Building a common vision and agenda to improve participatory budgeting A step forward to reduce social inequalities

The fifth largest city of Catalonia Sabadell The fifth largest city of Catalonia 207.000 people

Sabadell By Xavigivax, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2782047

2008-2016. The social and economic situation…

What did we have before? Disrupted civic environment due to corruption and friction within the community Very hierarchical organisation Informal or Baroque organisation Frustrated sensation when participating “That won’t be useful” Public administrations and charities not aligned enough General disenchantment

Reducing inequalities in Sabadell Aligning the organization Reducing inequalities in Sabadell Diagnosis Profiles and factors Strategy and key actions Work plan of implementation Participation Evidence Evalutaion

We want to decide how to locate the resources using participative decision-making in the social area Participatory budgeting Human force Increasing of the social budget Commissioning social projects of charities

Collective Impact Evidence based policy How to overcome the challenging situation? Collective Impact Evidence based policy Participation Consensus on a basic frame Knowledge and process Engage actors in the decision-making process

Common vision and agenda Participative diagnosis based on evidence Frame for the change Common vision and agenda Participative diagnosis based on evidence Defining changes and strategy Incorporating causal evidence Designing and co-creating Implementing and adjusting Evaluating and tracing Conditions to the success: Public administration as a facilitator (not the centre) Visibility and simplicity Building confidence within the community

Key issues of the process 1. Common vision and agenda 2. Participative diagnosis “Address and combat the factors causing inequalities that lead to social exclusion” Key issues of the process

1. Level of participation ladder Everything is fine!

Non profit organizations Citizens Practitioners Polititians 2. Who is involved? Non profit organizations Citizens Practitioners Polititians

Strategic changes... that implies organizational and cultural changes 3. Kind of changes Strategic changes... that implies organizational and cultural changes And an important frame (conditions)… Feasibility Simplicity Consensus (not a mix of conclusions) Long term strategy To approach not only the consequences, but also the causes of the inequalities

Work plan First PEAS draft PEAS 1. Diagnosis 2. Planning Basis document with amendments - Work plan Public policy analysis Social analysis Basis document - Work plan Public policy analysis Social analysis First PEAS draft Implementation and evaluation PEAS Oposition meeting Political comision in government Participatory conference on final diagnosis - April Monitoring group 1 Participatory conference on proposals May Monitoring group 1 Participatory conference on Social Emergency - Feb. Social Action Council/Board Oposition meeting Oposition meeting Practiotioners conference Directors Comission Political comission in government Political comission in government 1. Diagnosis 2. Planning 3. Implementing

Training our own facilitators (9 practitioners) Other key factors Training our own facilitators (9 practitioners) Internal transversal commissions Participation of experts to draw people to the conferences Mailing is not enough… call them! PDCA

Before starting.... Make sure everyone understands what we are trying to do

During the process... Make sure you make some noise

Key points of the evaluation 269 participants 56 social actors engaged 150 practitioners from the Council 12 meetings/workshops Average rating of the meetings 8,1 out of 10 Average rating of expert conferences 8,2 out of 10 Average rating of the final strategic plan proposal (PEAS) 8,5 out of 10 9 months of work