Local Government
0
Large Cities
1
Capital Cities
4
Regional or State Governments
4
National Government
0
Other Institutions
0
Local Government
0
Large Cities
1
Capital Cities
4
Regional or State Governments
4
National Government
0
Other Institutions
0
Community
Capital
Montevideo
Population
3 449 300
Language
Spanish
Currency
Uruguayn Peso
Indexes
Democracy
15
Full democracy
Democracy
Democracy
15
Full democracy
Democracy
Corruption Perception
23/180
Corruption Perception
Corruption Perception
23/180
Corruption Perception
Human Development
55
Very High
Human Development
Human Development
55
Very High
Human Development
World Happiness
33/156
World Happiness
World Happiness
33/156
World Happiness
Legislation Regarding the Regulation of Participatory Budgeting Experiences
There’s no current legislation or law regulating Participatory Budgeting initiatives. The decision to set up these initiatives fall into the will of the regional or local government. However, the Participatory budgeting experiences at the subnational level are regulated by internal protocols.
Principal Tendencies Detected
The first trend registered has been the decrease of Participatory Budgeting experiences promoted by the regional governments (departmental governments). From 2005 to 2010 there were eight departments working with Participatory Budgeting processes, nowadays there are only four of them. The departments of Florida, Canelones, Cerro Largo and Salto are no longer developing P.B initiatives. The second one is about Participatory Budgeting addressed to young people. During this period, arises the proposal of the municipality B of Montevideo along with the municipality of San Carlos (Maldonado), they are the only current ones in the country. At the same time, the youth thematic of the Participatory Budgeting in Paysandú disappears, which it had been included since its beginnings.
Currently, none of them is working. It can be said that young people are still not interested in getting involved in these initiatives and also the government hasn’t really put much effort into developing specific strategies to include them. On the other hand, the introduction of digital PB was and is still very slow.
However, the insertion of the digital modality in the 2016 edition of the Participatory Budgeting in Montevideo was considered as a breakthrough, allowing citizens the opportunity to submit a proposal via online. As a result, the participation increased. It is intended that by 2020, people can also vote via online.
Other Information
The active number of PB experiences supported by the regional government (departmental government in Uruguay) is four:
Montevideo, Rivera, Paysandú and Maldonado. These initiatives are being developed at regional level and in some cases also by the local government. Moreover, in some municipalities (B municipality of Montevideo and San Carlos in Maldonado) these processes are incorporated into the youth program. The local government is placed on the third level of the hierarchy of the territorial government, it’s part of the departmental government. The decision to set up these initiatives fall into the will of the regional or local government. PB experiences in the subnational level are regulated by internal protocols created by
the executive bodies that promote them.
The PB experiences in Uruguay share the following features: low level of formalization, territorial design, the allocation of resources is decided through a voting process and is not based on social justice redistribution, binding decisions, they are open to all citizens, but the initiatives are not quite deliberative.
It can be said that the four P. B initiatives are regional programs, but they involved localities and municipalities. For example, in Montevideo, the city is divided into eight municipalities (A, B, C, CH, D, E, F and G. In Maldonado, there are also eight municipalities in the regional level: Aiguá. Garzón, Maldonado, Pan de Azúcar, Piriápolis, Punta del Este, San Carlos y Solís Grande. On the other hand, in Paysandú, is distributed in several municipalities, such as: Chapicuy, Guichón, Lorenzo Geyres, Piedras Coloradas, Porvenir, Quebracho y Tambores y las Juntas Locales de Cerro Chato y Gallinal.
