PB for youth guide

A guide on how to develop a youth PB process, using the case of São Brás, Portugal, as an example.

The dissemination of PB in Portugal in the coming years requires an effort of reflection and systematization, about the potential of this process for the deepening of participation and democracy at the local level.

For Portuguese municipalities to take ownership of the Participatory Budget and turn it into an effectively fruitful practice, it is necessary to consolidate theoretical and conceptual knowledge on the theme, together with a technical-methodological domain that favors the emergence of a new reference framework for citizen participation.

This document aims to contribute in part to this process. It starts with a general reflection on the crisis of liberal democracies, and the need to deepen the practices of citizen participation as a strategy for qualifying the regime. It then brings together some synthesis elements about the history and concept of Participatory Budgets in the world, focusing more particularly in the Portuguese situation and in the concrete experience of PB developed in São Brás de Alportel with the children and young people of the municipality.

This document is not intended to constitute a prescription for the adoption of Participatory Budgets. We do not believe in unique and ideal models, so each experience should follow its path, being able to certainly benefit from the learning carried out by similar initiatives but adjusting the process to its reality and objectives

Source: Associação In Loco

Year of publication: 2020