Participatory Budget - Wrocław

The city of Wrocław, Poland has been running a participatory budgeting program (Wrocławski Budżet Obywatelski) since 2013. Participatory budgets, which were originally conceived in Brazil, allow citizens to decide how to allocate part of the municipal public budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision making. In Wroclaw, part of the participatory budget funds is always dedicated to creating new green areas or funding projects in existing green areas - and this category is consistently most successful, with the majority of the projects funded in the "Green spaces and recreation" category, based on citizens predominantly voting on those projects. In 2017, the city ran two editions of the participatory budget programme: The second edition - the so-called "Green Participatory Budget" - was dedicated to projects related to greenery and green urban areas. The realised projects include creating new green spaces, restoring or greening existing green and public spaces, making inaccessible green areas accessible by, for example, creating access paths safe for local flora and fauna, educational materials (e.g. infosigns) about local flora and fauna to engage citizens with local nature and biodiversity, green corridors, and spaces for recreation in existing green areas. Before being put up for voting, the proposed projects are assessed by experts from the Wroclaw Green Spaces Authority to ensure the projects do not negatively affect the existing greenery in the city and are in line with Poland's Environmental Protection Law, as well as Wrocław's Climate Adaptation Strategy. A total of 432 projects were realised in the programme between 2013 and 2021.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Economic and fiscal instruments›Payments as rewards/for ecosystem services, subsidies, incentives

Challenges addressed

Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Social cohesion
Social equity
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

Every year, most of the projects proposed by and selected for funding by the city's residents are in the "Green spaces and recreation" category. The realised projects include creating new green spaces, restoring or greening existing green and public spaces, making inaccessible green areas accessible by, for example, creating access paths safe for local flora and fauna, educational materials (e.g. infosigns) about local flora and fauna to engage citizens with local nature and biodiversity, green corridors, and spaces for recreation in existing green areas such as outdoor gyms and playgrounds.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Derelict areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Municipality of Wrocław

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The pilot participatory budget programme was run in 2013. Following the pilot program, a consultation was conducted with citizens in order to evaluate the programme and establish the framework rules for the next edition of the programme. Such consultations are conducted each year and result in recommendations to improve the future editions of the programme, based on citizens ideas. In 2015, the Mayor of Wrocław established a Participatory Budget Council. The council consists of representatives of the City Council, a representative appointed by the Mayor of Wrocław and 6 project leaders, who succesfully led projects in the previous editions of the programme. The Participatory Budget Council creates a strategy for the Wrocław Participatory Budget, evaluates the programme and suggests amendments to the programme's rules. The general rules of Wrocław Participatory Budget were first formalised and adopted by the City Council in 2018.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The programme is implemented by the Public Participation Department in the municipality of Wrocław in cooperation with other departments and agencies (e.g. the Green Spaces Authority). The implementation of the program is additionally supported by non-governmental organisations such as the Lower Silesian NGO Federation (Dolnośląska Federacja Organizacji Pozarządowych), Center for Citizen Dialogue (Centrum Dialogu Obywatelskiego) and a local business chamber. The individual projects are proposed by citizens. Each project has a designated leader and needs to be supported by at least one other citizen. The project's are first reviewed by the office of the president of Wrocław. Some projects are discarded at this stage (e.g. for containing ideas the implementation of which would be against the law) and the rest of the projects go into a consulation stage. In this stage, the municipality staff conducts consultations of the remaining projects with project leaders, advising them on how to improve the projects (e.g. in case of projects related to green areas, including improvements that make the projects more environmentally friendly). As part of the consultation process, the municipality can also organise info meetings for local citizens, who would like to learn more about the projects. At this stage also the neighbourhood councils and the Participatory Budget Council comment on the projects. The project leaders then have an opportunity to amend the projects, which are then reviewed again. Approved projects can then be voted on by all inhabitants of the city of Wrocław, including children and inhabitants that are not Polish citizens. The projects that receive most votes are then implemented by the municipality.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen councils or consultation for co-planning (e.g. workshops, surveys)

Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Citizen monitoring and review

Targeted actors:

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public local authority’s budget

Budget:

Above 10 000 000€

Details about instrument financing:

Between 2013 and 2021, a total of ca. €41 million (195 million PLN) was spent on projects proposed by the city's residents. The initiative's budget for 2022 is ca. €6.4 million (30 million PLN). Around €2 million (9 million PLN) is dedicated to projects realised within a single neighbourhood and ca. €4.4 million (21 million PLN) is dedicated to projects spanning multiple neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood projects are funded up to a value of ca. €210.000 (1 million PLN)per project and a project spanning multiple neighbourhoods can cost up to ca. €640.00 (3 million). The funds represent ca. 0.5 - 0.6% of the municipality's regular budget. The critical idea behind participatory budget is that the citizens decide how a part of this budget should be spent.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

A dedicated website lists all the successful projects with detailed information about each of the projects. The website also indicates the status of the realisation of the different stages of each of the projects (consultations, design, construction). The successful projects can also be found on a map.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

Every year, the municipality conducts a consultation with citizens in order to evaluate the programme. The citizens can submit their comments online or participate in a consultation meeting. Following each consultation, the municipality publishes an evaluation report, listing the gathered ideas and comments as well as the resulting recommendations for the future editions of the programme.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

A total of 432 projects were realised in the programme between 2013 and 2021. Around 200-800 project ideas are being submitted each year, and up to 160,000 citizens have voted in each of the annual editions (amounting to a quarter of the city's population). Only in 2021, 21 new green areas were created or revitalisations of green areas were conducted as a result of the project. 17 green area projects were realised in 2020. An important impact of the programme is the development of local civil society and activisation of citizens, who can take ownership of the local urban development by proposing and leading projects, voting on projects or participating in consultations to shape the programme.

Success factors and lessons learned:

Participatory budgeting allows citizens or residents of a locality to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending projects, and gives them the power to make real decisions about how money is spent. The Wrocław Participatory Budget is designed to be inclusive and participatory in multiple ways. The citizens can propose and vote on the projects and shape the development of the overall programme. Citizens of all nationalities and all ages, including children, can vote on the projects. The program is designed in an iterative manner: the project leaders who propose project ideas do not need to be experts in, for example, landscape planning and environmental protection - they receive advice and support from the various departments and agencies within the municipality. In cooperation with local NGOs that support the development of local civil society, the city also runs a "School of Leaders" to help citizens who want to propose and realise projects become successful. The "School..." consists of a series of publicly available online workshops.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Plac Grunwaldzki (2022), WBO 2022 - nabór projektów rusza 17 stycznia. Available at: https://placgrunwaldzki.com/wbo-2022-nabor-projektow-rusza-17-stycznia

Wroclaw.pl (2022), Wrocławski Budżet realizacje projektów. Available at: https://www.wroclaw.pl/rozmawia/wroclawski-budzet-realizacje-projektow

Wroclaw.pl (2022), Sprawdźcie mapę projektów WBO 2022, Available at: https://www.wroclaw.pl/budzet-obywatelski-wroclaw/mapa-projekty-2022

Wroclaw.pl (2021), WBO – jak pisać zielone projekty? , Available at: https://www.wroclaw.pl/rozmawia/wbo-jak-pisac-zielone-projekty

Wroclaw.pl (2021), Co to jest Wrocławski Budżet Obywatelski?

Urząd Miejski Wrocławia (2015), ZARZĄDZENIE NR 231/15 PREZYDENTA WROCŁAWIA z dnia 15 stycznia 2015 r.. Available at: https://baw.um.wroc.pl/UrzadMiastaWroclawia/document/22561/Zarz%C4%85dzenie-231_15

Mincer, T. (2020), Raport. WBO 19. Ewaluacja. Available at: https://www.wroclaw.pl/beta2/files/dokumenty/63381/WBO-19-ewaluacja-RAPORT.pdf

Adamiczka, H., Rynio, D. (2019), POBUDZANIE AKTYWNOŚCI SPOŁECZNEJ PRZEZ BUDŻET OBYWATELSKI WROCŁAWIA. Available at: file:///C:/Users/EWA~1.IWA/AppData/Local/Temp/Pobudzanie_aktywno%C5%9Bci_spo%C5%82ecznej_pr.pdf

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://www.wroclaw.pl/rozmawia/budzet-partycypacyjny

Photos

@Agencja Gazeta