This forum allows the decisions to be taken on a shared basis and also implies a very wide societal base. In order to achieve a sustainable society, it is necessary for everyone to be involved in the process of change. This participation must permit people to feel closer to the reality surrounding us. We need to feel that we are actively participating in the changes. In order to achieve an open protagonism, it is necessary to promote broad-based participation in all the processes of decision making and to make the concrete results visible.
Recovery is a traditional occupation which is of growing importance.
Porto Alegre is a city in the south of Brazil that has begun one of the most novel projects in participative democracy in the world today. The city has popular budgets where some 45,000 people chosen by neighbourhood and by profession participate. These meetings are for the purpose of deciding the distribution of the money allocated for new infrastructure and social services. Based on the neighbourhood meetings, delegates emerge to visit other neighborhoods. Their proposals are then polished and refined in second-round meetings.