2022 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
16th Edition
Osasco: Workshop on Public Budget for counselors from civil society
Because the issue of public budget is so complex, how to create an exciting way for the population to empower themselves with this knowledge? How to develop tools for civil society to critically evaluate and develop power to validate, refute and innovate government actions?
It was from this questioning and all the collective effort of the team of public servants that we developed a game dynamics and a comic book to deal with the entire budget cycle of the municipality. The activity was aimed at members of civil society that make up the city's municipal councils. The workshop experience was created from the commitment established by Osasco City Hall with the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
This motivation brought together the civil servants of the Planning and Management Department of the City Hall to think and create a workshop in which knowledge about the public budget could consolidate the concepts in a playful, creative and fun way.
It is a new experience that aims to strengthen participation based on joint knowledge with civil society. The central issue is to empower the citizen, to present the political decisions on the public budget and which are the paths for social participation in conjunction with government decisions.
The game dynamics is the main innovative-pedagogical aspect of the workshop. In addition to reviewing the concepts of the initial presentation of content on public budget, it is an opportunity for participants to learn in practice and exercise the prioritization challenge. As the participants have their respective agendas and different causes for which they advocate, contact with thematic diversity makes it possible to open horizons to the most diverse social demands in the face of a limited resource.
The comic book is another aspect of innovation through its didactic, accessible and illustrated language, with a script designed for young people and adults. It was distributed so that the participants are multipliers and facilitators capable of passing on the knowledge obtained and generating debate in their respective centers of action.
The profile of the group of participants stands out for -the diversity of gender, race, generation and thematic diversity. They are counselors and advisers of: Municipal Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CMDCA); Osasco Municipal Council for Cultural Policy (COMCULTURA); Municipal Council of Education (CME); Municipal Council for Women's Rights (CMDMO); Municipal Council of Social Assistance (CMAS); Municipal Council for the Elderly (CMI); Municipal Council for the Defense of the Environment (COMDEMA); Municipal Tourism Council (COMTUR); Municipal Council for Food Security (COMSEA); Municipal Council for Public Policy on Drugs (COMPOD) and Municipal Council for Urban and Housing Policy (CMPUH).
The expectation is that participants will be able to exercise citizenship in a more conscious and purposeful way in activities such as the public hearing - referring to the Budget Guidelines Law and, in the next semester, to the Annual Budget Law, for example.
The continuity of the action foresees holding the workshop in another 46 public facilities in the city, in a decentralized way, in order to involve the largest number of people.
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