Below you find our answers related to a) digital engagement in the participatory budgeting (PB) context in general, and b) the use of Zilino for PB in particular. For general questions regarding Zilino, please check out our main FAQ.

What is Participatory Budgeting (PB)?

Participatory budgeting (PB) can broadly be defined as “the participation of citizens in the decision-making process of budget allocation and in the monitoring of public spending”. For more, see this post on the Intellitics blog

What is digital engagement?

The term digital engagement refers to the use of all kinds of information and communications technologies to support, enhance or extend community engagement and other participatory processes. For more, see this blog post

Why digital engagement?

Under the right circumstances, and when applied properly, digital engagement has the potential to significantly broaden and strengthen the overall community engagement effort. Commonly referenced advantages include:

• The ability to bridge geographic distances
• The ability to enable participants to engage 24/7 around the clock
• Better accessibility
• Increased diversity
• Cost savings
• Time savings
• Opportunities to create a more meaningful participation experience (PX) through customization and personalization
• Opportunities for experimentation and prototyping of new processes and formats that wouldn't be feasible in person
• More efficient use of resources overall
• Smaller environmental footprint