Methodologies of citizen participation with children and teenagers: an exploratory study on participatory budgeting in Spain

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. With the emergence of participatory budgets as in Porto Alegre, public institutions have implemented similar dynamics to different topics and audiences. Among these groups boys, girls and teenagers can be found. OBJECTIVE. This paper analyzes a series of participatory experiences implemented in Spanish municipalities during a diverse time-span 2015-2021. METHOD. To collect the data an open-ended questionnaire was designed that UNICEF Spain distributed among the participants and those interested in the initiative of Friendly Towns for Childhood from July-September 2021. Finally, the researchers obtained 35 valid responses and treated them with the CAQDAS MAXQDA 2022 software, thus use a mixed research methodology Specifically, this study focused on the following variables for its characterization: Editions, Objectives, Strategy, Phases, and Participants. RESULTS. Among the findings the proliferation of experiences with multiple participations and the average development of the participative experiences are remarkable. In addition, there is a bias towards instruments that exclusively promote participation over other values, such as education, training, or empowerment. DISCUSSION. Furthermore, this fact also highlights the importance given to the role of technicians and politicians in this process. The results of this research study may be useful for providing other types of evidence in this field of study beyond those available in this field of study and may generate an understanding of participatory budgets for children and adolescents.