The project aims to activate school communities through the implementation of participatory budgets in 16 schools in Podlaskie and Warmian-Mazurian Provinces. The research ‘Civic activation of young Poles’ conducted by the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences shows that only 15% of young people in Poland are involved in civic activities. Our experience confirms that the majority of school students do not have a sense of influence on what happens at school, and school councils are often seen as initiated by adults. This results in school students not wanting to get involved in school life. Their social activism declines, they are disillusioned with self-government and believe that little depends on them. Giving students a real say in the running of the school through participatory budgets can make a difference. This is evidenced by the results of the evaluations of the school participatory budget processes we have carried out so far. School participatory budgeting is also a good opportunity to improve social competences such as teamwork, planning, media competence or creativity. In addition, school communities integrate around common goals and learn to work together.

As part of the project, we provide training on participatory budgeting and workshops to build young people’s social and media competences. We provide mentor support at every stage of the implementation of the school participatory budget. Trained teachers and students try to involve the whole school community as much as possible in the decision-making process for spending the budget. Each school has a budget of 3,000 PLN. The results of the project will be presented by the organisers and the student teams during the closing conferences.