“Green Light for Poruba” scheme enters its third year

The municipal district of Poruba is launching its third participative budget scheme “Green Light for Poruba”. A total 1.5 million CZK (the same amount as last year) has been set aside from the district’s budget to fund projects by local people which win the support of the local community. But this year’s scheme includes several new features – including a limit on the sum available for any one project (700 000 CZK).

Projects approved as part of the participative budget scheme are always implemented during the following calendar year, so last year’s projects are currently being finalized for implementation. Though this year’s scheme follows in the footsteps of the past two years, Poruba is introducing a number of new features, as the scheme’s coordinator Sabina Dudová explained:

“This year we will also be accepting proposals from non-profit organizations or municipally funded organizations that are based in Poruba or are active here. This means that local schools will be able to get involved in the scheme, organizing and motivating children to come up with fresh, creative ideas that can potentially be implemented via the participative budget. Any organization submitting a project must be represented by a contact person over the age of 15 – and that includes schools. But if the author of the idea is under 15, that doesn’t matter – we want children to play an active role in the competition, so we want them to present their own work.”

Another new feature in 2018 is the limit on the sum available to fund any one project, which has been set at 700 000 CZK. This change has been made in order to avoid a situation in which just one or two relatively costly projects take all the available funding.

For more information on the terms and conditions of the project (and entry forms), you can go to the project website www.zelenaporube.cz or call in at the Poruba Information Centre (Hlavní třída 583/105).

Precise deadlines and other important dates – such as the dates of public meetings and the period during which citizens can vote on their preferred projects – will be announced on the websites and Facebook pages of the project (and the municipal district).

The “Green Light for Poruba” project was launched in 2016. There were 21 proposals in the first year, and Poruba’s citizens voted for 7 projects to receive funding (implemented in 2017). These include a public drinking fountain (currently hibernating during the winter), the clock at Alšovo náměstí, a picnic area, a disc golf course, and new playgrounds and footpaths. The municipal district set aside 1 million CZK for the first year, and the 7 winning proposals came to a total cost of 978 870 CZK. In the second and third years, the total sum available was increased to 1.5 million CZK.