One of the key tasks of the SLFI-II Project was to assist cities in implementing participatory budgeting (PB).
Participatory budgeting is the allocation of a portion of the city budget by residents through submitting project proposals aimed at improving urban living conditions, with winning projects selected through open voting. The projects receiving the most community support are implemented using municipal funds.
SLFI-II provided selected cities (chosen through a competitive process) with:● Methodological support — development of the PB methodology and concept;● Technical support — provision of the Public Project electronic system to automate all stages of participatory budgeting, from project submission to e-voting and reporting on implementation, along with one year of system support. The system was developed by the NGO SocialBoost;● Promotional support — organizing events to raise public awareness of PB, including seminars for project authors on proposal writing and promotion, project fairs, and dissemination of promotional and informational materials.
To carry out this work, the Project competitively selected four NGOs:● NGO NEW Energy (Kharkiv);● NGO Institute of Regional Development (Lviv);● Cherkasy-based NGO From Heart to Heart;● Podil Regional Development Agency (Vinnytsia).
In 2016, support for the introduction of PB, including the Public Project system, was provided to the cities of Kyiv, Lviv, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyi, Berdiansk, Kramatorsk, and Melitopol.
In 2017, the Public Project system was implemented in the cities of Dnipro, Ternopil, Zhovti Vody, Baranivka, Vilnohirsk, Okhtyrka, and Romny.
By 2017, 31 cities and 2 amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs) had launched participatory budgeting initiatives.
Regional centers:Zhytomyr, Lutsk, Sumy, Uzhhorod, Chernihiv.
Cities:Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast)Berdychiv (Zhytomyr oblast)Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (Odesa oblast)Boyarka (Kyiv oblast)Brovary (Kyiv oblast)Brody (Lviv oblast)Bucha (Kyiv oblast)Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Volyn oblast)Vuhledar (Donetsk oblast)Horishni Plavni (Poltava oblast)Dobropillia (Donetsk oblast)Dubno (Rivne oblast)Zhmerynka (Vinnytsia oblast)Zhovkva (Lviv oblast)Zvenyhorodka (Cherkasy oblast)Kalush (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast)Kamianets-Podilskyi (Khmelnytskyi oblast)Kaniv (Cherkasy oblast)Kakhovka (Kherson oblast)Korosten (Zhytomyr oblast)Kremenchuk (Poltava oblast)Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk oblast)Mariupol (Donetsk oblast)Nadvirna (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast)Nizhyn (Chernihiv oblast)Pervomaisk (Mykolaiv oblast)Pervomaiskyi (Kharkiv oblast)Slavutych (Kyiv oblast)Khmilnyk (Vinnytsia oblast)Chervonohrad (Lviv oblast)Chortkiv (Ternopil oblast)Chuhuiv (Kharkiv oblast)Shepetivka (Khmelnytskyi oblast)Yavoriv (Lviv oblast)
Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATCs):Bashtanka City ATC (Mykolaiv oblast)Zelenodolsk City ATC (Dnipropetrovsk oblast)
With the support of the LFI-II Project, participatory budgeting was introduced in 48 cities across almost all regions of Ukraine (with the exception of Kirovohrad and Luhansk oblasts).