Most (53 out of 60) of municipalities in Lithuania implement participatory budgeting. Since the first participatory budgeting in Lithuania in 2018, residents have decided on the implementation of more than 650 ideas, thus allocating more than 20 million euros, according to a review conducted by Transparency International Lithuania.
Over the past year, municipalities invited residents to submit ideas ranging from 5 to 670 thousand euros, distributing a total of approximately 6.5 million euros to residents. Approximately 140 thousand residents in 52 municipalities proposed 1,188 ideas and voted to implement 167 projects. On average, each municipality received 23 ideas (excluding Vilnius, which received 594 ideas).
As in previous years, most of the winning projects (167) were aimed at improving the environment and infrastructure (80), creating active leisure spaces (39) and children’s playgrounds (19), creating city parks and gardens (10), and spaces dedicated to culture (10).
According to data provided by municipalities, the highest participation rates were in Skuodas (55 percent), Jurbarkas (28%), Utena and Alytus (25%) district municipality, and the least in Visaginas (0.28%), Švenčionys (1.8%) and Kaišiadorys (2.5%) district municipality.
When implementing participatory budgeting, municipalities most often indicated that they sought to involve residents in decision-making and budget formation and to hear their needs (29), encourage citizen initiative in the municipality (14), revitalize and improve the social and living environment and infrastructure (11).
More than half of municipalities (36) indicated that they involve pupils in decision-making by implementing participatory budgeting in schools. Another 7 plan to do so in the near future. In total, at least 276 Lithuanian schools have implemented participatory budgeting at least once, which accounts for more than a third of all general education institutions in the country.
“I am glad that participatory budgeting have already become common practice in 9 out of 10 municipalities and more than a third of all general education institutions in the country. I believe that we are now ready to address more complex issues, such as how to develop and strengthen the ecosystem of participatory democracy in Lithuania. More specifically, how to ensure the exchange of information, experiences, and knowledge within and between different institutions so that democratic education through experience becomes a daily habit. We will be discussing this today at the Participatory Democracy Forum,” said Ingrida Kalinauskienė, CEO of the Transparency International Lithuania.
Today, TI Lithuania is organizing the eighth Participatory Budget Forum, which is expanding this year to become the Participatory Democracy Forum. The theme of the forum is “Participatory Democracy as an Ecosystem.” During the forum, representatives of municipalities, schools, and active citizens will discuss best practices and lessons learned in involving residents. More information can be found here.
Participatory budgeting is a way of deciding on the use of public funds together with the community, where community members themselves propose ideas to the municipality, school, or organization and vote for the ones they like best.
More information about participatory budgeting initiatives and the results of previous reviews can be found at: www.dalyvaujamasisbiudzetas.lt.
This is the sixth review conducted by TI Lithuania. It is based on information provided by municipalities in response to a TI Lithuania inquiry in September 2025 about participatory budgeting activities carried out by municipalities between August 2024 and August 2025.
A more detailed review can be found here (in Lithuanian), and a map of municipalities here. The questionnaire for municipalities can be found here, and detailed responses from municipalities (unedited) here.
For more information:
Ingrida Kalinauskienė, ingrida@transparency.lt, +370 5 212 69 51
This initiative is partly funded by the British Council in Lithuania.