Exploring the Challenges of Participatory Budgeting at the Local Level

Overview.

In countries facing poverty, corruption, or instability, government decisions are often made far from the public’s eyes, resulting in disenfranchisement and deepening citizen disengagement from local government. Where implemented successfully, participatory budgeting (PB) allows people to work together to identify priority issues for their communities and determine how to best spend public funding by directly deciding over the allocation of a portion of the budget. PB’s implementation, however, is not clear of challenges. Local governments struggle to implement effective PB programs given gaps in capacity, knowledge, and resources, among others.

This session explores the challenges government officials and civil society faces on the ground when implementing PB and how a single online platform – with assimilated PB tools, best practices, and lessons learned from a variety of contexts – could contribute to solving some of these roadblocks.

Who’s speaking?

Binta Touray

Program Officer for The Gambia, IRI

GUEST

Marr Nyang

Executive Director, Gambia Participates

GUEST

Josh Lerner

Executive Director, People Powered

GUEST

Sofia Arce

Director for International Relations, Mayor’s Office of Cuenca, Ecuador