The Edinburgh Community Climate Fund
Voting
Participatory Budgeting
The Edinburgh Community Climate Fund is using a participatory budgeting approach being overseen by an organising group that is keen to involve the community in local decision-making. The process is about local people coming together to decide how public money should be spent in their communities but essentially it looks like this:
- Ideas are generated about how money should be spent
- Local people decide on their priorities
- The ideas with the most support are implemented
What is Participatory Budgeting?
PB is an internationally recognised method for engaging communities and is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. It gives people a real say in how money is spent. The City of Edinburgh Council has committed to the use of the PB process in delivering an element of local authority spend.
More information on Edinburgh Council’s approach to Participatory Budgeting can be found online.
What are the benefits of Participatory Budgeting?
PB can encourage and support active citizenship, helping build more engaged, active and stronger communities. Citizens are better informed about public budgets and decision-making so are better able to take decisions on how public funds are spent to improve their area and more likely to take part in other community activities.