Municipality

Youth Civic Budget in Lublin (Poland)

The Youth Civic Budget was firstly implemented in Lublin in 2019. The model was developed together with the Youth City Council and the Team for Children and Youth, who created recommendations for the budget. Financial resources and the implementation of the process were entrusted to a non-governmental organization specializing in actions with young people. The […]

a.iwanska@teatrikon.pl

Project data
Map

Description

Preparation

The main goal was to stimulate youth active participation in Lublin. In the interviews there was also an educational goal - young people were intended to learn how to plan activities in their environment, implement them and take proper care of the project finances.

The non-governmental organization "Teatrikon", which specializes in activities for young people and employs experienced animators, was chosen in an open competition to implement the budget. The decision on such a procedure resulted from the desire to improve the implementation of the budget for young people and to avoid administrative barriers existing in the office of the city hall (e.g. public procurement procedures, settlement of expenditures by beneficiaries).

Each project of the selected ones had its own mentor from Teatrikon, who supported young people in the project.

Implementation

Rules of the municipality budget: http://www.teatrikon.pl/mbo/zasady.

Who could submit projects?

Informal groups of children and/or young people (minimum 3 persons), including: pupils of Lublin's public and non-public schools beginning from 1st grade of primary school and/or students of Lublin's universities and colleges up to the final year of second-cycle studies or uniform long-cycle studies. The application was submitted by an adult representative on behalf of the underage children and youth. A list of signatures of people supporting the project had to be attached to the project, including at least the signatures of 15 persons in case of small grants (up to 1000 PLN), 30 persons in case of medium grants (up to 3000 PLN), 50 persons in case of large grants (up to 5000 PLN).

Who evaluated the projects?

The Project Evaluation Team, consisting of: a representative of the Lublin City Youth Council, two representatives of the Lublin Team for Children and Youth, the mayor's representative for children and youth, a representative of a non-governmental organisation acting for the youth.

Mentors were employed in Teatrikon (each of mentors was involved in 6 projects). They had an advisory function, especially when settling the project. Each group that carried out the project had its leader. The group signed the contract with Teatrikon, it was a set of rules which were helpful in cooperation. Teatrikon had the task to inform young people about the existence of the youth budget.

The call for projects/action ideas had a competition formula.

Dissemination:

The cooperation with the Youth City Council of Lublin, which through "the word of mouth" provided information about the budget. Additionally information was disseminated in social media, e-mails were sent to institutions and organizations from the Teatrikon's contact database, information was also sent to schools and universities.

Ways of engaging young people

The youth civic budget is an outcome of efforts of the Team for Children and Youth and the Youth City Council established in September 2018. In 2017 there was adopted the resolution of intent of the Youth City Council on establishing the youth civic budget, which was addressed to the mayor of Lublin.

Representatives of these youth bodies of the dialogue were also involved in the evaluation of the submitted projects.

Pupils and students were participants. In the interview with the representative of the Teatrikon it was emphasized that participants were very independent, the submitted ideas were not "forced" by e.g. school authorities.

Role of young people

Participants
Beneficiaries
Helpers
Organizers
Managers to deliver the process

Positive aspects of the project/process

The interest and involvement of young people was exceptional. These initiatives were bottom-up initiatives. They were not inspired by e.g. teachers or school headmasters. The model was exceptional- the public task was entrusted to the non-governmental organization in the field of youth.

Main obstacles to the project/process

The office of the city hall and Teatrikon did not pay attention to small details when concluding contracts: how the use of the city hall’s logotype in promotional materials created by participants should look like.

From the point of view of the non-governmental organisations - they spent a lot of time explaining the rules of refunds, the ways of the reimbursement when paying in cash, etc.

From the point of view of the city hall - the challenge was to find money to finance the youth civic budget.

Opinion after implementation

Activities will be continued in the same formula in the following year.

Accountability of resources

Financing from the budget of the city of Lublin. The responsibility for the proper settlement of expenditures - Teatrikon Foundation as the operator of the competition.