OP BELÔ
Director João Ramos de Almeida
Countries Portugal
Duration 56 min
Synopsis
When the Workers' Party came to power in the city of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais in 1993, the plan was to use the creation of the Participatory Budget (PB) to give those living in poorer neighbourhoods and "favelas" (shanty towns) more input into how best to spend municipal resources targeted at basic investments. For 17 years, residents of these districts have been able to decide the projects they feel have the greatest priority. Municipal councillors, who were previously used to supporting projects as a bargaining tool for political support from citizens. The prefecture itself had already learned the mechanism of the PB and did not refrain from shaping plans for projects to be approved by residents in a way that fitted in best with its political priorities. "OP Belô" follows the final stages of the 2009/2010 PB and reveals the contradictions and conflicts of this process.
When the Workers' Party came to power in the city of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais in 1993, the plan was to use the creation of the Participatory Budget (PB) to give those living in poorer neighbourhoods and "favelas" (shanty towns) more input into how best to spend municipal resources targeted at basic investments. For 17 years, residents of these districts have been able to decide the projects they feel have the greatest priority. Municipal councillors, who were previously used to supporting projects as a bargaining tool for political support from citizens. The prefecture itself had already learned the mechanism of the PB and did not refrain from shaping plans for projects to be approved by residents in a way that fitted in best with its political priorities. "OP Belô" follows the final stages of the 2009/2010 PB and reveals the contradictions and conflicts of this process.