Beginning in late 2024, the PB Scotland team began an engagement exercise to better understand the current context for the implementation of Participatory Budgeting processes across Scotland.
Through this process, we have developed the following report, which acts as a summary of the learning we have gained, as well potential areas for development for PB in Scotland overall.
This short engagement process was not a definitive survey of PB activity across Scotland, but captures the views of a range of practitioners and those with an interest in participatory / engagement practice in Scotland.
We engaged with colleagues working across most local authority areas in Scotland, with a broad range of urban / rural areas, using a combination of survey responses and informal interviews. We also complemented this qualitative work with PB Scotland website engagement statistics to help understand what practitioners are interested in learning more about.
Participants were asked to provide their experience and recommendations on:
What PB activity was currently happening in their area
Current challenges & opportunities for PB
Benefits of PB
What support would be helpful in future implementation of PB
We hope this report will be useful to those with an interest in supporting PB and other participatory approaches.
