Participatory Budgeting in Freiburg –
“Take Initiative – Have a Say – Become involved“
The aim of participatory budgeting in Freiburg is to develop a picture of the public opinion together with the citizens of the significance of spendings for public services and thus of the finances of the city.
The citizens are to have a say for what the funds of the city should be used: For what are sufficient funds available? Where should one economize and where spent more? The answers to these questions have an effect on the living conditions of men and women, of young and old. When looking more closely at the allocation of funds and at who exactly benefits, one can also distribute the monies more target-oriented and more sensibly.
This is the reason, why simultaneously a discussion on equal opportunities of men and women is stimulated. These questions motivated the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg to allocate funds for this project.
Freiburg’s participatory budgeting 2009/2010 is implemented in cooperation with Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg in the context of the latter’s program “Opportunities=Equality. Equal opportunities for men and women.“
In order to enter into a discussion with the citizens about the budget and its impacts the city administration compiled information about the budget in an easily understandable format, in which the individual spendings of the city are grouped according to topics, in a nutshell the 13 budget items.
Information is also provided on who uses the services that are offered (young men, elderly women, boys or girls), because gender budgeting forms an integral part of the process.
The objective is to anchor the process in the awareness of the general public. Until May, a tram with the logo of participatory budgeting and the appeal to become involved will be running in the city. Posters in the neighborhoods draw attention to the process and also to the Infobus that tours the weekly markets and is staffed with employees of the city administration. The Infobus is actively campaigning for a participation in the process, and the city employees that staff it are available for questions and answers and provide detailed information about the budget items. At the beginning of the bus road show brochures describing the process and the budget items were distributed to all households.
The discussion as such is conducted on three different levels: First, some 5,500 households had the opportunity to voice their opinion in a representative survey concerning the significance of the city’s services. 47 percent of the citizens that were asked in writing participated in this representative survey; the findings are channeled back into the ongoing discussions. Part of the respondents declared their willingness to participate in further online surveys. These are scheduled for May 2008.
With the participation platform on the Internet the city of Freiburg explores new avenues of online participation. Here, the citizens can draw up their own municipal budget and discuss priorities or the issue of gender budgeting in various forums.
The third element of the process is a moderated city conference on June 20-21, 2008. The city conference brings together people from all neighborhoods, age groups, men and women to have an exchange – together and also in differently composed groups – about the priorities that the city should set in its budget for the next two years. The results will be included in the consultation of the city council on the biennial budget for 2009/2010. Please click www.freiburg.de/beteiligung for further information.
(Text provided by the public administration of the city of Freiburg)
