If a young person is sent to prison in the UK following a misdemeanor or offence, it costs the government between £70,000 and £80,000 p.a. - about the same amount as it would cost to educate that young person over a period of 10 years. Participatory budgeting can open up opportunities to ensure that this does not happen.
This drastic example by Jez Hall, Director of Externer Link: Shared Future CIC in Manchester, shows not only how important participatory budgeting is for the younger generation in particular, but also how difficult it can be for such civic participation processes to challenge long-existing structures.
Together with Louise O'Kane, Planning and Engagement Officer at Externer Link: Community Places in Belfast, he gives an insight into the history of Participatory Budgeting in Great Britain and the constant conflict between pb-organizers and governments as well as bureaucratic structures.
Would you like to know more about the important role of voting in pb processes, the involvement of young people who are far removed from politics and the effects of the British government's austerity policy, which has been in place for years, on pb projects? Then take a full look at the interview.