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Empowering communities
Empowering communities

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4.1 Participatory budgeting in action

In the following two clips, Angela McCann of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council in Northern Ireland provides an overview of a participatory budgeting project in action.

In the first clip, Angela discusses what participatory budgeting means in practice and how, in a very practical sense, it can contribute to community empowerment.

In the second clip, Angela highlights some of the longer-term benefits and implications for communities of implementing participatory budgeting in practice.

Activity 3 Participatory budgeting

Timing: Allow approximately 20 minutes

Take a moment to reflect on how participatory budgeting might work in practice in your context. Are there any key steps you could take to tailor aspects of participatory budgeting to the needs of your community?

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Video 1 Angela McCann
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Video 2 Angela McCann
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Discussion

Having watched these two clips you may have noticed a number of key themes emerging. You may have also seen some differences between the theory and practice of participatory budgeting. The key thing to remember is that each community setting and context is different and needs will vary significantly. As a consequence, any participatory budgeting process will need to be specifically adapted to the needs of the local community.