1.2 Trillion Soums Allocated to Citizen-Voted Projects as Participatory Budgeting Reaches New Scale

The Ministry of Finance and UNDP convened an international forum in Tashkent on 30 August 2022 to review the progress and future expansion of participatory budgeting (PB) in Uzbekistan. The event brought together international experts, representatives of the Ministry of Finance and its territorial departments, deputies of local Kengashes, researchers, and citizens who had taken part in the process.

Deputy Minister of Finance Akhadbek Khaydarov reported the results of the first PB cycle conducted in 2022: citizens submitted more than 69,000 project proposals, approximately 6.7 million people cast votes, and 2,354 projects were ultimately selected as winners. A total of 1.2 trillion soums was allocated to those projects from district and city budgets.

Khaydarov attributed the scale of participation in part to recent technical and communications upgrades, including updated functionality on the Open Budget portal and the creation of social media Voice Chats involving journalists and bloggers. He also noted the broader rationale for citizen-led budgeting: global experience has shown that traditional budget systems often fail to resolve specific community problems, and over the past decade governments worldwide have intensified efforts to give citizens a direct role in distributing portions of the state budget.

Uzbekistan took its first steps toward participatory budgeting in 2018, with active development beginning in 2021, according to Khaydarov’s remarks at the forum.

UNDP Resident Representative Matilda Dimovska, speaking at the opening panel, described budget transparency as an essential condition for improving the efficiency of public resources. She noted that countries combining strong budget transparency with participatory mechanisms are better positioned to direct public spending toward citizens’ actual needs.

The forum’s second session examined international experience, including the dynamics of PB development globally, its role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and Georgia’s record on the Open Budget Index. Speakers also presented PB practices from selected European and CIS countries and offered recommendations for Uzbekistan. A final session focused on the specific challenges encountered at different stages of PB implementation domestically and on potential solutions.

Other speakers at the opening panel included Roberto Herrera, a UN-HABITAT expert, and Asad Esanov, a professor at New York University.