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Description
According to reports summarising social consultations carried out for the Łódź Town Hall, children’s and youth’ participation in co-creating the city and co-deciding about it is marginal. In 2020 there was not a single child taking part in consultation meetings. We want to change this state of affairs by implementing 4 different models of the School Participative Budget in 8 primary and 8 secondary schools in Łódź. We will run a training for School Budget Supervisors on transparency and disclosure of informing about the school budget. In all 16 schools we will organise meetings for pupils, teachers and parents to talk about the needs and problems of their facilities, and possible solutions. Each school will receive from us PLN 4 000 to implement ideas participants will come up with jointly. We will also organise a meeting for school representatives with the Town Hall officials to discuss the effects of the project, development of School Participative Budgets in Łódź , and ways in which children and youths can be engaged in the town matters. We will run a social campaign targeted at young people from Łódź showing them that their voice matters, and we will encourage them to involve in school issues and social consultations concerning their hometown and their immediate neighbourhood. Our partner is the Urban Activity Bureau by the Łódź Town Hall that will help us recruit schools for the project and will work with us on the school budget model.
Summary of project results
The reports summarising the public consultations carried out by the City of Łódź show little or none participation of children and youth in the processes which lead to co-deciding about the city they live in. In 2020 no children took part in consultation meetings.
We wanted to change this by implementing 4 different models of participatory budgeting in 16 schools in Lodz - 8 primary schools and 8 secondary schools.
We held training sessions for School Budget Keepers and Supervisors about transparency and openness of their school''s activities when it comes to reporting on the establishment''s budget. We held meetings in all 16 schools where pupils, teachers and parents discussed the needs and problems of their establishments and possible solutions and made choices. Then, in each school, we funded the small initiatives implementing the ideas they had jointly developed (up to PLN 4 000).
We also organised a meeting of people from the schools with representatives of the City Council, where we discussed the results of the project, the development of school participatory budgets in Lodz and the possibilities for involving children and youth in city’s public life. We also conducted a social campaign, "Youth vote counts!", aimed at young people in Lodz, which showed them that their voice is important and encouraged them to get involved in school issues, as well as to take part in public consultations about the city and their immediate neighborhood.
Our partner was the City Activity Office of the City of Lodz, which helped us recruit participating schools and worked with us on developing a model for school budgets.
The main beneficiaries of the project were school students, who were given the opportunity to actively participate in the budgeting process and decide on the use of school funds. The project also involved teachers and school supervisors who acted as facilitators and supported students in the budgeting process.
The evaluation study shows that pupils have gained a sense of influence on their school’s activities, and their sense of belonging to the local community has increased. There are many indications that, at least temporarily, polarisation in schools has also decreased, and youth involvement in consultative processes has increased.
The project has attracted the attention of the media and public institutions, which has helped to raise awareness of innovative forms of school management.