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Participatory budgeting, civil society and the struggle for democratic development
Author(s): Willem Overbeke
Publication date: Wednesday 08 December 2004
"Participatory budgeting" is an expression of more recent participatory development initiatives with an emphasis on citizen participation in economic policy making and budgeting.
Contents
Summary
I. What entails Participatory Budgeting (PB)?
II. Three forms of Participatory Budgeting
III. Some common ground in Participatory Budgeting efforts
IV. PRSP critique with an eye on Uganda
V. Important critical issues as regards Participatory Budgeting
VI. Participatory Budgeting, society building and HIVOS
Summary
"Participatory budgeting" is an expression of more recent participatory development initiatives with an emphasis on citizen participation in economic policy making and budgeting.
These initiatives, like: "people´s budgets", "gender responsive budgets" and “PRSP/pro-poor budgets”, have different political roots and backgrounds, but in general start from observed “democracy deficits" and various accountability deficiencies within the institutions or practices of liberal democracy. In particular when it has to deal with structural reforms under conditions of high unequality and/or poverty.
In response, participatory budget approaches aim to make economic reform and macro-economic policies more inclusive, transparent and gender sensitive. In the process these efforts potentially could contribute to (pro-poor) re-distribution, civic education, economic literacy, gender balance and the fight against corruption.
Globally, participatory budgeting got a strong impulse in the ´90’ies from the mostly urban democratization and economic reform experiences in Latin America, in particular in Brasil. Where at present experiences with participatory approaches in city economic planning and social inclusive programmes, through the World Social Forum and its related networks, are attracting increasing attention also in economic policy making in cities in Europe.
In Uganda, strong anti-corruption sentiments (in combination with regional identity policies under decentralization; see Annex 5. KALI, p.17) drive committed efforts towards local pro-poor oriented participatory budgeting. In this process, Ugandan civil society organisations play important roles on various levels, however, all within the defined parameters of the present national poverty reduction frameworks (PEAP/PRSP), which provide both a conducive and constraining institutional political environment.
While the PRSP model as such is also example of the lack of international accountability, as its key policy decisions are made by largely unaccountable IFIs.
The participatory budgeting tool and policy theme have strong potentials to contribute to democratic society building as perceived by HIVOS. However, from the perspective of sustainable society building in transitional and still weak democracies, a critical challenge is the struggle for conducive engagement and interaction between forms of direct/participatory democracy and the evolving institutions of representative democracy.
This would also assume pro-active HIVOS policies that go beyond civil society as the locus of institutional partnerships, towards policies that focus on (local) democratic practices and processes in the first place.
This discussion paper is based upon a lecture in the HIVOS Lunch and Learn Lecture Series, The Hague, Nov. 18, 2004. HIVOS at present is involved in an institutional re-positioning process, which a.o. things aims at a further strengthening of its policies with respect to society building and the role of civil society in democratic and inclusive development. Within this perspective also a partnership between the Institute for Social Studies (ISS) and HIVOS was recently established.
Based upon his recent work for HIVOS in Uganda, the author provides this draft working paper as a contribution to stimulate further discussion on the relevance and practice of Participatory Budgeting as a political participatory approach for pro-poor economic policy development in transitional and weak democracies.
Reactions to the paper are welcome at:
Overbeke@ctv.es, or you can post a comment at the bottom of this page.
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