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# Montes de Oca
#### Montes de Oca
The Municipality of Montes de Oca is a local authority located in the province of San José, the capital of Costa Rica. Montes de Oca is one of the 84 *cantons* in the country. The canton is named in honour of Don Faustino Montes de Oca, a distinguished citizen who took an interest in the needs and progress of this community.
In 2016, the Municipality of Montes de Oca approved the Participatory Budgeting Regulations for\
the canton of Montes de Oca, as a regulatory framework for the process of public participation in the joint development of community projects. In the same year, Montes de Oca signed the Public Commitment – Open Government Strategy. Both processes laid the foundations for subsequent collaboration with the Madrid City Council, Spain, to promote citizen participation strategies. Building on this, citizen participation mechanisms were diversified, with the implementation, from the end of 2018, of the Citizen Participation Platform “Montes de Oca Decide”.
Montes de Oca Decide was created as a space enabling citizens to participate in the co-creation of proposals for the development of the canton. It complements municipal proposals with the ideas and dreams of citizens to generate greater impact in the canton.
#### Objectives
The Montes de Oca Decide platform is used to develop different participatory processes carried out in a hybrid manner until now. Montes de Oca Decide is mainly used for the Participatory Budgeting (PB) process, but the platform is also used to include citizen voice in open consultations on the mofication of municipal regulations.
Among the objectives of the Municipality are:
* Encourage community participation in local government decision-making.
* Give people participation to make proposals for intervention in community spaces and debate about it democratically.
* Identify what the investment priorities of a municipality are.
* Establish a communication channel that serves as consultation and dialogue between the community and the authorities.
* Achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness of municipal investment.
#### Budget and projects
The Participatory Budget (PB) is allocated annually per district. The Municipality distributes 10% of the proceeds collected from its Real Estate Tax over the four districts of the canton: Mercedes,\
Sabanilla, San Pedro and San Rafael, on the basis of four variables: District Social Development Index, population, territorial extension and the index of collectability.
The budget model has consolidated the PB as a permanent initiative within the municipality, with an annual allocation of resources, due to the positive impact it has had in the canton.
The 2020-2021 PB cycle was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed the subsequent year, in 2021-2022.
From 2016 to 2026, 233 projects have been successfully been implemented, with a total public investment of almost 2 billion *colones*, the equivalent of well over 3.5 million euros.
#### Four citizen participation modules
Based on the five original main functions of CONSUL DEMOCRACY – debates, citizen proposals, voting surveys, participatory budgeting and collaborative legislation – the Montes de Oca Decide platform currently maintains four citizen participation modules:
* **Let's Talk Module**\
In this module called Conversemos, the user can express and share their opinions freely with other people on topics that impact our canton, for example: urban mobility, environmental management, economic development, education, innovation, public space, employment, security, among others. This is also a space to generate innovative ideas that could become concrete actions by the Municipality.
* **Proposals Module**\
It is a space periodically enabled by the Local Government to present proposals or ideas for projects of cantonal interest that citizens wish to apply for. For each opening, the specific guidelines are disclosed and an opening period is defined for the proposals that is previously informed. Any person can make a proposal on an issue that interests or worries them so that the Municipality can carry it out, after obtaining sufficient support and submitting to a citizen vote.
* **Citizen Consultations Module**\
In the citizen consultation module, the Municipality of Montes de Oca offers citizens the opportunity to participate in the development and modification of regulations that affect the canton and to give their opinion on certain actions that it plans to carry out. Comments are analyzed by the corresponding area and taken into account for the final drafting of the standards.\
\&#xNAN;**• Open Budget Module**\
In this module, the Participatory Budget process is carried out annually. It is a local planning tool, which allows a permanent relationship between the government and the population through a democratic public management model, where citizens participate directly, voluntarily and universally in relation to the proposal, surveillance\
and monitoring of cantonal projects and fosters a sense of belonging and inclusion in public affairs.
#### Inclusion
Considering that the canton has a significant number of older adult population, efforts are made by Montes de Oca to ensure the participation of the greatest number of people in the different processes.
The PB process in Montes de Oca iss carried out in a hybrid manner. The application of project proposals is carried out on the platform and the voting on the proposals is done in person, through *district assemblies* in each of the districts.
Currently (May 2026), the Municipality is waiting for the approval of the updated Participatory Budget Regulation, where it is expected that most of the process will be carried out virtually.
The Participatory Budget Regulation is the main regulatory document determining process and methodology of the Montes de Oca PB. It includes a gender perspective, and physical accessibility and social equity criteria for the projects that are approved and executed by the Municipality.
#### Challenges
One of the main challenges that the Municipality of Montes de Oca has faced in the implementation of digital participation as been the incorporation of new technologies in a canton that has a significant older adult population. This also applies to the composition of may organized groups. It has required Montes de Oca to develop mechanisms for more accessible and support processes to facilitate their participation in digital initiatives and the Montes de Oca Decide platform.
Secondly, sometimes special interest or pressure related to the approval of certain projects, arises from (members of) the Municipal Council, a political body. The Institutional Operational Team must, therefore, ensure that the process is developed objectively, guaranteeing compliance with the procedures and requirements established for all participating communities.
Thirdly, one of the great current challenges is the limited involvement of young generations of the local population in this type of spaces, who in many cases show less interest in participating in community and organizational processes, particularly when they are without financial compensation.