PARTICIPATORY BUDGET PORTO ALEGRE BRAZIL

1
PARTICIPATORY BUDGET PORTO ALEGRE - BRAZIL

• School for citizenship
• Public policy
• Strategy for social transformation

Sérgio Baierle Cidade Centro de Assesoria e
Estudos Urbanos www.portoweb.com.br/ong/cidade
2
WHAT IS THE PARTICIPATORY BUDGET (PB)?
Bottom-up social contract, combining structure
and process, based on direct participation and
social justice criteria, for the public budget
construction

• SOCIAL JUSTICE(Public parameters)
• Tax justice
• Distributive justice
• Political justice

• DIRECT PARTICIPATION
• Individual
• Delegates can remove councillors
• Rules collectively constructed

3
STRUCTURE

• 16 regions, 5 thematic areas
• 2 annual rounds of regional meetings
• Election of representatives
• Discussion of budget data
• 3 criteria (needs, population, priorities)
• Decision by PB council
• City council vote
• Investment plan is published
• Follow-up

4
BACKGROUND

• History of neighborhood orgs. (popular education)
• Street level vs. leaders (participatory vs
  delegative democracy)
• Actions on local problems

5
CHALLENGES

• Clientelism (patronage), co-optation, and state
  control and centralization
• Authoritarianism (democratic rule for processing
  conflicts)
• From internal competition to internal solidarity
• From street consciousness to city-wide
  consciousness
• From demands on services to debates on policies
• From party-centered strategy to muliple centers
  and subjects

6
THE ROLES OF NGOs EMPOWERMENT, LOBBYING, OR
ADVOCACY?

• By the end of the 1970s, leftist NGOs invested in
  the empowerment of social movements as a strategy
  against military rule (but subordinated popular
  movements to unions, and both to political party)
• By the end of the 1980s, most NGOs shifted to
  lobby parliaments
• By the 1990s, the trend was towards advocacy
• NGOs abandoned direct community work

7
Evolution of local collected taxes
Millions of Reais adjusted for inflation
8
Evolution of budget expenses
Millions of Reais, adjusted for inflation
9
Participants in the first round of meetings
Porto Alegre population 1,360,033 IBGE/2000
10
() Participation according to
11
() Participation according to
12
() Participation according to
13
() Participation according to
14
() Participation according to (in minimum wages
US 70)
15
() Participation according to
16
() Participation according to
17
PB CURRENT ISSUES

• Building of a popular economy
• From PB to participatory planning
• Articulation of PB with other participatory
  initiatives in other settings (schools, health
  centers, housing programs, etc.)
• Avoiding the erosion of boundaries between the
  Workers Party, government and social movements

18
(No Transcript)