Citizen Participation by Participatory Budgeting: Does the Legal Framework in Ecuador Encourage its Adoption?

Citizen participation (CP) attempts to bring citizens closer to tangible and visible processes of governance and development, and participatory budgeting (PB) is its most representative strategy. In Ecuador, CP was promoted in the Constitution of 2008 under the government of the political party Alianza País, which sought to establish a participatory policy approach. This study makes qualitative and quantitative analyses of the legal framework in Ecuador to determine whether the legislation provides and promotes the necessary guidelines for adopting PB in local municipal governments. Furthermore, the interest of Ecuadorian legislation is to stimulate the adoption of mechanisms of CP. However, the legislation does not provide clear guidelines on the budget to be allocated through PB and a methodology to prioritize the works to be executed. These aspects and CP depend on the political will of authorities.