumy territorial unit joined this process in 2017. Only three years' results (except for 2020 through COVID-19) are not enough to analyze certain patterns; however, this study identified some positive changes and barriers to the development of PB, which may be the starting point for further research in this area. This study identified the main trends - reducing the submission and funding of projects in 2021 after a one-year break (due to the pandemic situation), increasing the number of women authors (up to 63%), the invariability of the categories for which projects are submitted. Thus, the leaders in the field are projects dedicated to the healthy lifestyle and city beautification, followed by projects in culture and tourism, and education. To date, 21 projects have been implemented in Sumy within the framework of the PB. At the same time, the problems of further development of participatory budgeting remain unresolved, such as the complexity of the procedure for submitting, defending and implementing the project, low quality of support of authors during the project implementation and others. The introduction of educational courses in project management at the expense of the budget will not solve all problems, but will increase the level of public involvement in PB in the future, which is especially important in terms of population decline in general.