Participatory Budgeting project in Haskovo region
About this good practice
The project provides a platform where citizens submit their suggestions and ideas to improve the regional environment and infrastructure in different aspects. The suggestions are assessed and voted, and the best ones are implemented with volunteers and members of the communities the improvement takes place in. Because the communities are heavily involved in the process – idea through implementation, they cherish the results and are more likely to safeguard the infrastructure rather than if it were implemented solely by the public service.
Major topics covered: Major improvements within the projects were renovating children’s playgrounds and kindergartens, renovating local community centres, adding new benches to parks, creating museum exhibitions, improving parks as well as dog parks, adding recycle bins. The results are not only the infrastructure elements created but also providing know-how to the communities so they can have proper experience with woodworking, gardening, painting, steel- and metalworking, renovating, building, etc.
Needs addressed & Objectives: The specific needs of the local communities are targeted here, as requested by the community members.
Challenges & Innovation: The innovation in this project is that people from the community are involved in improving their own quality of life through renovating various items of infrastructure and landscape.
Main stakeholders and beneficiaries: HALO Foundation, Haskovo Municipality, citizens of Haskovo
Resources needed
Funded by: Operation Programme Good Governance and Haskovo Municipality
Funding/financial resources needed: The funds used in the second run are 46 965,59 BGN (c.a. €24 011,77) from which 39 920,75 BGN (c.a. €20 410,00) funded by OP Good Governance and 7 044,84 BGN (c.a. €3 601,77) locally.
Evidence of success
Evaluation & Monitoring mechanism: The ideas are being evaluated by
Evidence of success: Pictures of implemented ideas can be viewed at https://halo-platform.halongo.eu/archive
Potential for learning or transfer
Why it is considered being potentially interesting for other regions to learn from: The initiative has proven to be quite successful in other places. As the local communities are involved in the process rather than the result being granted to them, they feel more in control with the public funds The results are more likely to stay and not be vandalized.
Information on transfer(s) that already took place (if possible, specify the country, the region – NUTS 2 – and organisation to which the practice was transferred): This initiative was initially implemented in Brazil in 1989, then in New York City in 2011, and Paris followed suit in 2014.