Participatory Budgeting

We have opened another round of funding opportunities for community wellbeing projects.

The funding will be allocated through a participatory budgeting programme, which gives citizens the opportunity to help decide how funding should be allocated.

Find out more about our 2022/23 programme

What is participatory budgeting?

Participatory budgeting is a programme designed to empower citizens and communities.

It gives people a chance to have their say on what matters for their local area

How it works

A local agency, such as a council or health board, will allocate a pot of money for a participatory budgeting programme.

The programme will look to fund projects that address issues based on a particular theme or set of objectives.

These could be related to something such as covid recovery, or it could be linked to a particular place.

Community members, groups and organisations then develop ideas for projects and submit these to the programme as a bid for a share of the funding.

Once all the bids are submitted, citizens come together for a decision-making event, where each group can present their bid.

The bids are then voted on by the community, and funding is allocated according to the results of the vote.

For more information, download Mutual Gain’s Participatory Budgeting Q&A.