Most (52 out of 60) municipalities in Lithuania are implementing participatory budgeting, with three more planning to do so in the near future. Since the first participatory budgeting in Lithuania in 2018, citizens have collectively decided on the use of 14.4 million euros, according to a survey conducted by Transparency International Lithuania.
Over the past year, municipalities have invited residents to submit ideas ranging from 5 to 180 thousand euros for a total of almost 6 million euros in combined funding for residents. Around 158 thousand residents in 52 municipalities proposed 727 ideas and voted to select 172 projects for implementation. On average, one municipality received 14 ideas.
The majority of the winning ideas from residents were for the maintenance of the environment (65 out of 172), installation of playgrounds and sports fileds (53), lighting (14), building footpaths (8), creating artworks and public spaces (9).
Three times as many municipalities (28 compared to 9) indicated that they involve pupils in decision-making when implementing participatory budgeting in schools.
“In the six years of participatory budgets in Lithuania, we have learnt many lessons and have success stories. However, it is necessary to constantly review what works and what is worth changing, taking into account the experience of other municipalities. I think it is the right time for municipal representatives to further clarify their objectives, so that they could use data to clearly tell whether the level and quality of citizen engagement is improving in their municipality compared to the last year,” said Ingrida Kalinauskienė, CEO of the Transparency International Lithuania.
TI Lithuania is today organising the seventh “Participatory Budget Forum” on the theme “Inclusive decision-making: a catchy slogan or real change?”. During the Forum, representatives of municipalities, schools and active citizens will come together to discuss good examples and lessons learned from participatory budgeting. More information on the forum in Lithuanian here.
Participatory budgeting – is a process of deciding together with the members of one‘s community on how to spend public funds, with everyone invited to propose ideas to a municipality, school or organization and vote for the best ones.
For more information on participatory budgeting initiatives in Lithuanian: www.dalyvaujamasisbiudzetas.lt.
This is the fifth review carried out by TI Lithuania. It is based on the information provided by all municipalities in response to the October 2024 TI Lithuania request for information on participatory budgeting activities carried out by municipalities between August 2023 and August 2024.
A map of municipalities that implement participatory budgeting can be found here (in Lithuanian), detailed responses from municipalities (in the original language) – here.
More information:
Ingrida Kalinauskienė, ingrida@transparency.lt, +370 5 212 69 51