PB : Reaching the parts that other grants can’t reach in Inverness
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We all know that it’s good to have a mix of funding opportunities and that no one approach to grant making ticks all the boxes. Participatory budgeting (PB) is increasingly demonstrating its value as a grant making approach, it involves communities more, widens participation and funding to community groups that may not fare so well from the traditional routes to funding. Community grants have traditionally been allocated based on an application process which can be complicated and opaque.
In some instances, groups have reported barriers to accessing funding, some groups often don’t have the knowledge, skills or time to fill in complex forms or understand the decision-making process in an unfamiliar grants process. Very often the grant decisions are made by a small group of anonymous people with limited connection to the community. Participatory budgeting overcomes these issues by offering community groups the opportunity to receive grant funding through easy to understand and complete application forms, it provides support to develop and express project ideas and allows the wider community to make the final decision about what their community needs and who should get funding through an accessible and transparent voting process.
Participatory budgeting was used to full effect most recently when national and local organisations came together in Inverness for the ‘Your Place, Your Point’ - Participatory Budgeting process. Partners in the PB process included Highland Community Planning Partnership - Whole Family Wellbeing Programme, Highland Third Sector Interface, Youth Highland, Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC), community representatives and Police Scotland. Using some of Highland's share of the Scottish Government's Whole Family Wellbeing Fund partners developed a PB process worth £30,000 to realise the ambitions of children and young people in Merkinch & South Kessock.
In advance of the PB process, Police Scotland and Scottish Government contributed separate funding towards the participation of young people, supported by Youth Highland. In this process Youth Highland worked with children and young people in the area to understand how they felt about where they live. A wide consultation was carried out which saw nearly 500 children and young people participate and share their views about a range of topics. Through this process, they expressed what they need in their community through 6 themes which together will ensure that they ‘grow up loved, safe and respected so that they realise their full potential’.
The themes are:
More people in our communities to be trained and supported to help keep children and young people safe.
Public spaces (like parks) need to be safe for children and young people to play.
More safe spaces and more things for children and young people to do in the community.
More youth led projects and activities that promote and celebrate youth empowerment.
Increased opportunities for children and young people to participate in a wide range of activities and expand our world view and future pathways.
Children and young people to have access to early intervention and support to help them make positive decisions for their own futures.
Partners worked together to develop a PB process which aimed to involve the wider community in making decisions about how to use the funding and to set up support and activities which will improve safety and wellbeing for young people
Throughout the PB process community groups were supported to submit 11 applications to the fund. Partners agreed that all of these met the criteria and would go forward to the public vote. The public vote ran from 27 August 24 online and culminated with an in-person community voting day on 7 September 24 in Merkinch Community Centre.
130 people voted in the process across all 11 projects both online and in person. The initial budget of £30k was increased to £31,063.32 to accommodate all projects which received the strongest support from residents. The eight funded projects are outlined below:
Youth Club - £4,700
Holiday Clubs - £2,000
Merkinch Football Academy - £5,000
Youth Café - £4,970
Pathways to Outdoor Activities - £3,000
Community Engagement - £5,000
After School Placements - £1,403
Team Cuisine Cooking Classes - £4,988
In contrast to most traditional grant making processes this PB process consulted extensively with young in advance to create meaningful themes for the fund. The whole process was planned by national and local partners who met on several occasions to determine the scope and breadth of the PB process. These partners said that participatory budgeting worked well and that ‘….their views were taken on board from the start, and they felt able to comment and make changes to the process.’
Overall, the PB process of offering the wider community two options to vote either online or in person worked well and added to the democratic basis of the approach. The in-person voting event gave groups and individuals an opportunity to speak with each other and the wider community got to see who is providing services to children and young people in Merkinch & South Kessock.
Local community groups said that the PB approach worked well and will have a positive outcome for young people. Community groups said that the application process and PB in general was a positive approach to much needed funding for community activities and that PB should be an add on (on an annual basis) to core funding to ensure that the wider community have their say and funding can be targeted at less heard voices in the community.
It's clear that PB has a major role to play in effectively reaching the communities priorities and can target less heard voices to make them front and centre for targeted funding. PB and traditional grant making should sit side by side in a modern Scotland which has ambitions to give the whole community an opportunity to participate and support disadvantage communities everywhere.
You can learn more about ‘Your Place, Your Point’ - Participatory Budgeting process here.
