SERBIA, NATIONAL
Participatory Budgeting in Schools
- Hub
- Activity
- Model
- Participatory budgeting
- Actors
- Citizenship and communities
- Children
- Youth
- Civil society and intermediaries
- facilitators
- Purpose
- Strengthening democracy
- Strengthening democracy
- Democratic education
- Citizen empowerment and capacity building
- Citizen empowerment
- Deliberative skills
#PARTICIPATORYBUDGETING
The main goal of this practice, led by the organization Open and presented by Alexandra Ilijin, is to promote student, teacher, and family participation in school decision-making through participatory budgeting tailored to educational environments. The methodology is based on design thinking, with iterative cycles including deliberation, creative expression, and collaborative decision-making.
The process incorporates tools such as Lego Education, art, and 3D printing, allowing students to express their ideas in visual and tangible ways. A key component is close collaboration with schools, including the appointment of teacher “champions” who lead the implementation within each institution.
Open has paid special attention to creating safe and inclusive participation spaces, adapting its methods to various contexts. This practice has proven flexible in the face of political shifts, as shown by its current pause due to a national political crisis. Despite this, former student participants have continued their activism, leading nationwide protests grounded in the deliberative principles they acquired.
- Design-based methodology with listening, co-creation, and feedback loops
- Use of creative tools like Lego, art, and 3D printing to support student participation
- Involvement of students, teachers, and families as deliberative actors
- Training of teacher “champions” for school-based participatory budgeting
- Inclusive adaptation and creation of safe spaces for student engagement
- Active student participation in school decisions via participatory budgeting
- Strengthening of deliberative skills within classrooms
- Continuation of youth activism at the national level despite program suspension
- Validation of the model’s flexibility and sustainability in complex contexts
KEY CONCEPTS
Contextual: Public education, political crisis, school environment
On Democracy: Participatory budgeting, safe spaces, inclusive methodologies, student participation
