For Cascais, I DO IT
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Cascais Participatory Budget 2011 | 2012 For Cascais, I DO IT Cascais Participatory Budget 2011 | 2012 TECHNICAL CREDITS CONTENTS Author: 1. Brief presentation of Cascais ................................................................................................... 9 Nelson Dias - Associação In Loco 2. The Concept of Participatory Budget .................................................................................... 11 Editing: Câmara Municipal de Cascais 3. Background ................................................................................................................................ 13 Printing: 4. Participatory Budget process in Cascais ............................................................................... 15 Casa d’imagem 4.1. Preparation .................................................................................................................. 16 4.2. Receiving Proposals .................................................................................................. 20 Print Run 4.3. Technical Analysis ..................................................................................................... 26 80 exemplares 4.4. Voting on Projects .................................................................................................... 29 4.5. Announcement of results and budget approval ................................................... 35 Translation: 4.6. Process Evaluation .................................................................................................... 37 FREEFLOW 5. Projects ....................................................................................................................................... 39 ISBN: 978-97-67-54-7 6. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 53 Legal Deposit: 7. Future perspectives .................................................................................................................. 63 Cascais Participatory Budget 2011 | 2012 A Word from the Mayor Reports of an unfinished journey for - because everyone, both citizens and adminis- tration, would have to act together. Suddenly, we all It is with special pleasure that I welcome you to the realized that we can make a difference as a team, pages of this great, small booklet. Small, but only and that we risk succeeding collectively, or failing as in the literal sense. Great, because it tackles really isolated individuals. important deeds done by those who matter: the The first edition of the Participatory Budget took people of Cascais. place. Then, the second. This year is the third. And, Allow me to begin by sharing a small story. Some as Mayor, I cannot help but feel an enormous pride years ago when I first started to introduce the con- in the all work that has been done. For five reasons: cept of Participatory Democracy in public speeches, () The Principle of Participation. Citizen participa- I noticed that this idea caused some unease to the tion has been remarkable and, from the outset, the majority of people. And when speaking of a Partici- people of Cascais were present. This shows the vi- patory Budget (PB) then, everyone frowned. I later tality of civil society in Cascais, and the success that realized that this attitude did not arise from fear of initiatives of decentralization can have in our region, the unknown - here in Cascais we are not afraid to which has over recent years given a clear sign of take chances. It was more symbolic than this: in a democratic maturity. () The Principle of Action. country like Portugal, where the state plays a cen- The quality of the presented projects is fascinating. tralizing role and the general feeling is to wait for The first step to address the crisis is to recognize someone else to solve the issues, what I was pro- that there are no omnipresent or omnipotent enti- posing was a dramatic change in attitude at our ties: we need everyone to create a lasting and sus- level, at a local scale. tainable change. The projects presented show us Suddenly, and without warning, the power to de- that, in a decentralized manner, it is possible to cide, evaluate, judge, changed hands. All of a sud- use resources to rationally meet the needs of the den, the decentralization of powers was accompa- population. It is the management of resources nied by the decentralization of responsibility, which according to people’s real needs, rather than to became shared. There was no one for whom to wait the theoretical needs of departments. () The 4 5 Cascais Participatory Budget 2011 | 2012 Principle of Accountability. The PB has allowed for all its problems, Democracy is really the best form Introduction interactive and demanding scrutiny over political of government ever invented. power that must be maintained and stimulated. (4) As we construed the PB this way, both in body and The Principle of Citizenship. I have strived for Cas- spirit, the IOPD has made us the International Capital cais to become a more prosperous and supportive for Citizenship and Participatory Democracy in 013. municipality. This also comes from a greater degree However, because honors are not to be enjoyed but of free initiative by citizens. We want citizens to be they are to be justified, I believe that in 013 we were as free as possible, to decide their own future and able to set up an even better and stronger PB. their own project for happiness. Projects like the PB And if in matters of citizenship it is not legitimate to are tools working towards the ideal of a society free empower people and to then take away those same from constraints. (5) The Principle of Democracy. powers, I do believe we have fortunately walked Churchill said that democracy is the worst of all re- down a path of no return. gimes... Except for all the others. The reality, howev- It’s this adventure down this new path in the world er, is that in a globalised world that spins too quickly, of Participatory Democracy that we are now sharing democracy begins to show signs of wearing. By in- with you. volving people, the PB shows citizens that, despite Participatory Budgets have benefitted from This work includes interviews with staff of the a well deserved attention from international Municipality and with participants of both editions organizations, politicians from many countries, of the Participatory Budget. Their statements scholars, civil society groups, as well as from show a high level of satisfaction with the process, millions of Citizens that participate in the but also a renewed demand for higher standards experiments carried out in their regions. with regard to the role of the Municipality in Aware of this successful momentum, Cascais making Cascais more participative, socially aware decided to implement this type of democratic and valuing people more. innovation for the first time in 0. After two In the following pages, some of the more editions, one can say without a doubt that the interesting stories associated with the project results obtained far exceed the Municipality’s are told. The promoters that were interviewed initial expectations and justify the interest that recount, first-hand, the way in which their this experiment has raised in Cascais, Portugal investment proposals originated, the debates that and abroad. took place during the Public Sessions so as to This is one of the reasons why the Municipality get these proposals approved, their contribution of Cascais decided to publish this booklet. Its towards the technical analysis of the projects, the main objective is to ensure a methodological communication strategies during public voting, presentation of the Participatory Budget (PB) among many other details. These are extremely Carlos Carreiras, process, of the projects decided upon by rich narratives that make us believe in the power Mayor of Cascais participants and on overall results achieved. of citizenship. 6 7 Cascais Participatory Budget 2011 | 2012 1. Brief presentation of Cascais VIANA DO CASTELO MAFRA VILA FRANCA DE XIRA VILA REAL BRAGA BRAGANÇA LOURES SINTRA ODIVELAS PORTO AMADORA CASCAIS LISBOA ALCOCHETE MONTIJO OEIRAS MONTIJO ALMADA MOITA VISEU PALMELA SEIXAL AVEIRO BARREIRO GUARDA SETÚBAL SESIMBRA 0 20 40mi 0 20 40km COIMBRA Located west of the Tagus estuary, between the Alcabideche, Carcavelos, Cascais, Estoril, Parede CASTELO BRANCO Sintra Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, to the and São Domingos de Rana. LEIRIA north, Cascais is bordered by the Municipality of In 970, the municipality had around 9,000 Sintra, to the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean inhabitants. By 0 this figure had more than and to the east by the Municipality of Oeiras. doubled, with INE (Statistics Portugal) recording SANTARÉM ALCABIDECHE On the second half of the th century, Cascais 06,000 residents. In this 40-year period, PORTALEGRE was a small village of fishermen and farmers. The the country and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area name of the municipality seems to derive from the went through significant transformations. The LISBOA SÃO DOMINGOS DE RANA plural of the word ‘cascal’, which means a heap Revolution on 5th April 974, the flux of migrants CASCAIS ESTORIL of shells (‘cascas’), which must be related to the from the hinterland, the building of a vast road ÉVORA abundance of shellfish in the area. network and the development of public transport, PAREDE The name Cascais officially appears in 70, a few the uncontrolled growth of residential areas, SETÚBAL CARCAVELOS