Participatory budgeting in local authorities and stakeholder consultations: A case of chipinge rural district council from period 2013 to 2015.

This study was undertaken to analyse the effectiveness of participatory budgeting (PB) system in local authorities in Zimbabwe with special reference to Chipinge Rural District Council (CRDC). This was against the background that PB produced effective results in some local authorities and ineffective results in others. A critical analysis of PB in general from various authors through use of books, articles, resolutions, reports, acts, journals and internet was done to highlight PB theoretical foundation, procedures of PB at CRDC, contextual variables affecting PB and standardized set of best practice in PB system. In carrying out the study a stratified random sample and purposive non-random sampling was used to select participants for the study. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires and interviews from a sample of 96 participants. Quantitative data collected was presented and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The major findings indicated that participatory budgeting at CRDC exist in theory but not in practice. In light of these findings, the study recommends the need to amend the Rural District Councils Act Chapter 29: 13 and the need for local authorities to consider the views and inputs of the local community in budget formulation.