Participatory Budgeting and Community Organising

Spent the morning with the Vocal Eyes group making consensual decisions around the participatory budgeting pot.

The potential for how we can grow together, as a group, over the longer term is becoming clearer. A mix of communities with different decision making structures and mechanisms in their area – from neighbourhood fora, parish councils, mutual aid groups – all working with power at different levels. It was clear to see how much energy is spent ‘persuading’ people and how much work is required to organically nurture and grow this work.

I feel really chuffed at the progress we’ve made locally and whilst I need to recognise that some of that is about skill and technique, it simply wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t resourced.

We talked together about the way we have been working to bring representative and participative democracy together and it feels like everyone is winning. I’m sure we’ll uncover more when we sit down and reflect and evaluate the journey.