Voting is underway in Aberdeen for the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund, with 22 local non-profit organisations looking for a share of the £333,333 available to support a wide range of environmentally friendly projects in the city.
The Fund, delivered by ACVO, the third sector interface for Aberdeen, in partnership with NESCAN Hub (North East Scotland Climate Action Network), aims to empower local people to shape the journey to net zero in a way that reflects their local needs and priorities by allowing members of the public to have their say on where the money is spent.
Projects seeking funding through the scheme include the purchase of electric vehicles, development of new community green spaces, work to make local buildings more environmentally friendly as well as recycling initiatives and educational programmes for young people.
Bea Dawkins, Development Officer at ACVO TSI said:
“This is a very exciting time for the North East. Scotland is the first country in the world to adopt a democratic process for its transition to net zero and it’s happening right here in Aberdeen”
“The fund will empower local citizens to decide for themselves what our greener, fairer future will look like. We have been overwhelmed by the response from our local non-profit organisations who have worked hard to put together applications for this fund.
“Now, we hand the baton over to the people to decide which projects will receive funding.”
The Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund forms part of the wider ten year £500 million Just Transition Capital Fund announced by the Scottish Government in May 2022 which aims to support Scotland’s North-East economy in its just transition to net zero.
£20 million has been made available for its first year in 2022/23 to support projects in the North East, with £1 million earmarked to deliver the participatory budgeting exercise across the region with a third (£333,333) of the sum made available for distribution in both Aberdeenshire and Moray as well as in Aberdeen City.
Now following the positive response to the fund, where a high number of strong applications were received, ACVO and NESCAN Hub are pleased to announce details of the 22 projects going forward to the final public vote and invite people in Aberdeen to have their say on which initiatives they think should receive funding.
Everyone with an Aberdeen postcode is eligible to vote and can take part in the process. Voting will take place online with the public asked to choose their top 10 projects from the list of 22.
Details of projects, as well as the online voting form, can be found at https://acvo.org.uk/vote
Members of the ACVO team will also be offering a series of events around Aberdeen over the next two weeks to raise awareness of the fund and to allow people to have their say in person. Details can be found via the link above or by viewing ACVO’s social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Voting will close at 5pm on December 16th 2022 with results of the vote announced in early 2023.
