Impacts of Participatory Budgeting on Education & Learning
/Video available in Spanish and Portuguese.
Thousands of governments and institutions have implemented PB, giving residents the power to decide how to spend part of a public budget. Recently, many schools and universities have been using PB to engage students, educators, and community members in making spending decisions. Can PB act as a “school of democracy”? A growing body of research has documented the impacts of PB in governments, schools, and universities. Understanding these findings can help government innovators, civil society advocates, educators, and students launch or improve PB in their own communities.
In this People Powered University seminar, leading researchers shared key findings on the impacts of PB on education and learning, explaining how it can build participants’ civic skills, empower students and teachers beyond the classroom, strengthen community cohesion, and more. Practitioners who have implemented PB in schools, universities, and cities helped translate this research into practical recommendations and next steps for your work.
This seminar is part of a series organized in partnership with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Local, International Observatory on Participatory Democracy, and National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Who leads this seminar?
Karla Valverde Viesca (facilitator), National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico). Karla is a professor of political and social sciences and a member of the Global PB Research Board. She is the author of the book Institutional Construction of Social Development and serves as academic coordinator for the project “The Cohesive City: Addressing Stigmatization in Disadvantaged Urban Neighborhoods.”
Daniel Schugurensky, Participatory Governance Initiative, Arizona State University (United States). Daniel is the founder and director of the initiative and has conducted research on participatory budgeting since 1999, especially in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Canada, and the United States.
Andrés Falck, Coglobal (Spain). Andrés has supervised PB in 10 Spanish municipalities and has cooperated with local governments to implement and monitor participatory initiatives in the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Nicaragua. He has co-authored several studies about children and youth participation.
Cintia Pinillos, National University of Rosario (Argentina). Cintia is an Argentine political scientist and a tenured professor of comparative political systems. She has directed various research projects and published book chapters and articles on methodology and comparative politics, contemporary Latin American politics, and participatory politics. She is also the coordinator of the National University of Rosario’s participatory budget.
Gisela Signorelli, National University of Rosario (Argentina). Gisela is a political scientist with research experience in citizen participation, digital participation, public spaces for citizen coexistence, open government and planning. She is the technical secretary of the National University of Rosario’s PB coordinating team.
Aline Yunery Zunzunegui López, LOOP Mx (Mexico). Aline is the founder of various social action projects and citizen comptroller for Mexico City. She has actively participated in the promotion of participatory budgeting in Mexico City, particularly for youth. Since January 2020, she has supervised a PB project in the high school of the Popular Autonomous University of the State of Puebla.
Who is this seminar for?
School and university teachers, professors, and administrators.
Education policy experts.
Government staff and officials responsible for managing participatory democracy programs.
Local organizations supporting or advocating for participatory democracy.
International organizations and funders that want to better support or encourage participatory democracy.
Researchers studying the impacts of participatory democracy.
What will you get from this seminar?
After this seminar, you will be able to:
Better understand how PB can strengthen civic education and support learning.
Identify key impacts of PB on education and learning based on research.
Identify specific practices and next steps for increasing the impacts of PB.
* The research brief for this seminar was developed with Daniel Schugurensky, Andrés Falck, Patricia García Leiva, Karla Valverde Viesca, Cintia Pinillos, Gisela Signorelli and Aline Yunery Zunzunegui López.
Mentorship
Address specific challenges for implementing a climate-sensitive PB process through individual or group mentoring sessions with experts.
*To sign up for mentorship you must have attended the webinar or have watched the recording, and completed the evaluation form.
More Resources
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