Opportunity: New Participatory Budgeting and Grant Making Course – Youthlink
The ‘Participatory Budgeting and Grant Making’ course is an SCQF Level 5 online course which aims to support young people and community activists to be involved in national and local decisions on services and budgets.
This course is particularly suited to those with have a keen interest in supporting communities. They will explore what Participatory Budgeting and Grant Making is, the backgrounds of both and the benefits and impact the processes have on community and individuals. The course will help participants explore ways to improve their own practice and experiences for others in the future. Participants will develop the skills to bring people together at local level through face-to-face events and how to take an innovative approach to budgeting. They will also develop skills in how to create empowered and resilient communities, and how to tackle poverty by sharing opportunities and power more equally.
Participants will be expected to undertake around 30-40 hours of self-directed study to complete the course. The course has been developed in partnership between YouthLink Scotland, Fife College, COSLA, Young Scot, the Democratic Society, Homeless Network Scotland, Glasgow Young Movers and the Scottish Centre for Community Development to support the sector and young people involved in PB. There are no formal entry requirements for the course, just an interest in supporting communities.
What is Participatory Budgeting?
Participatory budgeting is a way for people to get involved in community decision-making by voting directly on how local money is spent. By giving young people the skills and confidence to participate in the important decisions that affect them, the course will help to deliver a range of benefits for communities:
- Community engagement builds social unity by developing shared visions and aspirations
- Increased transparency in decision-making
- A sense of ownership over local spending boosts volunteering rates
- Local young people can come together with local authority employees/politicians to develop more effective partnerships