Cascais Participation System shared in Brazil's capital, Brasilia

The organisation and diversity of Cascais' Participation System is convincing several Latin American municipalities that want to know more about its structure and applicability. This is the result of the presentation that took place on 21 May as part of the "XXV March to Brasilia in defence of the municipalities", which is taking place in the Brazilian capital under the theme "Federative Pact: a look at the unprotected population". A popular demonstration organised by the National Confederation of Municipalities, where Cascais was present at the invitation of the CNM as part of the ‘Inova Juntos’ project, in which Cascais is integrated alongside other Portuguese municipalities. The day was marked by the presentation of the Cascais Participation System by Lurdes Pereira, from the Participation and Citizenship team at Cascais Town Hall. It was an opportunity to take the local example overseas, which identifies various participatory practices tailored to the possibilities of citizens. From young people to the longest-serving, through to the possibility of individual or collective participation, covering the various areas of municipal intervention. The Cascais Participation System is designed in such a way as to enable citizens, regardless of their age, education, availability and interest, to collaborate with the municipality in transforming the public space and public policies. By participating, citizens can co-create, co-plan, co-decide and co-manage projects and issues in a wide variety of areas, and are responsible for deciding how the municipality allocates public funds. The biggest example of this is Cascais' Participatory Budget, where, since 2011, citizens have been responsible for deciding on the allocation of 51 million euros to realise more than 200 projects spread across the territory.