Participatory Governance Initiative

The mandate of the Participatory Governance Initiative at Arizona State University is to promote excellence, collaboration, and innovation in participatory governance research and practice. The Participatory Governance Initiative is a university-wide interdisciplinary space that aims at bringing together academics, students, elected and non-elected government officials, community members and practitioners interested in the theory and practice of participatory governance. Special attention is paid to the examination of emerging trends and innovative experiments around the world that are relevant to the realities of governance and public engagement in the 21st century.

The Participatory Governance Initiative is devoted to undertaking teaching, capacity building, research and dissemination activities aimed at the study and promotion of participatory democracy initiatives, particularly in local governments and educational institutions. 

NEWS

Professor Daniel Schugurensky, Participatory Governance Initiative, School of Public Affairs was invited to address the Center for Studies in Government and Public Affairs of the Colegio de Sonora (Mexico) in coordination with the citizen initiative “Hermosillo How are we doing? in January.

The event, “Dialogue on the construction of local decisions: The experiences of Arizona and Sonora in international context” brought together representatives of organizations, groups of citizens, academics, and students to exchange ideas on participatory budgeting from transnational and comparative perspectives. Attendees commented on experiences and proposed ideas from their work in areas as diverse as health, the environment, gender and safety. The director of the “Hermosillo How Are We Going?” The initiative, Ernesto Urbina Miranda, shared strengths and areas of opportunity in dialogue with Professor Schugurensky.  During his visit to El Colegio de Sonora, Schugurensky also participated as committee member of the thesis of Oscar Mayoral, entitled "Participación ciudadana y políticas públicas culturales: Aproximación de lo municipal a partir del primer año de trabajo de las administraciones Hermosillo 2015-2018 y 2018-2021."

December 2019

Daniel Schugurensky (Arizona State University) and Won No (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) from the Participatory Governance Initiative (PGI) presented their work at the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (IOPD) conference, held in Itzapalapa, Mexico. On December 11-12, they attended the first research board meeting of the Global Participatory Budgeting Hub in Mexico City, Mexico.

October 2019

Daniel Schugurensky (Arizona State University) and Won No (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) from the Participatory Governance Initiative (PGI) have been appointed to the Global Participatory Budgeting Hub (Research Board) and will attend the first board meeting in Mexico City alongside the International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (IOPD) conference. 

August 2019

PGI Director Daniel Schugurensky and Benjamin Goldfrank published Participatory Budgeting, Civic Education, and Political Capital (Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation, Springer)

June 2019

Participatory Governance Initiative awarded a grant for the pilot project of inclusive school participatory budgeting

The Participatory Governance Initiative (PGI), in partnership with the Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA), received a grant from the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (ADDPC) to design, implement and evaluate a pilot project to more expansively and intentionally include students with disabilities in School Participatory Budgeting (SPB). The project will be done in collaboration with Carson Junior High in the school year 2019-2020. The co-PIs of this project are Kristi Tate (CFA) and Daniel Schugurensky (PGI).

Prior research findings indicate that students who engage in civics curricular and extracurricular activities tend to score better than other students in community involvement, political attentiveness, political efficacy, civic duty and other indicators of civic engagement. Research findings also point out that individuals with disabilities have lower levels of civic engagement, and that a combination of encouragement, support, and opportunities to participate can make a difference in political participation. Given this situation, School PB presents a great opportunity to emphasize more inclusive practices of civic engagement for students with disabilities.

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process of deliberation and decision-making over budget allocations that started in 1989 in Brazil and is currently implemented in over 7,000 cities around the world. School PB is a more recent phenomenon and has been growing internationally and in North America. In Arizona, SPB grew from a single school in 2014 to 19 schools in 2018-2019 (15 schools in Phoenix, 3 schools in Chandler, and one school in Mesa). With ongoing growth underway, this is an appropriate moment to pilot more inclusive practices and meaningful civic learning opportunities and develop more pathways to lifelong civic engagement. SPB educates students about citizen participation, self-governance and democratic engagement. In SPB, students “learn democracy by doing” through a process that builds stronger school communities, improves relationships and amplifies student's voices. Through PB, students are empowered to as act as community problem-solvers and acquire skills and attitudes needed for lifelong active citizenship.

A School PB process is typically organized in five steps: 1) students propose ideas to improve the school community; 2) students transform these ideas into viable proposals by conducting research on cost and feasibility; 3) students present proposals to fellow students; 4) full student body votes for top proposals; and 5) winning projects are funded and implemented. By piloting, evaluating and sharing the lessons of inclusive SPB processes for students with disabilities, this project will generate meaningful impacts for the students directly engaged and for students involved in other school PB processes elsewhere.

April 2019