This resource aims to support PB practitioners to develop and improve evaluation practices. It’s web-based, easy to use and will support practice at all stages.
Read MoreNational PB Strategic Group publishes 2022/23 annual report
/The National Participatory Budgeting Strategic Group, which was established to help guide the strategic direction for PB in Scotland, has published its annual report for 2022/23.
Read MoreSupporting Community- Based Evaluations Of Participatory Budgeting
/This briefing from GCPH explore things to think about when planning and evaluating a PB project.
Read MoreHear the Voice, Make the Change: Guide to evaluating PB processes
/This briefing aims to support public sector organisations wishing to evaluate their ‘mainstream’ Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiatives. The techniques outlined here are also applicable to PB grant making programmes.
Read MoreGlasgow’s Participatory Budgeting Evaluation Toolkit
/The toolkit is intended to be user-friendly and helpful for the public sector, the voluntary sector and community organisations running PB activities.
Read MoreParticipatory Budgeting Self-Evaluation Toolkit
/This guidance and the accompanying tools are designed to address the issue of capacity to evaluate, and also to ensure that the evaluation meets local need.
Read MoreGuide to Evaluating the Wellbeing impacts of Participatory Budgeting
/This new guide and toolkit reflects on recent experiences of Participatory Budgeting (PB) within the Gwent area of Wales, from early 2020 to January 2023.
Read MoreEvaluation of GCC ‘Wee Green Grants’ Participatory Budgeting processes
/GCPH found that the the PB process was “an example of a strong, authentic and democratic PB process”.
Read MoreA year of research: findings that address key PB challenges - People Powered
/People Powered have published insights from 2021-22 around participatory budgeting.
Read MoreInstitutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Working Group: report
/This report explores how the Scottish Government's ambition for change can be delivered to make Scotland’s democracy more participative and inclusive.
Read MorePB from Scottish schools highlighted in Pupil Equity Fund Report
/A Pupil Equity Fund report has detailed how participatory budgeting (PB) has been used in schools to support wider democratic involvement of children and young people.
Read MoreEvent blog: What's Next for Participatory Budgeting?
/Read insights and ideas from this People Powered event which explored what needs to be done to use PB to address climate change, pursue social justice, and expand democracy across the globe.
Read MoreKey Learning from award-winning Durham City USA PB
/Durham City (USA) was Awarded ‘Best Practice in Citizen Participation’ by the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD) for their PB process
Read MoreNew report evaluates Glasgow's participatory budgeting activity
/A new report from Glasgow Centre for Population Health evaluates the participatory budgeting activity taking place in Glasgow.
In four areas of the city community organisations with deep roots have been commissioned to support people to establish citizens panels charged with testing how PB should best work in their community. In addition, Glasgow Disability Alliance were asked to support disabled people from across the city to get involved in development and delivery of the PB process.
The report, published in October, notes that “Glasgow City Council has a strong and clear vision for inclusive, accessible and inequalities-focused PB” and that it should develop a city-wide PB strategy “underpinned by an equalities framework and co-produced with equalities agencies, anchor organisations and with communities.”
The report’s main findings are:
The dedication of the partners involved and the authenticity and quality of the PB processes developed within the pilot areas was evident.
Glasgow City Council has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting inclusive and accessible PB.
The pilot areas were unanimous in stating that the level of funding allocated to support the development of citizens’ panels and the implementation of the PB processes should have been higher. Relatedly, the timescales in which the pilot areas were expected to deliver the PB processes were consistently described as ‘too tight’
There are strengths to approaching PB at a Council ward level, but the pilot areas have also highlighted some challenges.
Learning from the PB pilots suggests that care must be taken to ensure that the inequalities focus within defined communities is clear at the outset.
The citizens’ panel approach proved to be a strong PB model in which the processes were tailored to the local community context and where community interests and priorities are represented throughout the process before voting takes place.
The PB pilot leads have developed supportive, authentic and trusted relationships with the citizens’ panel members – this has been an important factor in the success of the pilots.
Amid the largely technical narratives that surround the imminent mainstreaming of PB, the approaches developed in the pilots represent a timely reminder that effective PB is about communities and people’s lives and is built upon relationships.
The report further recommends:
Continuation and expansion of ward-based citizens’ PB panels
Increasing PB capacity building and process timescales
The establishment of a Glasgow PB learning network and external evaluation support.
You can read the report here and there’s background on GCPH’s work around PB here.
Paper explores Irish PB context
/A new report looks at how PB is being used in Ireland and explores the learning from across the world.
Read MoreScottish Government publishes PB evaluation
/The research set out to study the impact of PB on communities, services, local democracy, and tackling inequalities.
97,000 voters & counting: Community Choices 2017/18 report published
/The Scottish Government has published its Community Choices 2017/18 report, detailing the last year of participatory budgeting activity from across Scotland.
Read MorePlanning and evaluating your PB
/This new briefing by Glasgow Centre for Population Health aims to support community-based PB practitioners to monitor and evaluate PB processes.
Read MoreYour Voice Your Choice: Sharing the Experience from Musselburgh
/Tuesday evening Musselburgh Area Partnership held an event to showcase their evaluation process of ‘Your Voice Your Choice’ programme.
Read MoreParticipatory Budgeting -Perth and Kinross Decides
/New video about participatory budgeting in Perth and Kinross.
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