Source: Foundation of Ukrainian-Poland Partnership
Over 150 people participated in the evaluation, including the authors of the projects, members of the working groups on participatory budget, representatives of local governments, and city residents.
During the meetings, participants analyzed all stages of public budget implementation in their communities, developed specific proposals for improvement and recommendations for the development of participatory budgets. The majority of the proposals were equally important for different communities.
In particular, in Balta ATC, Myrhorod, Kropyvnystskyi and Dolyna it was suggested to consider the opportunity to vote for the project proposals through self-service terminals, create training programs on how to write similar projects, increase the number of meetings with city residents in order to explain to them the main principles of participatory budgeting.
The seminar participants agreed that it was necessary to develop a standard price list for works and services for the authors who prepare projects and templates, which would inform about the project implementation at the expense of a public budget, to establish close cooperation with the project’s author at the stage of project assessment and implementation, to enhance outreach at all stages of participatory budget implementation through different ways of communication, including by means of radio in public places and social networks.
There were also other proposals. For example, in Bila Tserkva, where 14-year-old citizens can vote for the projects, it was suggested to expand the outreach for senior pupils and students of different educational establishments and out-of-school education. In Kropyvnytskyi, where various social projects were being implemented, it was suggested to improve access for disabled people to voting locations. Another project put forward suggested creation of a map of implemented projects on Google maps. Myrhorod is planning to increase citizen engagement through the “Projects Fair” and games such as “Play a trick on your team” and “World of the communities”.
The moderators passed all proposals developed at the seminars for consideration to coordination councils and working groups on public budget evaluation. They will be reviewed at the next meetings.
A guide “How to evaluate a participatory budget?” was presented at the seminars. This guide presents best practices in participatory budget evaluation. It offers practical advice regarding organization of the monitoring process, survey and analysis methods. At the moment it is available for free in the section “Publications”. With the help of the guide it is possible to individually organize monitoring and evaluate participatory budget in a given territory.
The project “Public Budgets from A to Z: Information Sharing, Citizen Engagement and Activization” is implemented by an international NGO “Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation PAUCI” and International Charitable Organization “East Europe Foundation”, with financial support of the European Union and international technical assistance project “Partnership for Local Development and Democratic Governance” (PLEDDG Project), which is implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by Global Affairs Canada.