The Participatory Budget

The Participatory Budget
By Mike Rhodes
January 26, 2005

Porto Alegre, Brazil - Nester Swertner, an official in the Sau Leopoldo city government, says that “the 500 biggest corporations take 58% of the worlds wealth!” In addition to corporations extracting natural resources and wealth from Brazil, Swertner said “the Brazilian government pays 1/3 of the money they receive in taxes to pay off IMF and World Bank loans.” The effect of these Global Financial realities has led political activists like Swertner to look for alternatives to business as usual

Swertner is in the Workers Party (PT), whose leader Lula was elected president in 2002. The Workers Party and Lula have their origins in the labor movement, but before winning political power, the PT found it necessary to expand their base beyond organized labor and become a party that represents the interests of the poor, all workers, and the popular movement. Many consider Lula a socialist and he is a very popular and charismatic leader in Brazil.

Swertner, speaking to a delegation from Global Exchange who are attending the World Social Forum, said that “when the PT came to power in this area, we realized that we would have to do some things differently. New tools are needed for government to support the essential needs of the community.”

One of the tools the PT developed to respond to the social crisis was The Participatory Budget. What is unique about this project is that it re-defines how local government works. Instead of elected officials deciding how to spend taxes, The Participatory Budget puts the decision making power in the hands of the people. The role of elected officials is now to carry out the desires of the people.

“How this works,” Swertner said, “is that we hold meetings all over the city and the people discuss their needs. The community’s needs are prioritized through a series of discussions and then people vote.” Community members chose their three top priorities. How money is spent in the city is determined by how community members vote. The elected officials are then responsible for carrying out the wishes of the people.

The process is different from traditional local governments which put the decision making power in the hands of elected officials. In Sau Leopoldo and other PT cities using The Participatory Budget, elected officials are public servants. It has become their job to fund the projects that constituents have prioritized.

Swertner said that “at first people would come to these meetings and say they needed a new sidewalk or road in front of their house. When they started hearing about all of the other needs in the community - schools, housing, water, the consciousness of the people began to change.” The PT believes The Participatory Budget is a way to increase peoples participation in the democratic process, thus building a stronger civil society.

One of the challenges of the PT, at both the national and local level, has been how to meet the many needs of Brazil, which has been targeted by the structural reforms of the IMF and World Bank, as well as a destination point for runaway shops from the United States. As an opposition party they had the ability to criticize the government for not adequately funding schools, health care projects, etc. As the political party in power, they have realized that it is hard to decide whether to give limited government funds to one group or another. Do you support the transportation workers union who is demanding an increase in wages or do you address the needs of people who are living in slums with no fresh water or sewage system? Resources are limited and difficult decisions must be made. With The Participatory Budget, at least the people that are effected by the decisions have a role to play in determining what issues are a priority.

“At this time, only about 10 - 20% of people are participating in The Participatory Budget,” Swertner said. “In addition, we are only able to include somewhere between 5-20% of the local government budget in this process.” Many of the costs of local government are fixed. It is always necessary to pay for the infrastructure to keep essential services operating - police, fire, schools, etc. It is the discretionary funds in the budget that people come together to discuss.

Swertner and the PT have no illusions that The Participatory Budget is the solution to all of Brazil’s problems. They believe that changes are needed in the international economic system to relieve the debt and restrain the excesses of capitalism in their country. What The Participatory Budget does is show poor and working people in the community how the political system works and empower them to change it.