PREP4BLUE D3.4: Engaging Citizens with Mission Ocean & Waters: A toolbox of approaches

This toolbox supports inclusive and effective citizen engagement in the context of the EU Mission Ocean & Waters. It offers practical tools, strategic guidance, and tested methods for involving people in shaping marine and freshwater research, governance, and innovation. Whether you are designing a local consultation, co-creating a community habitat restoration project, planning a citizens’ assembly, or developing a funding application, the toolbox serves as a navigation aid — helping you steer engagement efforts from concept to impact.

Citizen engagement is not just about filling a room — it’s about sharing decisions. When done well it can increase legitimacy, improve outcomes, and foster long-term relationships between communities, policymakers, and the ocean. However, engagement strategies must be tailored to context. This toolbox helps users choose the right approach by linking the type of engagement to the type of problem, risk level, and desired outcomes.

The content is organised into six parts:

• Part 1 provides detail on ‘how to use this toolbox’.

• Part 2 introduces tools to help you plan citizen engagement — including tips and templates for selecting participants, ideas for how to engage them effectively, and how to monitor your progress and success. It also offers suggestions for improving funding applications, with a focus on expanding the range of tools used in Mission Ocean & Waters projects.

• Part 3 presents the same tools, but with added context — offering both the theoretical foundations and practical insights behind how and why they work.

• Part 4 shares practical examples from EU-funded projects and networks that are working towards the citizen participation goals of The Mission. They demonstrate diverse approaches in real-world settings, that readers may consider adapting, repeating, or connecting with in your own context.

• Part 5 provide implementation tools; methods for citizen engagement.

• Part 6 summarizes the toolbox with eight recommendations for citizen engagement with Mission Ocean & Waters.

• Appendices 1 to 4 provide implementation tools — including more detailed templates, a suite of methodological approaches and tools for consideration.

A core emphasis throughout is on inclusion and equity, in line with the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle. The toolbox encourages users to consider exclusion not only in structural terms (who is missing), but also as a subjective experience (how participation feels) and as a design question (what we can do differently). The toolbox also discusses when inclusion may not be appropriate in the local context, and some of the ethical concerns projects should consider.

The toolbox is designed to support alignment with the Mission’s eight citizen engagement targets (Appendix 4), and to help build lasting, connected, and trusted forms of participation across Europe’s marine and maritime regions. 

Please note: This deliverable has not yet been approved by the funding authority. As such it may be subject to change.