Participatory Budgeting

Take Part in Participatory Budgeting

Take Part Pathfinder has been working in conjunction with the Participatory Budgeting Unit (PBU), also based at Church Action on Poverty, to support Salix Homes in their Your Salix, Your Say initiative.

This year Salix Homes piloted a Participatory Budgeting scheme; £35,000 of funding was allocated for distribution to local voluntary and community groups operating for the benefit of Salix Homes tenants. 

Salix Homes' officers worked with members of the Customer Access and Involvement Service Specific Panel (SSP) to develop the piolt which they named Your Salix, Your Say. The Participatory Budgeting Unit came on board to offer advice and support throughout the process. 

Application forms were made available from 1st September (until 9th October) 2009. 25 groups submitted applications and the members of the Customer Access and Involvement SSP then met to review all applications. Out of the 25 applicants, 15 groups were invited to the Your Salix, Your Say Decision Day on Saturday 14th November 2009. The format of the event was carnival style stalls. Groups had to score all the other competing groups but were not allowed to vote for their own; this encouraged the groups to network with each other. On the day itself 13 of the groups were fully funded and 2 groups were part-funded. 

Feedback from the event was very positive, 96% of applicants stated that they found the application process easy to complete, 92% felt that they had suffiecient time to complete their application. 100% of those completing questionnaires felt that attending the event had been beneficial to their group, with the same number stating that they would recommend the fund to other organisations.

Funding has now been distributed and project spending and outcomes will be monitored. The groups have until March 2010 to spend the funds.