Revisiting participatory budgeting as a potential service delivery catalyst

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to argue the value of public participation in budgetary process to advance the delivery of public services. Various authors have written about participatory budgeting and some of their views differ considerably. The intention of this article is not to present participatory budgeting as the acme of service delivery initiatives, but rather to assess its applicability in a community environment to achieve a measure of success. Service delivery remains a contentious issue – from this perspective public participation in the budgetary process is vital, especially in identifying and delivering high quality services in the municipal sphere. As a point of departure, service delivery is briefly discussed as a governance deficit. Public participation and participatory budgeting are assessed as interrelated concepts, where after an assessment of the legislative environment provides a baseline reference regarding participatory governance in the municipal sphere. The article then focuses on participatory budgeting, examining its development and barriers to effective participatory budgeting and distinguishing between different kinds of participatory budget.