On April 25, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives "Viitorul" in cooperation with Agora Central Europe hosted the training of trainers "Methodology of the implementation of participatory budgeting for youth".

The event is part of the project „More transparent and inclusive budgeting in Moldova: the involvement of active citizens and young people from three municipalities in the formation of the budget and the transfer of experience to other Moldovan municipalities”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The purpose of the event was to train the future trainers (high school teachers) on the participatory budgeting methodology for students. Thirteen representatives from Strășeni, Ialoveni and Budești communities were present at the event.

During the training, teachers learned about the concept and mechanisms of participatory budgeting, and had the chance to apply their knowledge in the practical part of training, on the implementation of the methodology of training for youth.

The main subjects addressed were: the objectives of participatory budgeting; the role of the working groups and local authorities in the BP process; the calendar of participatory budgeting calendar; how to organize an information campaign; how to write projects; technical and legal analysis of projects; the voting process, tools for civic involvement of young people at the local level, etc.

Participatory budgeting is a process by which communities involve citizens in making decisions about local government budget expenditures. This process encourages citizens to play an active role in setting the budget priorities and take part in the decisions of the local budget. Participatory budgeting can also be an effective tool to increase the degree of civic involvement of young people, but also to strengthen the relationship between local authorities and the community.

The project „More transparent and inclusive budgeting in Moldova: the involvement of active citizens and young people from three municipalities in the formation of the budget and the transfer of experience to other Moldovan municipalities”, is financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and implemented by AGORA CENTRAL EUROPE, IDIS "Viitorul" and the Town Hall of Budești village, the City Hall of Ialoveni, City Hall of Strășeni.