A $43 billion question: province-wide budget engagement using Simulator
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The challenge
British Columbia (BC) was facing a substantial budget deficit, necessitating tough choices in order to close the gaps. The government of BC wanted to engage the public in this difficult decision-making process about how to balance the books.
The approach
Budget Simulator lets citizens try their hand at the challenge of balancing a budget, adjusting real data on spending and consequences to reflect their preferences.
We worked with the government of BC to improve their digital public engagement: they used Budget Simulator to consult on budgets in fiscal years 2012 and 2013. As part of the 'My B.C. Budget' project, local stakeholders were set the goal of finding a way to close the gaps identified by government financial reports.
The results
More than 1,500 people took part in the exercise within 24 hours of it going live, and more than 3,000 in total, providing the BC government with valuable insight into citizens' views on spending priorities.
The Delib team have been quick, responsive, collaborative and made a challenging project under tight timelines come together smoothly and effectively
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.