The role of transparency in self-governance and the possibilities of community participation on local level

10/11/2022

In Pécs, Petra Edina Reszkető talked about the advantages and challenges of open and participatory budgeting.

The "Possibilities of Community Participation" conference was organized by the Power of Humanity Foundation in Pécs on November 10-11, 2022.

At the event, Reszkető Petra Edina, senior researcher at the Budapest Institute, also gave a presentation on the possibilities and challenges of community participation and participatory budgeting and the role of transparency on local level.

Good local governance is essentially a learning process, which starts with making the operation of local government and its institutions and companies more transparent. It continues with the involvement of local residents and civil organizations in decision-making. A mutually proactive approach and shared responsibility can both mobilise and strengthen commitment to local public affairs - if the participatory process is credible (see local political will) and if local community members and NGOs are meaningfully involved in the implementation and monitoring of jointly decided issues.

Foreign and domestic examples show that participatory budgeting can be a good pilot project helping local decision-makers (politicians) and local government to better map and understand the needs of local residents. At the same time it also helps local residents to better understand the functioning of local government and to understand public finance considerations.

The presentation slides are available here (in Hungarian): http://www.budapestinstitute.eu/uploads/Reszketo_RK_EEA_20221110.pdf

and the podcast related to the topic of participatory budgeting can be found here (in Hungarian): https://open.spotify.com/episode/10PLIog3sQCIjlvi08FMwp