School participatory budgeting for community participation
Stimulus/Rationale:
Citizen participation in government decision-making is one of the common democratic principles of the Council of Europe member states. Among the main concerns of modern democracies are the alienation of citizens from political processes and the decline of trust in democratic institutions. Loss of trust and alienation lead to a crisis of democracy. The experience of authorities in many countries shows that participatory democracy can help to solve this crisis.
Process:
School participatory budgeting is a powerful and innovative tool for community participation that is being actively implemented around the world to involve students in decision-making processes that affect them, and as a means of encouraging and developing their active participation in the community and their community engagement.
The ICC Vinnytsia became one of the cities that implemented this initiative in across its jurisdiction in February – March 2021. More than 30 educational institutions took part in the project. Due to the pandemic, distance learning courses were organized, in which more than 8,000 young people took part and cast their votes. This work was carried out using the innovative online game "UChange. Dream School", developed by the Council of Europe. The course taught the full range of public participation tools that young people can use to promote their ideas and influence decision-making, and provided their proposals for the School Participatory Budget. The authors of the proposals received feedback and recommendations from the experts of the Council of Europe.
