Executive Summary: The PARLOCAL two-year project (DCI/NSAPVD/2009/2) is lead by Malaga’s Provincial Council and funded by the European Union (through the call EuropeAid/127764/C/ACT/TPS: “Les Acteurs Non Etatiques et les Autorités Locales dans le Développement – Actions dans les pays partenaires – AL”). It is a project of technical cooperation which started in January 2010 and involves others political partners as the Federation of Municipalities of Dominican Republic (FEDOMU) of the Paysandú Provincial Council from Uruguay. The two Malaga provincial departments directly involved are the Participatory Budgeting Office and the Foreign Cooperation Department.
The project has three main guidelines: 1) To create political connections between 36 councils and municipalities with experiences of participatory budgeting processes in Spain, Uruguay and Dominican Republic; 2) To create a learning environment, also through a training course designed to 60 local technicians and politicians (including both presential and ICT sessions); 3) to execute a research project to analyze the effects and the perceptions of PB participants in the 36 municipalities involved.
Giovanni Allegretti, is the Director of the Scientific Board in charge of the international field work, while also coordinates (with a multidisciplinary team) the CES units in charge of organizing some classes and mentoring 5 international students (from Brazil, Dominican Republic and Spain).
The training process, which started in June 2010 included in-class sessions, on-line lessons and exchanges between experts from different countries; 60 participants with the adequate experience for thinking and building alternatives (coming from the three partners countries as well as from Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile) and 16 expert academic and research institutions from different countries. These include: Universidad de Málaga- UMA (Spain); Universidad de Sevilla (Spain); Universidad Pablo de Olavide-UPO (Spain); Universidad de Vic (Spain); Universidad de la República-UDELAR (Uruguay); Universidad UAFAM (República Dominicana); Fundación Solidaridad (República Dominicana); CLAEH (Uruguay); CIMAS (Spain); TRANSFORM (Spain); IEPALA (Spain); Antígona Procesos Participativos (Spain); CIDADE (Brazil); POLIS (Brazil); TNI (The Netherlands).

The comparative research carried out in 36 municipalities with active participatory budgeting processes (from Spain, Dominican Republic and Uruguay) started in May 2010 and will be completed in March 2011. The specific outputs of this comparative transnational study will consist of a Good Practice Handbook and a Comparative Research Report; an informative video will also be produced in order to facilitate the dissemination of results. The produced deliverables are expected to contribute to the international debate, and especially to the discussion within the International Platform of Participatory Budgeting which was created in December 2008 and met for the Second General Assembly in Dakar, in February 2011. The role of the four CES researchers involved in the process (include the PI, who coordinates the PARLOCAL Scientific Council) is to contribute to set the contents of the training courses on Participatory Budgeting, to organize some thematic seminars and to evaluate the quality of research outputs and interpret its outcomes , taking care of the final deliverables of overall the project.