COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse PracticesAbout citizens’ participationIn our view, citizens’ participation is at the same time:• a citizens’ right: we have a legal frame that obliges public administrations to guarantee this right.• a citizens’ obligation: we should develop this awareness within the citizens. (Paulo Freire, 1988)• a resource: to achieve real social transformations and to face real needs and opportunities, academicknowledge is not the only possible one (knowledge ecology, (Santos Boaventura de Sousa, 2006).• a human need: if we don’t participate, we are not alive! The point is how to take part not only inindividual issues, but also in common ones.Therefore, citizens’ participation is…Events &processesthat give citizensthe opportunity toinfluence in the publicpolicies….so…partially in their lives( )Urban planning & renewaleducational & cultural programmessocial programmesparticipatory budgetsProcess Profile: “Youth, take part in Santa Eulalia!!!”The process was ordered by the local authority of Santa Eulalia de Ronçana, specifically by the Young andCulture Department, between September 2007 and January 2008 (5 months). The technical team developing theproject was composed by 2 members of the Youth and Culture Department and 2 members of ETCS cooperativewho work together on participation studies involving the University of Barcelona and the Autonomous Universityof Barcelona. The target population was young people aged 15 to 25 years (about 600 inhabitants, 12% of thepopulation of the municipality). And the budget open to the participation of young people was 20,000 euros, 40%of the budget for Youth and Culture Department of the municipality of Santa Eulalia (the rest of the budget is usedin practice to recruit staff).The will of the Process was:1. Give young people a role in the municipal budget,2. Generate autonomy,3. Share responsibility with the young people regarding the criteria for spending public resources,4. Accountability in public policiesAnd the aim of the process was: “To involve the young people in a process of democratic deliberation anddecision - made to decide how to allocate part of the municipal budget, the young and cultural department annualbudget”.51