Questions/Answers

○ The budget for Seoul Metropolitan Government is planned by the mayor and deliberated upon and confirmed by the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Prior to the introduction of the participatory budgeting system, budgeting was a top-down process that was decided on by the city bureaucrats and a group of experts. The opinions of the taxpayers and residents, who are directly affected by the execution of the budget, were not properly reflected in the process. ○ In 2012, Seoul Metropolitan Government adopted the participatory budgeting system to allow Seoul residents to participate in the budgeting process. Every year, the government allocates KRW 50 billion of the city budget to residents, who then identify, propose, and select projects and initiatives that they believe are needed to reduce inconveniences and difficulties in people’s daily lives. In addition to designing the budget, residents can participate in the planning process by expressing their opinions on Seoul Metropolitan Government’s entire budget and monitoring the budget execution process. - Anyone residing in Seoul may submit proposals online, by mail, or in person at city hall. Citizen proposals are selected through a process involving: 1) consideration of any potential violations of laws or ordinances and a project feasibility review, 2) on-site review, 3) deliberation and screening by the private and public sectors, 4) selection of the top 130 percent of the projects, and 5) a poll by citizens. ○ The participatory budgeting system is improving the lives of the people, as it allows the implementation of projects that are directly related to issues in citizens’ everyday lives that the government has failed to identify and address. Through this system, we are making fiscal democracy a reality.

○ Seoul’s participatory budgeting system empowers Seoul residents to take the lead and voluntarily participate in the city’s finances by designing their own lives and determining their own budget. The goal of this initiative is to change the lives of the people by allowing them to apply their tax money to the right places and at the right times, as needed.

○ The most important feature of Seoul’s participatory budgeting system is that it induces the participation of Seoul citizens in the entire budgeting process. Instead of simply collecting people’s opinions through hearings and surveys, the government provides all Seoul citizens, regardless of sex or age, with the opportunity to propose, select, and monitor their own projects, for which it allocates a budget of KRW 50 billion. Therefore, this initiative “makes institutes more inclusive and ensures participation in decision-making.” ○ Over the past six years, Seoul citizens have selected 2,801 projects (KRW 309.2 billion) from the 14,399 projects (KRW 4.09 trillion) that they have proposed.

○ The top-down budgeting process that existed prior to the introduction of the participatory budgeting system excluded citizens and taxpayers, the main agents of fiscal democracy, from participating in the finance-related activities of the government administration. ○ In the former, citizen-excluding budgeting system, there existed the potential for the distortion of public resources, making it difficult to properly allocate the budget as necessary. ○ As a solution to the lack of citizen participation and reflection of citizens’ opinions in the budgeting process, the participatory budgeting system was introduced to allow citizens to propose projects, which the Citizen Participatory Budget Committee then deliberates upon. ○ Every year, projects proposed by Seoul residents are executed with an assigned budget of KRW 50 billion. During the deliberation of the proposed projects, some are improved and/or expanded in scale. For instance, there was a project to replace the shuttle bus used by homeless people and residents of low-cost housing in Jjokbangchon to travel back and forth between their homes and bathhouses. During the deliberation process, the committee decided to not only replace the shuttle bus but also launch the operation of a second one.

Through Seoul’s participatory budgeting initiative, a number of small yet high-impact projects that would not have been possible under the traditional budgeting system are finally being given a chance. Many of such projects focus on marginalized, low-income areas rather than areas with a high standard of living and good infrastructure, and are therefore expected to contribute to the promotion of social equity, especially in terms of the allocation of public resources and integration of local communities. Details on the entire deliberation process of the participatory budgeting system have been disclosed on the Internet, contributing to the transparency of evaluation and respecting the people’s right to know. In 2013, Seoul Metropolitan Government launched a participatory budgeting website (yesan.seoul.go.kr) to facilitate the disclosure of projects proposed by Seoul citizens and the project screening process. The city government provides opportunities for members of the general public to participate in the Participatory Budget Committee through a lottery. In addition, with the operation of a mobile voting system, residents who are unable to go to the city hall in person, for whatever reason, may still directly participate in the project selection process. Seoul city also guarantees people the opportunity to express their opinions on the projects through its website.

○ The participatory budgeting system has brought the government’s administrative and fiscal responsibilities, which had traditionally remained outside citizens’ sphere of influence, down to the grassroots level. In addition, the system has been strengthening the capacity of the people by providing them with training and education opportunities through the Citizens’ Budget School, thus strengthening their participation as citizens of a democratic state. ○ Moreover, through the establishment and operation of the Participatory Budget Committee and the deliberation on and selection of participatory budget projects, this initiative is making substantial contributions to enhancing the transparency of the government’s financial management activities.

○ Seoul Metropolitan Government was the first metropolitan government in South Korea to implement the participatory budgeting system, which is one of the most advanced systems for empowering residents to propose and select projects that focus on promoting the public good, rather than simply holding hearings and conducting surveys during the budgeting process to collect people’s opinions on particular projects. ○ It is toward this end that the ordinance on the participatory budgeting system stipulates the formation establishment of the Participatory Budget Committee, which is made up of 300 Seoul residents, and whose formation takes into account the gender, age, and regional distribution. The committee reviews and makes improvements on the projects proposed by Seoul residents and the committee set related priorities. Ultimately, the people vote to decide on the final Participatory Budgeting projects for the next year. ○ One of the most noteworthy parts of Seoul’s participatory budgeting system is “mVoting,” which is a system that seeks to expand citizen participation by allowing people to vote on the projects electronically using their smartphones. ○ Since its introduction in 2015, the mVoting system has enabled about 110,000 Seoul citizens, accounting for more than one percent of the total population of the city, to participate in the voting process every year.

○ Seoul Metropolitan Government was not the first to adopt the participatory budgeting system, in an effort to promote active citizen participation in government decision-making. ○ However, Seoul’s participatory budgeting system has become a leading model of budgetary governance that includes citizens, civic groups, the city government, and it was benchmarked by other local governments, such as Busan Metropolitan City, Daegu Metropolitan City, and Incheon Metropolitan City.

○ Since the introduction of the participatory budgeting system, Seoul Metropolitan Government has allocated KRW 50 billion for participatory budgeting every year, and that amount was increased to KRW 70 billion last year. ○ To promote the system, the city government established the Citizen’s Participatory Budgeting Division, under the Planning and Administration Office, and staffed it with 12 officials in charge of the operation and administration of the system. ○ In addition, Seoul Metropolitan Government dispatches one or two officials to each budget team of the 25 districts of Seoul, which holds local conferences, to support collaboration between the city government and the people.

Yes

○ After the participatory budgeting system entered operation in Seoul, a global city with a population of 10 million, it was introduced to local governments nationwide through the 2014 Local Government Budget Efficiency Conference. In 2017, Seoul Metropolitan Government was selected as an “outstanding organization” in an evaluation of the participatory budgeting systems of local governments. As a result, Seoul’s operational plans and best practices were benchmarked by major metropolises and provinces across Korea, including Daegu, Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Gyeonggi-do, Gwangju, Busan, and Jeonju. Recently, Tokyo (Japan), Taiwan, Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Mexico City (Mexico) have also benchmarked Seoul’s participatory budgeting system. ○ Seoul Metropolitan Government’s participatory budgeting system is particularly significant in that it became an important model for the “Citizen Participatory Budgeting System” launched by the new administration of the Republic of Korea.

○ According to the international standard ISO 26000 (guidance on social responsibility), the factors that impact the sustainability of policies include: ① transparency in the policy process at the level of organizational governance, ② protection of vulnerable groups and ensuring of the rights of citizens, ③ corruption-prevention efforts, and ④ participation and development of local communities. ○ The governance process of the Participatory Budget Committee is disclosed to the public, and this transparent sharing of information has been boosting the participation of local communities and grassroots organizations in Seoul. In relation to the composition of the committee and the projects proposed by citizens, the protection of vulnerable groups is always taken into consideration. ○ Adhering to the principle of transparency, Seoul Metropolitan Government constantly strives to prevent corruption by restricting the role of government officials to the provision of support only and preventing regulations and government officials from stifling the voluntary participation of the public. ○ Lastly, the participatory budgeting system has helped strengthen the capacity of grassroots organizations in Seoul by forming participatory budgeting-related groups and providing training and education for residents through the Citizens’ Budget School. The fact that thousands of proposals for projects with the potential to significantly improve the lives of residents are submitted every year is proof that the capacity of civic organizations has indeed been strengthened. ○ Therefore, the participatory budgeting system, which is based on transparency and the delegation of authority, serves to strengthen the capacity of grassroots organizations, which is the most important factor in ensuring the sustainability of any such system.

○ The foundation of Seoul’s participatory budgeting system is stipulated in the Local Autonomy Act, the most authoritative piece of legislation on the fiscal operation of local governments in Korea, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government Ordinance on the Operation of Participatory Budgeting. ○ In 2017, a new organization, the Citizen’s Participatory Budgeting Division under Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Planning and Administration Office, was formed to establish a comprehensive foundation for the sustainable operation of the participatory budgeting system.

Yes

○ In 2014, Seoul’s participatory budgeting system was selected as an “outstanding model” at the Local Government Budget Efficiency Conference, hosted by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Korea, and awarded the Prime Minister’s Award, which was accompanied by a financial incentive of KRW 300 million. ○ In 2017, Seoul Metropolitan Government was selected as an “outstanding organization” in the evaluation of the participatory budgeting systems of local governments.

○ Seoul Metropolitan Government has increased the transparency and democratization of the city’s budget by enabling citizen participation in the city’s financial affairs based on the allocation of an annual budget of KRW 50 million for the implementation of projects proposed by Seoul citizens. Moreover, Seoul’s participatory budgeting system has been evaluated as an outstanding model of true citizen-participatory governance.

○ Seoul Metropolitan Government’s participatory budgeting system was selected as an “outstanding system” in the evaluation of the operation of participatory budgeting systems of local governments. This evaluation consisted of a quantitative evaluation and qualitative evaluation, as outlined below. - Quantitative evaluation: 1) compliance with the law 2) proportion of participatory budget 3) composition and operation of the participating organizations; and 4) public promotion of and education on the system (40 points) - Qualitative evaluation: 1) operational performance of the participatory process 2) capacity to represent citizens 3) transparency; and 4) expandability and applicability to other local governments (potential for adapting and applying the system to different localities nationwide) (60 points).

○ The by-election that was held at the end of 2011 resulted in the election of the current mayor of Seoul and the promotion of the enactment of the ordinance on the operation of the participatory budgeting system. Seoul Metropolitan Government adopted the participatory budgeting system relatively late compared to other cities and provinces in Korea, despite the strong demand for the introduction of the system from Seoul’s Participatory Budgeting Network, which consisted of 28 civic groups. In response to this demand, Seoul Metropolitan Government eventually created an organic consultation system with those civic groups and the city council and held five discussions and hearings on the ordinance, to which Seoul citizens were invited to participate. Finally, the city government enacted the ordinance. ○ The Public-Private Budget Consultation Council, made up of the Participatory Budget Committee and consisting of 300 ordinary citizens, experts, and government officials, was created to deliberate on the proposed projects. ○ In addition, the Participatory Budget Support Council, made up of city council members, budget experts, members of private non-profit organizations, members of the Participatory Budget Committee, and city government officials, provides suggestions regarding the implementation of the ordinance, support for the overall operation of the participatory budgeting system, and evaluation and measures for the improvement of the participatory budgeting system.

○ The introduction of Seoul’s participatory budgeting system was made possible by the strong support and interest of citizens, the determination of the mayor of Seoul, and the efforts of everyone involved to overcome the situational limitations of Seoul as a global metropolis ○ After six years of trial and error, details on the governance, operation, and activities of Seoul’s Participatory Budget Committee have been disclosed to the public. In addition, the voluntary participation of local communities and grassroots organizations has been increasing as well. ○ However, there are still aspects of Seoul’s participatory budgeting system that require improvement, including issues regarding the professionalism of citizens randomly selected as members of the Participatory Budget Committee and the debate on local councils’ violation of voting rights in the budget deliberation process. Resolving these issues will require the cooperation and consideration of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul citizens, members of the Participatory Budget Committee, and the city council. Citizen participation is not something that can be forced or promoted unconditionally; only when it is accompanied by reasonable levels of accountability and professionalism can citizen participation truly contribute to administrative innovation.