In 2019, the Participatory Budgeting Laboratory (PBlab) was established as part of the Interreg South Baltic program project "Empowering Participatory Budgeting in the Baltic Sea Region (EmPaci)". The aim of the EmPaci project is to involve more municipalities and mobilize various population groups by developing the capacities of municipal administrations, developing transnational clusters and cooperation between municipalities and residents.
Participatory budgeting is a democratic decision-making process in which ordinary citizens participate in the preparation and adoption of the budget of a municipality or public sector organization.
The purpose of the Participatory Budgeting Laboratory is to develop skills and knowledge in conducting research related to participatory governance, and at the same time to strengthen relations between municipalities and residents by providing prepared participatory budgeting user guides, training programs and tools for the implementation of participatory budgeting.
