Briefing paper 53: Community-based evaluations of participatory budgeting

Participatory Budgeting (PB) means involving local residents in deciding how to spend public money. At its core PB is about local people shaping local services to more effectively meet local priorities. PB has the potential to empower and energise communities and to transform and strengthen the relationship between citizens, communities, and all levels of government and public service.

The profile of PB in Scotland has never been higher. However with increasing profile and resource allocation comes greater scrutiny of PB processes and impacts. This briefing paper aims to support community-based PB practitioners in monitoring and evaluating PB processes and includes a PB ‘logic model’, or flowchart, to address the gaps in the understanding of PB implementation.