Participatory budget for Sofia, Bulgaria

Clever Together Futureproof worked with the citizen organisation Spasi Sofia to start a non-partisan citizen’s campaign, seeking to introduce participatory budgeting to the city of Sofia and help the municipality to implement it.

We conducted in-depth desk research and talked to participatory budget experts and stakeholders around the world to understand how this public mechanism works and how it has been implemented in other cities. We carried out a representative citizen survey and a month-long online Big Conversation with 500+ citizens. As a result of our campaign, in October 2020, the Mayor of Sofia launched a pilot PB programme called “Sofia Izbira” (Sofia Chooses) worth 1.5 million BGN (€750,000).

Our recommendations

• Allocate adequate funds for the participatory budget

• Create thematic categories reflecting the needs

• Ensure administrative capacity for delivering the programme

• Guarantee a transparent process with maximum opportunity for citizen participation, including public discussion of the projects and direct voting

• Select projects for implementation that are not already part of the municipality's obligations

• Allow participation by citizens aged 16 and over, as well as by both permanent and temporary residents of Sofia

• Implement a mechanism for monitoring project delivery that includes citizen participation

• Provide adequate channels of communication between citizens and the municipality

Read more

Read the results of the Big Conversation survey (in Bulgarian)