2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

Nässjö kommun is a municipality in Jönköpings county, in south-central Sweden. The project Medborgarbudget is a participatory budget taking place between 2022 and 2029 in the rural areas of the municipality. Each year, around 500 000 sek is distributed to rural communities and surrounding countryside. The project emphasizes rural development by empowering residents to collectively decide how they want their community to develop.

The choice to focus on rural development stems in the Swedish municipal reform in 1971 which led several smaller communities' administration being centralized in Nässjö. Since then, as people have moved away from rural areas, access to public services has worsened and a feeling of being forgotten has grown in rural communities. By working with participatory budgeting, residents have influence over local development and trust is rebuilt between the community and the administration. As well as empowering local communities, the project helps the administration gain insight into local priorities and desires.

Medborgarbudget builds upon previous experiences, including a participatory budget project for small rural communities En halv miljon idéer (2016-2021) and rural development project Kommundelsutvecklingsprojekt (2012-2016) in larger communities. Medborgarbudget now includes all 12 rural communities and seeks to reach as many residents as possible in each community by making use of all available communications channels. Nässjö municipality was among the first to implement such practice in Sweden and is innovative in its long-term application for sustainable rural development.

Medborgarbudget is flexible in terms of the types of ideas that can be submitted and the ways to do so. Both digital and analogue methods of idea submission and voting are welcome and ensure all age groups can participate. The criteria are that investments or activities increase opportunities for movement, increase a place's attractivity and be open and accessible to everyone.

By working with participatory budgeting at a local level, communication channels are opened with local actors and organizations and other local needs and desires can reach the administration. As each town goes through the process, local organizations, clubs, businesses, and individuals can be included in the completion of winning ideas. This anchors the benefits in the local community and ensures a more sustainable result for the project.

• https://nassjo.se/medborgarbudget.html (External link)