The Role of Participatory Budgeting Mechanism in the Rural Areas Development (On the Example of Rostov Region)

Abstract

Purpose: to determine the level of involvement and the effectiveness of the participation of rural settlements of municipal districts in regional programs of initiative budgeting. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of this research is dialectical, formal-logical, statistical methods. The empirical basis of the study was made up of data from the reports of the Center for Initiative Budgeting of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Federal State Statistics Service for Rostov Region, the results of the regional competition of initiative budgeting projects and reports of the regional government on their implementation. Results. The region has developed a legislative and regulatory framework for the initiative budgeting development. The diagnostics of the participatory budgeting development in rural areas of Rostov region is presented: the sources and amounts of initiative projects financing of villages and cities are determined, the ratio of the participating in the competition and the winning projects of rural settlements of municipal districts is determined, the amount of financing of initiative projects from the local budget per one villager is determined. The ratings of the municipal districts of Rostov region for 2020 and 2021 have been prepared by the level of activity of rural settlements and the effectiveness of their participation in initiative budgeting projects. Conclusions: the key factors hindering the development of civic participation of villagers in public finance management have been identified: low level of institutional trust of the rural population, insufficient social activity of villagers in resolving issues of local importance, significant income differentiation of rural and urban residents, low income of local budgets, insufficient competencies of local governments for the preparation of initiative projects. Improving the participatory budgeting mechanism in the region will have positive consequences for socio-economic development of rural areas.