Learning Event Report: How can we fund PB in Scotland?

Wednesday, 20th March 2024, 10am – 12:30pm, online on Zoom

This PB Scotland learning event explored how we fund participatory budgeting (PB) and the learning we're seeing from across Scotland.

During the online event we examined the benefits and challenges of funding PB in different ways. From small grants to larger mainstream budgets, we asked what works well at both a local and national level - and what needs to change to make things better?

We heard from real examples of PB delivered from different funding sources, and explored issues around transparency, accountability, and how we make the most of funding.

Presentations

During the event we heard from Rachel Green from the Ripple Project about how they have funded their PB activity to support their work in Restalrig, Lochend and Craigentinny in Edinburgh. You can download the slides here.

We then from heard Rachel Searle from Foundation Scotland who explored the role PB and participatory grant making play in how they fund pieces of work, and what learning they’re generating. You can download the slides here.

You can view both presentations below.

Challenges and opportunities

In our first workshop, participants were grouped together to explore some of the challenges in accessing funding for PB, and where these have been overcome.

Challenges identified centred around how funding for PB is allocated on an ongoing basis, how we develop knowledge and skills around PB, how people can be properly engaged in PB activity, restrictions on how funding is used, and the wider costs of PB activity and the need to resource this.

Opportunities were related the strength of PB being local, community-led flexible and responsive, how it can be used at different levels of funding and decision making, how different techniques can be used to address inequalities, how groups are collaborating around their bids for PB money, and how proper engagement can overcome barriers around feelings of competition.

You can read the full notes from this session here.

Themed workshops

As part of the day, participants took part in themed workshop discussions that began with a brief input from our workshop presenters. Click on each name to read more about the discussions in each session.

• Environment: Dawn Brown / Francesca Lynch – SCDC

• Health & Social Care: Stephanie Cox – East Ayrshire

• Housing: Fiona McGovern – Ardenglen Housing Association

• Education: Laura Fowler – Stirling Council

Next steps

Ongoing funding remains critical to how PB can continue to grow and develop across Scotland. Challenges remain, especially around ongoing PB processes and how organisations are supported around the additional costs well-engaged PB can occur, and how they build their skills, knowledge and confidence. With sustainable funding, we can continue to build on the ambition that PB becomes a key tool for Scotland’s participatory democracy.

We’ll be exploring this issue further, and making connections to the PB Charter for Scotland to explore how we identify good practice.