YouthPB Accelerator continues despite the pandemic. We have started testing methods and materials developed within the project. Testing started with the workshops with young people from Warsaw.

From 01.12.2020 to 25.01.2021 in Warsaw applications are collected for the next edition of the municipal civic budget. From the perspective of our project, it was an ideal opportunity to check whether the assumptions and solutions adopted in our toolkit are understandable and engaging for young people.

We conducted two workshops with willing groups of young people who undertake non-formal education. The workshops took place online using a variety of web-based tools for remote education including Zoom.

The first workshop was about the idea of a civic budget. We introduced the participants to the concept of a participatory budget, presented them with the stages that apply to the Warsaw budget and familiarised them with the values that the participatory budget represents. At the end of the first workshop, participants were given materials for independent work to help them think about potential changes in their neighbourhood.

The second workshop consisted of generating ideas from the participants. We started ideas generation by mapping the areas that seemed important to the participants. Then we encouraged them to think of ways to improve the quality of life in their surroundings. Finally, participants were introduced to ways to participate in participatory budgeting – both submitting a project and participating in deliberation or voting.

After both workshops willing participants could ask the organisers for help in submitting a project.

The workshops held so far have given the organisers and the participants interesting insights into the issue of implementing a civic budget during a pandemic. Despite the obstacles, the workshops have produced some interesting ideas. Their authors hope to submit projects in the current edition of the civic budget in Warsaw.