This month’s content:

Five ways we’ve advanced global participatory budgeting (PB) research
A year of member research: Findings that address PB challenges
New innovations shaping PB around the world
Featured resources
What we’re reading
Upcoming events
Funding opportunities

Five ways we’ve advanced global PB research

Two years ago, People Powered worked with researchers and practitioners around the world to develop a global PB research agenda that would allow us to better understand the outcomes and impacts of PB, help implementers improve their practice and outcomes, and make PB more inclusive, equitable and effective.

On our blog, we report back on what we’ve accomplished, explaining the five new projects we’ve developed to address the top research priorities:

1) The Participation Playbook.

2) Impacts of Participatory Budgeting.

3) Guide and Ratings for Digital Participation Platforms.

4) Participatory Budgeting via National Law.

5) People Powered University.

Read more about this progress and what’s still to come on our blog.

Read about the five achievements

A year of member research: Findings that address PB challenges

Collage of photos of the featured research authors

In addition to the collective work on the research agenda, the members of the Global PB Research Board individually published findings from a broad mix of their own studies. Their research focused on these issues:

Impact of COVID.
Motivations for implementing participatory governance.
Factors that cause PB to decline.
How to increase participation.
Impact of participatory governance on citizen tax compliance.
PB in schools.
International PB surveys/guidelines.

Here, we offer highlights and link to the full reports.

Read the research highlights

New innovations shaping PB around the world

Cartoon figures of people casting ballots

On the 10th anniversary of the first PB vote in New York City, Council Member Shahana Hanif hosted a webinar with People Powered to discuss innovations in PB around the world. Featured speakers included Mexico’s Greta Ríos, Canada’s Émilie Thuillier, and Scotland’s David Reilly. They shared new ways that PB can be used to advance social justice, expand democracy, and address major challenges such as climate change.

Read the key lessons from the event

New article: People Powered as a model for transnational solidarity and participation

Civil society organizations play a critical role in promoting democracy and advancing social change. However, they don’t always also practice social justice and democratic principles in their own practice. In a new article published in the American Journal of Community Psychology, authors Carolin Hagelskamp, Celina Su, Karla Valverde Viesca and Tarson Núñez examine People Powered as an example of how organizations can shift power rather than hoarding it. Among the critical characteristics they identify are collectively articulated values and commitments, radical transparency, and consistent employment of meaningful constituent participation.

Read the article

“Impacts of participatory budgeting: what we know.“ An overview of the current state of research on the short- and long-term impacts of PB on people, communities, and governments.
“Transforming governments through citizensourcing.” A series of case studies of how cities are using digital to crowdsource solutions to challenges. It’s a great supplement to our guide to digital participation platforms.
“Power to the people: Nations are turning to citizen assemblies to weigh up climate policies.” Focusing on local and national climate assemblies in the United Kingdom and France, this Science article features testimony from participants and researchers.