The publication “Engaging Citizens with Mission Ocean & Waters: A Toolbox of Approaches” provides a clear and practical guide for planning, implementing, and evaluating public engagement activities related to aquatic projects.

This Toolbox comes from the Nordland Research Institute (NRI) and several European partners as part of the Horizon Europe-funded PREP4BLUE project. It is intended for anyone working to engage citizens in marine and freshwater initiatives, whether at the local, regional, or European Union level.

Practical Tools for Real-World Engagement

The Toolbox is organised into sections to help different users, ranging from community workers to researchers and policymakers. It includes:

• Step-by-step guides for planning early-stage projects. These guides cover stakeholder mapping, reflection questions, and tools for making risk-based decisions.
• Detailed methods for implementing projects, such as surveys, walking interviews, citizen assemblies, scenario workshops, and participatory mapping. Each method includes instructions for preparation, facilitation, and follow-up.
• Frameworks for evaluating and measuring the impact of citizen involvement on project development and societal change, especially in areas like ocean literacy and civic empowerment.
• Guidance on using ocean literacy as a way to engage communities, focusing on two-way knowledge exchange in projects and research.
• Templates and planning worksheets in the appendices that can be used or adjusted for specific project needs.

-From consultation to co-creation, this Toolbox is your guide to meaningful citizen engagement for Mission Ocean & Waters. Empowering citizens is more than a tick-box exercise—it’s the key to better, more inclusive marine governance. Grounded in evidence and tested in practice, this resource provides practical tools to make citizen engagement real, relevant, and impactful. It connects the dots between theory and practice, placing citizens at centre stage, says Maiken Bjørkan, lead author and research director at Nordland Research Institute.

Two-Track System for Users

The Toolbox is designed for users with diverse backgrounds and varying goals. It has two main sections:

1. Practitioner’s Toolbox: This section is designed for individuals or teams working on small projects or those with some experience in citizen engagement. It provides practical tools and straightforward guidance, so users don’t need to understand complicated theories.
2. Big Project and Researcher’s Guide: This section targets those who are creating larger, more complex projects from scratch. It provides a deeper theoretical context, encompassing concepts such as post-normal science, participatory governance, and deliberative democracy.

Real-World Examples and Case Studies

The Toolbox includes examples from EU-funded projects that tested the tools in real-world situations or employed similar methods to engage citizens in the Mission Ocean & Waters goals. These examples include a gamified virtual reality experience about marine noise pollution in Norway, arts-based scenario planning in Germany, community oyster restoration workshops in Ireland, and the use of fisher knowledge in cod stock assessments.

The Toolbox also offers advice on working with established networks and citizens’ assemblies. It shows how to create cross-border networks to support your project and the Mission Ocean & Waters goals. These case studies demonstrate how different levels of citizen involvement—such as informing, consulting, involving, collaborating, and empowering—can be used based on the needs, risks, and goals of your project.

-Engaging people effectively in our science, whether through the co-production of knowledge, co-creation of solutions, or consulting and informing the broader community, is a crucial part of creating a sustainable future for all. Knowledge alone will not do this, says co-author Liz Morris-Webb, a researcher at NRI. She continues:

-This Toolbox applies the theoretical understanding of how to work effectively with people with real-tested tools that can be adapted to any project. It has been a privilege learning from all those involved. I look forward to hearing from future users on how they work with the tools in this guide.

The Toolbox focuses on inclusion and fairness. It encourages users to think about who might be left out and why. Users should create participation methods that are suitable and accessible in each context. The Toolbox also highlights ethical issues in engaging communities, such as preventing participant fatigue, maintaining trust within the community, and managing expectations.

While it supports the EU Mission Ocean & Waters, the Toolbox can be utilised for various engagement efforts. Its frameworks and tools can easily be adapted for multiple projects related to marine, coastal, river, and other environmental issues in Europe and beyond.

The Toolbox is now publicly available and can be accessed through the PREP4BLUE project website at www.prep4blue.eu. You can also read the online version here. It is expected to serve as a long-term resource for capacity building in participatory methods and inclusive environmental governance.