Participatory budgeting

How we support participatory budgeting, which is how you can help decide how to spend part of a public budget.

Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which you can decide directly how to spend part of a public budget. 

We support participatory budgeting as a tool for community empowerment and as a resource to build on the wider development of participatory democracy in Scotland.

The aim of participatory budgeting

Participatory budgeting can:

  • help deliver on outcomes in Scotland's National Performance Framework that 'we live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe' and 'we tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally'
  • complement aspirations in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to give communities more powers to achieve their own ambitions
  • help deliver the Public Sector Equality Duty by advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between different groups
  • support the principle of Public Service Reform that says people should have equal opportunity to participate in decisions shaping their local community and society

For more information

For more information, contact us:

Email: communityempowerment@dumgal.gov.uk