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The Porto Alegre Innovation

Brief Outline of Porto Alegre innovation in Participatory Budgeting (PB): Centuries of Portuguese Colonial rule, followed by military rule and dictatorships made Brazil a country of great inequalities, extreme poverty and criminality. In this situation, the Workers Party grew in strength and in 1989 its candidate Mr.Olivio Dutra was elected Mayor in the Brazilian City of  Porto Alegre. The city was spending 96% of its revenue for salaries and other routine expenses, and had no funds for investment in development projects. The mayor introduced Participatory Budgeting in the city which is the capital of southern Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul, to achieve socio-economic development. The city was traditionally managed by the directly elected Mayor and his executives, with the approval of the separately elected legislature. After about six years of PB, that process resolved Porto Alegre's socio-economic problems greatly, and this version of PB became famous as 'Porto Alegre Innovation'. 

The important elements and features of 'Porto Alegre Innovation' in PB: (1) Brazil's 1988 constitution prescribes 20% of local gov't budget for infrastructure development, and local autonomy on it. Utilising this provision and on the initiative of the Mayor, the city introduced peoples' participation in the local budgeting process. (2) Experts of the Mayor's office assessed the city's infrastructure and selected a set of eight basic infrastructure items badly required for the whole city. The items selected in 1989 were: (2.1) sewage, (2.2) housing, (2.3) education, (2.4) social assistance, (2.5) health, (2.6) transportation and circulation, (2.7) pavement, and (2.8) city organisation. Four items added in 1997: (2.9)  leisure areas, (2.10) sports and leisure, (2.11) economic development, and (2.12) culture. (3) The city was divided into16 regions or wards for effective localisation of the Participatory Budgeting process. As the funds were short, local residents were asked to prioritise infrastructure to be developed, based on their opinion of its importance to them. The priorities are determined in a systematic, cyclic assessment, discussion and voting process in two rounds of separate major regional assemblies in each of the 16 wards in March/April and June/July. Many mini assemblies in between, among smaller neighbourhoods were used to mobilise people and build opinion. (4) It is the Mayor's office and its executives who set the dates, agenda and co-ordinate these discussion meetings. (5) The residents from each of  Porto Alegre's 16 wards vote for specific infrastructure from that pre-selected set of eight/twelve infrastructure items for their local ward, in accordance with their priorities. (6) The second major regional assemblies elect 2 primary and 2 alternate PB councillors for each of the 16 regions, for one year. This mandate is revocable in a meeting convened specifically for that purpose. (7) This PB Council ('COB' - Brazil's Portuguese abbreviation) is the main PB institution, which negotiates the incorporation of the selected infrasture items in the order of priorities, with the city's executives and elected legislature. The PB Council also supervises the infrastructure development work. (8) The budget is proposed by the executive, and needs the approval of the legislature. (9) The specific infrastructure items selected, the priorities set, and works selected etc are documented in a book format and is made available to the public. This document provides transparency and accountability, and is a very important tool in the PB process. (10) On the basis of this document, the executive presents its report on their work, in the first meeting of the next yearly cycle of Participatory Budgeting.

In six years, this cyclic process solved Porto Alegre's financial problems considerably, and the city improved its infrastructure extensively that it became one of the best cities in Brazil! Because of the systematic nature of the process and the fast development it achieved, this process in Participatory Budgeting became famous as 'Porto Alegre Innovation'. The UN selected it as an excellent model for urban development and included it in Habitat II conference in 1996 in Istanbul. In 1994 five infrastructure themes were newly conceived to be considered for the whole city, and in 1997, the number of  infrastructure items for prioritising in the 16 regions were increased to 12. Thus, PB is evolving in Porto Alegre itself. In 2006, more than 250 cities, towns and villages in Brazil adapted PB. In 2006, many cities, towns and villages in the developing countries Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay etc, as well as in the developed countries Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland etc practised adapted forms of Porto Alegre style of Participatory Budgeting.

The 16 Regions of Porto Alegre City	Publicity Poster on Participatory Budgeting

In short, the traditional representative democracy in Porto Alegre, through the separately elected Mayor and the legislators, was greatly improved by the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process, which is in fact Participatory Democracy. Three very important facts of PB: (1) By empowering the local residents to prioritise the infrastructure to be developed, real requirements were prioritised, (2) by empowering the Participatory Budgeting Council, which has mainly activists of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), the incorporation and execution of priorities, the priorities set were really implemented, (3) by empowering the local residents in selecting and executing the infrastructure for their own area and benefit, they were carried out honestly, economically, and quickly, and (4) it helped the people to be active and responsible for the development of their own area in the city. If a 489-km˛ city could be developed in 6 years, by peoples' determination of the priorities on infrastructure and their direct involvement in its development, and using 20% of the city's budget, smaller villages/towns/cities could be developed much faster. Indian constitution has provision for decentralisation; and these provisions were amended in 1994 for more effective implementation, and seperate ministries are in place in the centre as well as in the states. In India's Kerala state, additional legislation was made in 1994, for the autonomy of local self-gov'ts on 35% to 40% of the Five-year Plan funds. Thus Kerala's local gov'ts have better conditions for a fast development; however, the right process must be used with actual participation of the people.

There is a saying in Germany, 'the devil hides in details', which means, the causes of a problem are hidden in details! Undoubtedly, the angels of success will also be hidden in details! A Malayalam (language of Indian state Kerala) saying, 'it doesn't need four measures of poison', which means, a little poison is enough to ruin/kill, should also be remembered. When copying systems/processes into new situations, 2 POINTS are DECISIVE: (1) important DETAILS SHOULD NOT BE LEFT OUT for convenience / other excuses; and (2) ESSENTIAL CHANGES SHOULD BE MADE to make the system/process workable in the new situation. Mistakes in these can make it useless.

Below are details on PB, and at the bottom, several Web-links to PB and related subjects. 

Registration for Plenary Assembly	Plenary Assembly Tent

Details of the PB process

Porto Alegre is perhaps famous through World Social Forum (WSF), but the city's innovation in Participatory Budgeting may not be well known and its details much less. It is the largest city in southern Brazil and the capital of the state Rio Grande do Sul. The city located on the bank of Guaiba River, was founded in 1742 by immigrants from the Azores. Since the 19th century the city has received many migrants from other parts of the world, particularly Germany, Poland, and Italy. In 1989, with Mr. Olivio Dutra of the Workers' Party as mayor, Porto Alegre started an experiment in its budgeting with people's participation, and it is now world famous as a success model for participatory democracy. But, the process is better known as 'Participatory Budgeting' (PB). The historical background is important to understand the situation and the development. After centuries of colonial rule the continued rules by military and dictators made Brazil a country with great difference between the rich and the poor. The extreme nature of this problem may be assumed from the fact that even now, after fifteen years of left oriented democracy, the major portion of land available for development in Porto Alegre is in the hands of only nine families. Extreme exploitation during past dictatorships have caused large number of children in Brazil to live as beggars, rag pickers, thieves etc even now. The PB experiment was triggered by the economic bankruptcy of Porto Alegre at the immediate background; however, it was the result of the continuous failure of political systems, to remove extreme poverty while economic development favoured the elite and middle class in the society.

It was the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) that came to power in the Brazilian municipality of Porto Alegre in 1989, which introduced Participatory Budgeting (PB). The city was spending about 96% of its revenue towards salaries and other routine expenses, and was running countinuously in debt. PB was introduced in an effort to save the bankrupt, debt-ridden local gov't. The power of Brazilian municipalities is vested in two separately elected bodies called the Mayoralty or the executive body and the Chamber of Deputies or legislative body. Workers Party had majority only in the executive, and other political forces had majority in the legislature. According to the new 1988 constitution of Brazil, the authority for approval of budget is with the legislature. In Brazil the gov't Budget has three levels: federal, state and municipal or local. Municipalities in Brazil have much autonomy in decisions on revenue and expenditure. Municipal revenue includes local taxes, and federal and state transfers. Expenditure is classified in three large groups: (1) personnel, (2) public services, and (3) investment in infrastructure and equipment. The autonomy of municipalities is in the third group of expenditure viz., investment in infrastructure and equipment. Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre is now a systematic year round, cyclic process of peoples' choice of budgetary priorities in basic infrastructure development, on which the municipality has autonomy. It is a complex, dynamic and systematic programme, which has boring as well as heated discussions.  According to the rules, the co-ordination belongs to the Parity Commission, so designated because it is composed of an equal number of councillors and executives' (mayor's office) representatives viz., four each. But in reality the mayors' executives do most of the co-ordination, because of their ready and privileged access to relevant information. Lately there was criticism from the legislature, that even though they are peoples' elected representatives, they have little voice in the PB process. However, this opinion should be considered in the light of the fact that participation in election is compulsory in Brazil, but those who participate in the PB process do so without any compulsion and without any monetary gain from their active participation in the community management work. Additionally, PB participants are interested in it and therefore, knowledgeable in socio-economic aspects and consequently the quality of participatory democracy will be much higher than that of representative democracy. In any case, probably to accommodate increasing concerns about the limited autonomy of the COP expressed by the councillors, the most recent version of the rules determine that the mayor's executives and the councillors of the Parity Commission will alternate in chairing the meetings. Thus, even though started in 1989, PB is still evolving and improving in quality.

Report of the Previous Year PB	Shows accompany the PB assemblies

The 489 km˛ of Porto Alegre with a population of 1.5 million is divided into 16 regions or community areas, and discussions for determining the peoples' preferences and priorities for development are voted out after discussions from March/April through June/July every year. In 1989, only 728 persons participated, and it was 640 in 1990; but then it gradually increased to 14,000 in 1994, and to about 40,000 in the last years. This is 2.6%, which means 2.6 persons from hundred directly participate in the PB process. The PB was initiated by the Workers Party, and there was criticism that it considered only the working class and neglected the interests of the middle class, traders, small businesses and others. Another point was that the discussions were in 16 regional areas and general interests of Porto Alegre as a whole was never attended. To take care of these drawbacks, from 1994 onwards, in addition to the infrastructure matters of 16 community areas or regions, thematic discussions are held separately on five subjects which are considered relevant for the whole of Porto Alegre. The five themes are (1) Transportation and Circulation; (2) Education, Leisure, and Culture; (3) Health and Social Welfare; (4) Economic Development and Taxation; and (5) City Organisation and Urban Development.

The PB is a process of community participation based on three major concepts, and depends on a set of institutions that function as channels for popular participation in the municipal decision making process. The three concepts are: (1) all citizens are entitled to participate, and community organisations have no special status; (2) participation is governed by a combination of direct and representative democracy rules and takes place through regularly functioning institutions whose internal rules are decided by its members/participants; and (3) resources for specific infrastructure development are allocated based on a complex calculation of points, using a combination of general and substantive criteria established by the participating institutions to assess needs and define priorities. These criteria on the other hand are based on technical and economic viability as defined and established by the federal, state or city statutory organs. The 12 infrastructure themes now discussed for development in Porto Alegre are: (1) sewage, (2) housing, (3) pavement, (4) education, (5) social assistance, (6) health, (7) transportation and circulation, and (8) city organisation, initially included until 1997; and (9)  leisure areas, (10) sports and leisure, (11) economic development, and (12) culture, added in 1997.

Review of Documents and Discussion	Anybody can speak out

The important municipal and local institutions that organise and participate in PB process are of three kinds. (1) First, the administrative units of the municipal executive responsible for organising and managing the budgetary debate: (a) the Planning Office, (b) Communities Relations Co-ordination Office, (c) Forum of Advisors for Planning, (d) Forum of Community Advisors, (e) Regional Co-ordinators for the 16 regions, (f) Thematic Co-ordinators for the 5 themes. The most important of these six are the Planning Office (GAPLAN - Portuguese abbreviations are used) and the Communities Relations Co-ordination office (CRC). The CRC directly and through its regional and thematic co-ordinators functions as a mediating agency, between the municipality and the community leaders and their associations. It is the major co-ordinator of the assemblies of the Participatory Budgeting Council. The Planning Office that shares the co-ordination functions with the CRC is responsible for translating the prioritised requirements selected through a voting process by the citizens into technically and economically viable plans and programmes. (2) Second are Community organisations with autonomy against the municipality, and are constituted by regional organisations. As these are regional in nature, all of them are not present in all regions. The nature and functional area of these organisations depend on the tradition and local condition of the region concerned. These organisations mediate between the citizen participation and choice of priorities in the 16 regions. Major community organisations of Porto Alegre are: Popular Councils, Township Unions or Associations and Regional Voice. (3) The third kind is institutions conceived to establish a permanent liaison between the two kinds listed above. They are statutory organs of the community to regularly participate in PB: (a) Council of Government Plan and Budget; (b) Participatory Budgeting Council (COP - Portuguese Abbreviation); (c) 16 Regional Plenary Assemblies; (d) 16 Regional Budgeting Forums; (e) 5 Thematic Plenary Assemblies; and (f) 5 Thematic Budgeting Forums.

There are two major rounds of plenary assemblies in each of the sixteen regions and one on each of the five themes for the whole city; the first in March/April and the second in June/July every year. The three goals of the first round of the two PB assemblies are: (1) to evaluate the executive's performance on the previous year's Budget allocations, (2) to define and rank the regional and thematic priorities or choices of the people, and (3) to elect part of the delegates to the forums and to the Participatory Budgeting Council (COP). The delegates of the forums function as liaison between the COP and the citizens individually or as participants in the regional and thematic delegations (forums). They also scrutinise the implementation of the budget. The councillors define the general criteria and preside over the ranking of the priorities and allocation of funds and vote on the Investment Plan proposal by the executive. The regional assemblies are open to the public, but only registered residents of the regions can vote. The number of delegates to the regional and thematic forums has been changed to accommodate the increased participation. Until 1996 it was 1 delegate to 20 participants, but based increased participation, and the new criterion adopted in the PBC meeting in 1997, up to 100 participants, it is1 delegate for every 10 participants; from 101 to 250 - 1 for every 20; from 251 to 400-1 for every 30; from 401 to 550 - 1 to 40; for 551 to 700 - 1 for 50; for 701 to 850 - 1 for every 60; from 851 to 1000 - one for every 70; and for more than 1000 - 1 for every 80 participants. The delegates elected in the first round of plenary assemblies and then in the intermediary meetings will be active members of the associations present at the meetings; thus there is little chance for anyone outside the collective structures to become a delegate.

PB Voting Card	PB Document is printed and distributed

Between the two rounds of assemblies during March through June, intermediate preparatory meetings are held in smaller groups at subdivided areas of the 16 regions, and discuss the regional as well as the thematic matters and subjects in an informative, opinion building, data collecting and general mobilisation process. These preparatory meetings are the grass root level of the PB, where community demands are articulated, its importance asserted and weighed, and the regional delegates are proposed or selected. In these preparatory meetings after the first assembly, organised by the community or thematic organisations which are now interacted by the Regional Co-ordinators of the PB and other representatives of the executive to appraise them of the availability of funds, and possibilities and prospects of the peoples' demands. At these meetings the demands presented by various associations like Neighbourhood Associations, Mothers' Clubs, Sports Associations, Housing Co-operatives, Trade Unions, Non-Governmental Organisations etc are ranked by the participants according to priorities and general criteria. The better organised regions establish an internal micro-region for their choice of priorities. Later, the resulting priority lists will undergo heated debate and voting. But the real negotiations leading to proposals to be voted mostly take place behind the scenes and influenced by community leaders. Thus, organisational strength and personalities have a decisive role. Until 1997, the regions had prioritised four from the eight infrastructure items or themes: sewage, housing, pavement, education, social assistance, health, transportation and city organisation. At the intermediate meetings, participants of each region or theme assign grades to the priorities to the infrastructure item from the 12 specific items already determined as mentioned above, through voting. First priority is grade 5 and gets 5 points; fifth priority grade 1 (1 point). Similarly, the specific works proposed by citizens in every region and theme are also assigned priorities as well - e.g.: 1st priority street A; 2nd priority, street B, etc. These regional or thematic priorities are forwarded to the executive, and by adding them up the executive establishes the four top priorities of the budget. In the 1997 budget of Porto Alegre, the three top priorities from eight specific infrastructure were: housing, 44 grade points; pavement, 42 grade points; and sewage, 30 grade points. In 1997, the Participatory Budgeting Council introduced some changes to be effective in the preparation of 1998 budget. There are now five priorities to be set from among twelve themes - four newly added are, leisure areas, sports and leisure, economic development, and culture. From 1998 top five priorities were similarly calculated and selected from these 12 infrastructure items or themes. With the advancement of time, there have been expansion of themes and introduction of sub-themes. Housing now includes land legalisation, relocation, urbanisation, and housing construction.

Porto Alegre's cultural centre	Evident results of 'PB' - City centre & Port

The second round of 16 separate regional and 5 common thematic assemblies held in June/July is co-ordinated and chaired by representatives of the executive in conjunction with the popular organisations of the 16 individual regions and 5 themes common for the whole city. In these assemblies, two primary councillors and two substitutes for every region and theme are elected for the Participatory Budgeting Council (COP). The councillors are elected for a one-year mandate and can only be re-elected once. Their mandate can be revoked by the regional or thematic Forum of Delegates in a meeting specially called for that purpose and announced with an advance notice of two weeks. Once the quorum has been established (50% + 1 of the delegates), the mandate can be revoked by a two-thirds majority vote. Compared to the representative democracy where a mechanism to revoke the peoples' mandate to the representatives is seldom prescribed or available, this is an effective democratic tool in the Porto Alegre model of participatory democracy, to keep the representative responsible and loyal to the electorate. Thus the 16 regional and 5 thematic Fora of Delegates, which are the institutional organs of PB, are constituted. These Fora meet once in a month and have consulting, controlling and mobilising functions. The major tasks of these Fora are to see that the priorities set by the people are incorporated accordingly, to supervise the execution of the works, to act as intermediaries between the COP and the interest groups of 16 regions and 5 themes etc.

The COP is the most important institution in PB process. Once inaugurated in July/August, the council meets once a week on a set day, usually from 16 to 20 hrs. The elected councillors get familiar with the municipal finances, discuss and establish the general criteria for budgetary allocations according to the regional and thematic priorities. At the council sessions intense discussions are held between the municipal govt on one side and the COP on the other side to decide the distribution of the limited budgetary resources to accommodate the priorities set. In the first phase, the COP discusses the general revenue and expenditure items (without specifying the works), and the criteria for resource allocation in August-September, until the budget proposal is drafted and sent by the executive to the legislative on 30 September. In the 2nd phase during October-December  the COP prepares the detailed investment plan with the detailed list of works and activities prioritised by the Council for 16 regions and 5 themes. The municipality and the PB have the limitation that they can manage only 20% of the budget; the other 80% for personnel and other expenses estimated by the executive, including fixed expenditures for education and health where specific percentages are ascribed by the constitution. A special feature of the Brazil's central budget is that it has constitutionally prescribed percentages for health and education. For health the centre must allot between 7.9 and 9.4% of centre's revenue, 12% of that of the state's and 15% of the local govt's revenue. Thus, for health and education local govts get allotments from the central and the state budgets. The municipal budget has 20% similarly set aside for basic infrastructure, where the items included (initially 8, and then12 as above, since 1997) are determined locally. The COP follows the debates on the budget proposal in the Chamber of Deputies or Legislature and influences the legislators by meeting them individually and mobilising the regional and thematic interest groups to attend the debates or to organise rallies outside the legislative assembly building. During the whole process the executive has an upper hand through the Planning Office (GAPLAN) defining the investments and also through the municipal secretaries attending the council meetings, by proposing works and projects of general interest and multiregional impact or deemed necessary from a technical stand point. Thus, the investment plan will have works proposed by the regional and thematic lobbyists as well as multi-regional as well as those needed for the whole of Porto Alegre. In the last phase of the PB procedure, the budget or Investment Plan approved by the Chamber of Deputies is published as a booklet providing a basic reference document for the community delegates in their supervising activity, and for the executive when reviewing their performance before organs of PB at the beginning of the next round.

Porto Alegre is one of 20 'Healthy Cities' in Brazil	Porto Alegre & Guaiba river bridge seen from west

The budgetary allotments from the total available resources, to the various regions are determined through a systematic consideration and calculation of the various infrastructure requirements based on certain socio-economic standards or parameters set by experts combined with priorities set by the people. As the procedure is complex, a true example may make it clear. In 1997, based on available monetary resources, the total budgetary allotment for street pavement was 20 kilometres for the whole Porto Alegre municipality, and it was to be distributed to the 16 regions of Porto Alegre. To calculate the share due to each of the 16 regions, common 'weights', applicable to all regions, based on the importance of various infrastructure items were established by the statutory organs like the Planning Office, Forum of Advisors for Planning, and Forum of Community Advisors after consultations. These common weights, based on a logical and judgmental assessment relevant to Porto Alegre, for pavement were: criterion of general weight 3; population related weight 2; and weight of peoples' priority 3. The need for pavement in the region Extremo Sul was measured as 80.21%, which makes a need based grade of 4 (highest); these made 12 points (general weight 3 x need grade 4). In the meantime the region Centro's need was measured as 0.14% and got a grade of 1 (lowest); and these made 3 points (general weight 3 x need grade 1). Extremo Sul's population was low at 20,647 and got a population related grade of 1 (lowest), and made 2 points (population's general weight 2 x actual population grade 1). Centro's population was much higher with 293,193, and made the highest grade 4; which brought 8 points (population related weight 2 x actual population grade 4). The priority for pavement given by Extremo's people was 4 (highest), which made 12 points (priority weight 3 x priority grade 4). For Centro, people gave the lowest priority of 0 for street pavement, and it made 0 points (priority weight 3 x priority grade 0). Thus Extremo Sul had total points of 26, and Centro 11. Based on the total points of 262 for the 16 regions of Porto Alegre, and total allotment of 20,000 meters of street pavement, Extremo Sul was assigned 1,985 meters and Centro 480 meters of street pavement. It may be easily and correctly assumed that Centro Region had a lesser need for pavements; however, it still got a due share.

In Brazil, the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT), evolved out of the labour movement in the early eighties, was one of the most important forces in the struggle against military dictatorship. Its growth has been remarkable during the last two decades, and Brazil's President Lula da Silva is one of its best representatives. The PT in coalition with other leftist parties, got into power in several cities as Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Campinas, Porto Alegre etc. They introduced innovative models of participatory governments wherever they came to power. Porto Alegre is the most successful of these several experimental participatory democratic systems, and was selected by the United Nations as one of the forty urban innovations world-wide, for its Second Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in Istanbul in 1996. Success of Porto Alegre also contributed to the electoral gains of PT in Brazil; PT's share of vote grew from 34.3% in 1988 to 40.8% in 1992, and to 56% in 1996. Exame, an important business journal, nominated Porto Alegre for a fourth time as the Brazilian city with the best quality of life, on the basis of the following 15 indicators: literacy, elementary and secondary school enrolment, quality of higher and postgraduate education, per capita consumption, employment, child mortality, life expectancy, number of hospital beds, housing, sewage, airports, highways, crime rate, restaurants, and climate. Opinion surveys in 1996, among the inhabitants have shown that the municipal government was assessed good to excellent by 65-70%. Because of the spectacular success of PB in Porto Alegre, this city has staged several international conferences on democratic urban management including the World Social Forum (WSF). After the 2004 Mumbai WSF's  great success with about 100,000 participation, it was organised again in Porto Alegre from 15 to 25 Jan 2005. Together with the city of Montevideo in Uruguay, which also has a similar local government innovation, Porto Alegre is leading a movement introducing PB institutions in the cities of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which are in the South American regional economic pact called 'Mercosul'. More than 200 Brazilian cities and towns practised Participatory Budgeting in 2002. The fast improvement of Porto Alegre's quality of life, through participatory budgeting of only 20% of the budget exclusively utilised for infrastructure, clearly proves that it is a systematic, quick, economical, practical and efficient method for the socio-economic development of the poor communities. In fact it is the only method with excellent proven results; efficiency of PB persuaded even communities in the developed countries Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain etc to adapt it.

The fact that more than 200 communities in Brazil, several in the developing countries of South America, and those even in developed countries practice PB, is solid proof for its efficiency and practicality. However, it also clearly demonstrates that lack of political will and conviction is preventing a much faster adaptation all over the world, thereby preventing much needed socio-economic development. Here a question is very relevant; what prevents the political will and conviction? The answer is, politicians and leaders, as many other human beings, are always conditioned by habits, familiar ideas and ways of thinking; most people are not capable of understanding and assimilating new ideas and opportunities quickly. This should be understood as the normal human limitation, and not as the limitation of the most efficient and effective form of democratic process known - Participatory Democracy. To quote alternative Nobel Price laureate for peace, Ms. Vandana Siva, "Porto Alegre is probably the only place on earth, where real democracy is practised".     

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/l/b/lbb10/poa/15_nort.jpg	http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/l/b/lbb10/poa/4_castB.jpg
Porto Alegre a view from the air	Porto Alegre city by Night

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Suggested Website links for further reading:

1. A 40 page document on PB in Porto Alegre: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/santosweb.html
2. Porto Alegre 'From the Air': BECAME OBSOLETE (SEE NOTE BELOW)
3. 'Fantastic View' of Sao Paulo: http://www.pbase.com/mflash/image/24941083   (see 19 below)
4. Porto Alegre - very good photos: Sorry, BECAME OBSOLETE (SEE NOTE BELOW)
5. Photo Gallery on PB in Porto Alegre: http://www.goethe.de/br/poa/buerg/en/photo.htm
6. Geothe Institute's Website in English: www.goethe.de/br/poa/buerg/en/framebag.htm
7. The International Budget Project: www.internationalbudget.org/index.htm
8. UK NGO for PB: http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/
9. World Bank on PB: http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/urban/urb_age/porto.htm
10. UN Habitat Website: http://hq.unhabitat.org/cdrom/TRANSPARENCY/html/2d_7.html
11. Website on PB in Germany: http://www.buergerhaushalt.de/
12. Best Practices webste: http://www.unesco.org/most/southa13.htm
13. International Budget Process: http://www.internationalbudget.org/conference/2nd/brazil.htm
14. Oxfarm's Website on PB in UK: http://www.oxfamgb.org/ukpp/sid/browse_s_pb.htm
15. UN Habitat website on PB: http://www.unhabitat.org/hd/hdv9n1/6.asp  BECAME OBSOLETE (SEE NOTE BELOW) 
16. Participatory Democracy: http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/lclp/lclp_pd.html
17. Report on World Social Forum 2005: http://www.e-alliance.ch/portoalegre.jsp#top  
18. On WSF 2005: http://www.globalsolidarity.org/porto_eng.html BECAME OBSOLETE (SEE NOTE BELOW)  
19. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul & link to many photo galleries: http://www.wcams.com.br/ 

NOTE: Also search the Internet with ‘Participatory Budgeting’ for more information, or with 'Buergerhaushalt', for German language websites. Please remember that links change frequently, and active links may become inaccessible/ obsolete at any time. A typing or printing mistake of even a single character like a 'period' will make the link invalid. Therefore, when such problems come up, please check for mistakes and search the Internet with a suitable word(s) or expression(s) to get the relevant and/or related information.  

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'The Success Formulae of Two Cities', a book on the fast development of Singapore and Porto Alegre, is published in March 2006. The book is mainly in Malayalam (the language of Kerala state, India) with an English summary.  The distribution is by Pen Books, Aluva, Kerala, India. Tel: +91-484-2620061/ 2626231/2622309. Pen Books has 22 branches in Kerala, including the major cities and Kochi and Kozhikkode airports. Price in Kerala: Rs 60/-; Overseas: Ca. $4.5.

Fon # of Pen Books' Branches in Kerala, India:

Kochi-1: 0484-2370152; Kozhikkode-1: 0495-2725017; Kottayam: 0481-2303467; Thiruvananthapuram-1: 0471-2575724; Thrissur: 0487-2320574

Free Call in India:1800 42 5566 8;   E-mail: penbooks@satyam.net.in

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