Inclusion as ownership in participatory budgeting: facilitators’ interpretations of public engagement of children and youth

Abstract

This article draws from two cases of participatory budgeting (PB) in Poland and Finland to explore PB as an inclusive practice of involving children and youth in local governance. Scrutinizing interpretations of facilitators involved in the creation of PB, we analyze the motivation for incorporating children and youth into governance and how their engagement was conducted from the view of ownership. We identify ownership as a central element of inclusion when children and young people are invited to participate in public matters. Our conceptualization distinguishes four analytical dimensions of ownership: ownership of (1) process, (2) issue, (3) action produced, and (4) decision-making. Additionally, we argue that from the view of PB facilitators, encouraging the ownership of children and young people to PB involves four functions: carrying out a legally mandated task, identifying topical issues, developing tools of support, and constructing a motivational link between school and society. We highlight that ownership can potentially contribute to the challenges of engagement experienced in PB initiatives. However, promoting ownership possesses a risk of disempowering the participants and raises concern about the relation between ownership and the level of genuine inclusion.