Fairer Aberdeen Fund

PB (Participatory Budgeting) is a way in which communities can have a direct say in how public funds should be used to address local priorities. PB was first introduced in Brazil in 1989 and its tools and principles are now used in many places across the world to engage residents and community groups to discuss priorities, generate ideas and vote on them.

The Fairer Aberdeen Board has been involved in piloting this process in the city by welcoming applications from community groups who are able to demonstrate how their projects and activities can promote Social Inclusion and wellbeing within their communities.

Members of the community are invited to attend an event where each community group who is taking part will provide a presentation on their project, and then all of those in attendance will vote on which projects they would most like to see supported.

The focus of PB is to give communities a direct say over how these public funds are spent, but also to bring communities and community groups together.

In this way, the spirit and character of the community can be strengthened and those groups active within it can share experiences, skills and give each other the confidence to work together in the future.

For this to be as successful as possible, it will require community groups to come forward and for members of the community to take an active interest in the process.