This is a CTP of initiative: Participatory Budgeting Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
The entry of associated entities into the PB process provoked great movement in PB, bringing a renewal of participation. A new set of participants came who were mainly representatives from kindergartens and nursing homes, and they came with great force.
In terms of politics it is a challenge because the city hall must promote reforms in entities that they do not fully understand. Early childhood education is a challenge for the Belo Horizonte government. They need to offer places in day care for all children up to 5 years old, and they only achieve this because there are associated entities that receive those in need of a vacancy; this also applies to nursing homes.
The PB has been building daycare centers through its process and these new constructions have come to serve up to 400 children. But in 2016 daycare centers and nursing homes that already exist have been included so that reforms and structural improvements can be promoted through PB investments.
The discussion originated due to issues with the structure and service delivery of day care centers and nursing homes.
The city hall knew that they would not have enough money to build new nursing homes or day care centers and consequently someone put the possibility of including entities associated with the PB process onto the agenda thus giving them the opportunity to get investments from PB to improve their structures and to enable them to serve more people with better quality.
This would also unburden the government from investing in new units.
The discussion involved many departments because they were dealing with early childhood education, aging, city planning and care of public services. In addition to the departments linked to these issues, the general prosecutor of the municipality was also consulted to verify legal issues.The population was not consulted in this decision-making process as it was a government measure to mediate specific situations in the city.
2011 – Priorities of PB include education facilities - The priorities in the PB 2011 included schools, health centers, cultural centers, recreation areas, houses and especially infrastructure projects that brought urban and social development to all areas of the city.
2011 – Director’s Plan of Administrative Regions was done - It is an analysis that points out both local potential and local deficiencies from which structured measures are drawn. It was completed as an evaluation of educational entities.
2011 – Formalization of the Secretariat of Shared Management - In 2011 a redesign of the structure took place and the Secretariat of Shared Management was created. In the beginning it was not responsible for the whole PB process, just the organization of assemblies, voters, etc. Nowadays the Secretariat is responsible for the entire PB process and is where the PB’s projects and regional monitoring manager are located.
2014 - Priority Areas map for Participatory Budgeting was updated - The Priority Areas map for Participatory Budgeting interventions was updated including irregular allotments that were indicated in the Local Plan for Social Housing (PLHIS), areas occupied by families with incomes that total up to three (3) minimum wages and are in need of urban interventions.
The arrival of new entities or new leaders to the OP process always provokes conflict. There are leaders who have consolidated their influence in the process and who already have strong representation within the OP.
With the arrival of new leaders and new representative organizations that share public interests, the old leaders are disempowered and the new leaders occupy a more prominent position, etc.
The arrival of the leaders of associated entities was no different. There were those who felt cornered by their arrival, and therefore did not support the inclusion of associated entities into the process. They felt that they would be prejudiced by the demands of these entities. The interviewee does not recall a specific case of strong confrontation, but she says that during some speeches that referred to the entities, it was suggested that perhaps other organizations would lose some influence as a result of this new participation.
Nevertheless, there was also strong acceptance from the population who had representatives in those institutions. The theme of early childhood education and the elderly brought much empathy to the audience and accordingly there was visible support from the population in relation to associated entities.
Initially the PB’s management concern was with including the associated entities, as the PB was limited when concerning operational issues. The feasibility of the projects was a central concern because often the structure of some buildings did not allow for construction work to take place, for example, the terrain did not allow any kind of expansion or it had other operational problems that would limit the reforms: “When the decision to include the associated entities was made, we did not think much of the consequences that it would have on the system. We were trying to solve a specific structural problem in day care centers and nursing homes”.
In addition, there was an expectation concerning the participation of the associated entities. It was expected that the day care centers would have great representational power because education is a topic that is emerging in the city and educational organizations are always mobilized in citizen participation. They did not expect so much engagement from the nursing homes, but one of the nursing homes participated in the process in a very effective manner: "We were very surprised with the participation of the residents of the nursing home. They did not abandon the process, the old ladies were active in the plenary, and they elected some delegates. It was very impressive".
The associated entities participated in the process with more engagement than was predicted by the government, according to the interviewee. Another surprising outcome, and one that proved that the population was sympathetic to the causes, was that many organizations gave up their personal demands in order to support the demands of the day care centers.
According to the interviewee, all the all the PB projects that were reported in the news taught many lessons. It is an organic and changing process.The most preeminent learning referring to clearer processes is in regards the preparation for the technical phases.
When the associated entities were included in the process, the people in management did not have a real idea of what reforms would be made and how they would operate after the demands were approved. For the interviewee, it is necessary to further investigate the technical and legal issues in relation to the construction works in order to avoid frustration for the population and also within the government itself: "We do not have a clear vision of the outcome. Then it comes to the end and questions arise: will it be possible to reform that nursery? Will it be possible to deliver what people want?"
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