Participatory Budgeting: The Tokyo Case

Suginami Ward Case Study

In order to directly reflect the opinions of ward residents in administrative activities and to make ward administration more accessible to them, Suginami Ward will implement the "Participatory Budgeting" initiative, a system in which ward residents are involved in the compilation of the Suginami Ward budget and their opinions are reflected in it, as a model starting in 2023.

After reviewing the proposals, the ward will announce the project proposal around September or October and conduct an online vote by ward residents. Details on the voting method, etc. will be announced at a later date.

Based on the results of the voting by residents, the ward will select projects to be reflected in the initial budget proposal for FY2025.

After that, the initial budget for FY2025 will be proposed to the Suginami City Council, which will deliberate on the proposal, and upon its approval, the implementation of the project will be finalized.

Let the people of the district decide how to spend the 62 million yen in forest environment concession tax funds allocated by the national government.

Tokyo Metropolitan area

In FY2017, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government introduced a system with almost the same structure as that of Suginami Ward... The budget size is approximately 400 million yen in FY2022 actuals.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials are proud of the fact that "there are many ideas that staff members could not come up with. However, the number of votes cast last year was only about 40,000 (up to 3 votes per person), less than 0.3% of the 14 million population, which is not enough for "resident participation.

Tokyo Metropolitan area

Toshima Ward (2023)

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