EFC

Participatory budgeting for schools

As a way to celebrate the 10th birthday of our Foundation and the 10th birthday of the Center for Research and Social Innovation "Stocznia", in 2019, we decided to support one of the schools involved in the Horizons Scholarship Program. That's how the school participatory budget was born. 

The school participatory budget is a project that engages the entire school environment in the decision process regarding spending the money given to the establishment. Students, parents, teachers and other members of the school staff, together come up with new projects and then choose those, which according to them are most attractive and most needed.

Why did we choose this path to supporting schools?

Participatory budgeting in Polish schools is still very rare. We wish to change that - it’s a great way to bring the entire school environment together. It makes students aware of their responsibility for their school and engages them as active changemakers. Recently, “Stocznia” - as part of a project financed by the City of Warsaw -  helped eight Warsaw schools in conducting the school budget. Their experience showed that it’s an example worth following. That’s why together we strive to share our project partner’s knowledge with others.


In 2019, the Edward Dembowski High School in Zielona Góra, our partner in the Horizons Scholarship Program, received participatory budgeting funds as part of the project. The school obtained help from specialists in planning, implementing and evaluating the school budget, as well as crucial materials and tools from “Stocznia”. The EFC Foundation provided the school with financial aid (4000 PLN) which served as funds for conducting projects chosen together by the school community.


The project was completed in the 2019/2020 school year.