Colonia Caroya: Participatory Budget for Older Adults

The Participatory Budget for Older Adults (PPPM) aims to create a space where residents over the age of 60 can propose and define public policies. Projects must be designed to directly benefit older adults. Participants can present ideas and proposals on topics that generate a positive impact in the locality, such as initiatives related to public spaces, education, health, culture, sports, the environment, and other areas.

Participants have the opportunity to voluntarily and democratically propose, debate, and decide the allocation of a portion of the municipality’s General Budget of Resources for the implementation of public policy projects for the city (29 million pesos in 2025). To support this process, the municipality ensures participation through six stages, combining virtual and in-person activities that cover the entire cycle from design to implementation. The process includes mechanisms for publicity, monitoring, oversight, and transparency, supported by a digital platform established through an agreement with the National University of Córdoba and continuous supervision by the municipality’s interdisciplinary technical team, composed of members from both the governing party and the opposition.

The 2025 edition marked the first time this initiative was implemented, adding a new modality to the existing participatory budgeting programs: the citizen participatory budget and the youth participatory budget (both implemented since 2018). The 2025 participatory budgeting process recorded a total of 2,942 votes through both virtual and in-person voting, representing more than 10% of the city’s total population.

In the PPPM process, the proposal “Traveling to Meet: Transportation for Members of the Older Adults Complex” ranked first with 233 votes. The project involves the purchase of a vehicle to provide an exclusive transportation service for older adults, allowing them to travel from their homes to the location where activities take place. This initiative represents a clear municipal response to Article 8 — “Right to participation and social integration” — of the Inter-American Convention on the Protection of the Human Rights of Older Persons.

For the purchase of the vehicle, the municipality increased the allocated budget and ultimately dedicated 42 million pesos, launching the service in October 2025:
https://presupuestoparticipativo.unc.edu.ar/municipio/coloniacaroya2025personasmayores/propuesta/6835c83beda419e72af18cb4

More information:
https://coloniacaroya.gov.ar/presupuesto-participativo-2025/
https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1898.pdf