Participatory budgeting - involving citizens in decision-making of public spending
Description
Every year, millions of citizens around the world are involved in a crowdsourcing effort in which they tell their governments where public money should be spent. Known as Participatory Budgeting, this practice is more than a mere public consultation on the budget: citizens actually decide on the budget allocation. Dubbed by the New York Times as “revolutionary civics in action”, technology has been a key part of this civic revolution: from open data to social media and mobile apps, technology is dramatically increasing citizens’ engagement in public budgets. Currently taking place in 1,500 cities around the world mainly in Europe and Latin America, participatory budgeting is starting to spread in a number of US cities, such as Chicago and New York City. Participatory Budgeting is also landing in Finland, as Helsinki City Library will let its users to have their say on the upcoming Central Library in a budgeting process beginning this autumn.
Session Host
Raimo Muurinen, Otavan opisto / Avanto insight
Contributors
Tiago Peixoto, ICT4Gov Program, WBI - Open Government, The World Bank
Bios
Tiago Peixoto: Tiago Peixoto is currently an Open Government Specialist at the World Bank, working on the design and implementation of projects involving technology and citizen engagement. In this role, Tiago conducts work mainly in Africa and Latin America in the fields of institutional change and participatory innovation. With a focus on citizen-generated data and the co-design of public services, his activities build upon the development of alternative approaches to promoting participation and accountability. Prior to joining the Bank, Tiago worked as a consultant and policy advisor for various organizations in the field of ICT-mediated participation, such as the European Commission, the OECD, the United Nations, and the Brazilian and UK governments. Tiago is also a Research Coordinator at the Electronic Democracy Centre at the University of Zurich. As a researcher, his interests relate to identifying factors that contribute to the success of policies fostering citizen engagement, such as the role of institutions and technologies in participatory processes. More recently, he joined the steering group of the multidisciplinary Research Network on “Opening Government”, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Tiago is @participatory on Twitter.
Details
Location: 8th Floor Auditorium
Date & Time: Fri 21st, 16:00-16:45
Target Group: Anybody interested in the topic, public administration, civil society activists, journalists, researchers, politicians, software developers
Topic Stream: Open Democracy and Citizen Movements
Session Etherpad page: http://okfestival.okfnpad.org/partipatory-budgeting - Please leave your questions in advance
Participatory Budgeting in Finland (Mainly in Finnish)
In addition to this main session, Tiago Peixoto will also have a keynote speech at the Thursday 20th morning session (beginning at 10.00) at the at INSPIRE Auditorium. More info to be announced later.