This international workshop of practitioners, convened in December 2004, was a critical component of the ReCitE research project. By involving practitioners from civil society and local governments in discussions on the research that had been completed, LogoLink hoped to provide practitioners with the chance to collectively reflect on their experiences of ReCitE themes. By having the workshop in Porto Alegre, the participants had the opportunity to learn about Participatory Budgeting at its root source, see how it has grown in the city, and draw on this context to fuel the debates of the workshop.

The workshop proceedings seek to capture the key lessons and insights that have been generated from the exchanges and collective reflection at the workshop. In addition, it captures the questions raised as challenges to civil society, local governments and donors if greater citizen participation in local governance is to make a difference in bringing about greater social justice and democracy. The document is divided into the following sections:

Session 1: What are Fiscal Spaces?
Session 2: What Lessons and Challenges Have Emerged from the ReCitE Research?
Session 3: What are the Key Questions for the Processes of Revenue- Raising, Budgeting, and Monitoring?
Session 4: Visits to Project Sites funded from the Participatory Budgeting Process
Session 5: What are the Cross-Cutting Themes and Issues?
Session 6: Panel Discussion on Participatory Budgeting
Session 7: How do We Translate Issues to Action?