Be Implemented?

A Guide to Participatory Budgeting 47

problems.While participants dedicate their efforts to securing changes in local public policies,the principal problems their communities face are often related to unemployment,violence,or the lack ofeducational opportunities. Participatory budgeting does not provide the opportunity for participants to challenge the underlying reasons for their social and economicexclusion. In Recife many active participatory budgeting participants devoted 5–10 hours a week to participatory budgeting.But when asked what the major problem in their neighborhood was,they responded “unemployment.”The participants,mainly women,worked in participatory budgeting in the hope that they could improve the day-to-day conditions oftheir neighborhoods, but their greatest concerns focused on broader socioeconomicchange that was far beyond the scope ofparticipatory budgeting.

Citizens and governments hope that a participatory budgeting program will increase awareness ofthe broader,global social problems that affect Brazil’s urban poor.There are,however,no guarantees that participants will make the leap from addressing their communities’lack ofbasic infrastructureto understanding and challenging the broader socioeconomic forces that shape their lives.While this is obviously much to ask ofparticipatory budgeting participants,it is clearly the goal ofthe governments and the most active participants.

Finally,there is the danger that participatory budgeting programs may be manipulated due to the central role played by the mayor’s office.Ifcity agencies,bureaucrats,or elected officials wish,they may try to use participatory budgeting programs to advance their own agendas.Nondisclosure of key information,the lack ofimplementation ofselected public policies,or the weakening ofcitizen oversight committees are all potential ways that the program can be manipulated.Some participatory budgeting programs in Brazil at the municipal and state levels have been rejected by social movements and NGOs due to the government’s interference.

How and Where Can Participatory Budgeting Be Implemented?

Can participatory budgeting programs be implemented by governments inother countries? Can the idea be adopted in other regions ofthe world? Government officials contemplating adopting participatory budgeting should ask themselves a few questions:

Is there sufficient discretionary funding to allow citizens to select specific public works? Can participatory budgeting programs be used to increase tax collection? Is the government prepared to delegate authority to citizens?