Participatory budgeting encourages democratic participation in Edinburgh school
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 10th April 2024.
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a versatile democratic tool, and the benefits it brings often go beyond the projects and ideas that get the most votes.
In Edinburgh, the Ripple Project and Craigentinney Primary School set out to use PB to empower pupils and encourage an understanding of how to make difficult decisions about competing priorities in a democratic and engaging way.
Over seven weeks, 40 P7 pupils developed the PB process, including developing marketing materials and planning how they will present the ideas on voting day, with £3,000 to be voted on.
On the day, 280 pupils from P1 to P7 filed along to the assembly for ‘voting hour’ where they navigated different presentation desks promoting each of the project ideas.
The results show the range of interests and activity in the school, with winning proposals that cover sports, art and creativity, sanitary products and the school's prayer room.
"I hope that these young people will have learned that they can have a say in what their school spend money on," said The Ripple Project's Tristan Green, "and that they make the connection between PB and wider democratic participation."
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