The council’s next Participatory Budgeting cycle re-opens on Monday 25 August and ahead of this, our Connected Communities team has launched a volunteer recruitment drive for application community reviewers…
If you live in North Ayrshire and are keen to take part, spaces are still available across our six localities.
If you are interested in becoming a Community Reviewer, you can email the PB mailbox at: ParticipatoryBudgeting@north-ayrshire.gov.uk – you will then be invited to a training session to find out what will be required of you.
What is Participatory Budgeting? Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process where local people decide how public money is spent. In North Ayrshire, residents get the say on which community projects get funded in our annual small grant process.
What do I need to do as a community reviewer? As a community reviewer, you will be involved in reading all the applications for the area to make sure that only eligible applications progress to the public vote, when the winning projects are chosen.
You don’t need to be involved in an existing group or project, you have to be able to dedicate some time in September and October to review the applications.
Each reviewer will attend a short training session to explain the process, individually read and make notes on the applications in their area and then attend a final session with other the Community Reviewers to agree which applications will go through to the public vote.
You will be an important part of keeping the process transparent and open and ensure that local people are at the heart of the decision-making.
The support of community members in reviewing applications is an invaluable part of the process.
To get an idea of what type of projects you would be reviewing if you register to become a community reviewer, take a look at last year’s successful projects on the Shaping North Ayrshire website.
Why get involved in helping our next round of PB?
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is all about empowering communities to achieve their ambitions and get more people involved in local democracy while improving services in their communities.
This volunteering opportunity will allow you to access your assigned batch of applications to review via an online website where you will be required to review and assess their eligibility before they are put forward for the public vote. Full training and guidance will be provided.
It’s a great opportunity to get to know more about the incredible groups operating locally and will provide you with a chance to give back to the communities of North Ayrshire alongside providing valuable support to our Connected Communities team.
So, if you would like to volunteer, get in touch by emailing: ParticipatoryBudgeting@north-ayrshire.gov.uk