"We are in an era of cooperation networks"

How and when did you decide to establish the Portuguese Participatory Budget Network?
The first Participatory Budget experience in Portugal was implemented in 2002 in Palmela. Gradually other municipalities expressed interest in the PB practice. One of these municipalities was São Brás de Alportel, a small city of 11 thousand inhabitants in the South of Portugal. The city was able to implement the PB model with European Community funding. One of the funding requirements was that São Brás experience would also develop a methodology to disseminate the experience at the national level. Essentially, the São Brás experience and the emerging interests from other municipalities in the PB model instigated the creation of a National Network.

How many municipalities today in Portugal have Participatory Budgets?
About 25 municipalities. Most of them are in the southern Portugal region and many of them are small - ranging from 5 thousand to 30 thousand inhabitants. Currently, new PB experiences are beginning to emerge in major cities, like Lisbon, Caiscais and Braga.

Were the Portuguese PB programs influenced by Brazilian Participatory Budget experiences?
The two PBs are very different due to the differences in the political culture of the two countries. However, there is an influence of Brazil’s approaches as well as from other experiences from Europe. Some Portuguese municipalities came to Brazil to exchange knowledge and adapt the PB models. In Portugal there is a clear Brazilian influence, but the model implemented is a simplified version of Brazil’s. Despite the fact that the Portuguese PB experience is still in an incipient stage, we can already identify two generations of PBs. The first generation dates from 2002 to 2007, where PBs were mainly advisory in nature. Currently we are living through the second generation of PBs in Portugal - with experience of Caiscais and Lisbon - that combine the advisory method with the deliberative one.

Popular participation in Portugal is different from Brazil’s?
The purpose and goals of PB differ from place to place. The explicit goal of Brazil’s PB is fighting poverty and exclusion, focusing investments on disadvantaged areas. This creates a more dynamic and more mobilized popular participation. In Portugal the primary PB goal is to create proximity between the elected officials and the electorate in order to regain a trust between the two social spheres. Our population is clearly absent in politics. In Portugal we have extremely high rates of absentism during elections. The PB is a tool that is planned to create a new political force in the relationship between politicians and the population. We believe that the PB in Portugal will also be an efficient development tool, not restricted only to the trust – building goal - between politicians and population, but also will address social issues, with the overarching goal of achieving a more equitable democracy in terms of public resource allocation.

In your opinion, what is the importance of the Brazilian Participatory Budget Network?
The Brazilian Network, as other emerging networks, plays an important role in dissemination of best practices. We are living today in an era of cooperation networks. These networks have, in my opinion, two functions: one internal and one external. The internal function is to promote capacity building, workshops and exchange of PB experiences. The networks also have an external function, which is precisely to promote an exchange of experiences and models that are very different. This dialogue between south-north and south-south experiences enriches the PB experiences. Portugal took seriously the assessment of Brazilian and European experiences, to assist and improve Portuguese experiences. Brazil has a very significant number of experiences and many of them do not communicate with each other and become isolated. The Brazilian Network is already doing this important work to create a channel of communication, creating a meeting space that I think will act as a space of institutional capacity building.

Participatory Budget in Latin America As part of its activities, the International Center for Urban Management (CIGU) publishes monthly the Newsletter "Breves de REFORZAR, Noticias sobre los Presupuestos Participativos", with freely distributed by e-mail. The Newsletter focuses on Participatory Budget programs in Latin America and can be accessed at the website www.cigu.org. PB in the cities of the Network Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil) – The population of Recife had until July 15th to vote in the third and final stage of the Participatory Budget 2008 cycle. Online voting began on July 1st and is being offered through the Municipality’s website. Public projects are being voted on through an order of priorities. According to the Municipality, only those who did not attend the sessions and the electronic ballet can vote by Internet. So far, 70,200 people have participated in the PB 2008 cycle. This Newsletter is opened to suggestions from all members of the Participatory Budget Brazilian Network. Please, send us your news or keep in touch: redebrasileiraop@pbh.gov.br. This network exists with your participation.