Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2008 Category 3: Germany
Europe and North America
Germany
2008 Category 3 Finalist
City of Cologne, Germany
Description
Introducing participatory budgeting to ensure citizen participation in decisionmaking
processes regarding the allocation of public funds.
Summary
The participatory budget introduced in Cologne’s municipal administration is a new
“service for citizen participation” with the goal of effectively supporting decision
making processes in various fields affecting the community with the help of online
media, while putting the citizen at the centre of governance. By providing an electronic
platform for the participation of citizens, useful ideas of the citizens can be
tapped and additional knowledge generated via the Internet.
The Problem
Citizens were not given the opportunity to decide how public funds were going to be
spent.
The Solution
In December 2005, the administration was asked to work out a concept note for
preparing future budgets in the form of a participatory budget. The Cologne City
Council voted with a great majority to ask the municipal administration to carry
out a public symposium called “Participatory Municipal Budget for Cologne”.
Upon decision of the finance committee, a steering committee (6 persons) consisting
of representatives of the political parties and an advisory council (7 persons)
with representatives of organisations/institutions interested in the participatory
budget were established. The symposium “Participatory Budget Cologne” was
carried out in September 2006 with the help of Hamburger Ramboll Management
GmbH. The subsequent preparations for the Cologne participatory budget were
expedited by the finance department and the e-government and online services of
the City of Cologne – accompanied by monthly meetings of the advisory council.
To inform and activate the citizens and encourage them to participate, the use of
the Internet and the potential of online media were discussed in depth at the third
meeting of the advisory council on 25 January 2007. This meeting brought a consensus
to develop a specific approach for the City of Cologne. On 19 June 2007,
the City Council asked for the introduction of an electronic participation platform
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