The LOCALISED Citizen Engager manual is now publicly available!

One of the final tools developed in the LOCALISED project, the Citizen Engager, is now publicly available to guide you to citizen engagement in the field of climate policy. Here is what you need to know about it.

What Is the Citizen Engager?

The Citizen Engager – Citizen Engagement Manual for Climate Action and a Just Transition is a step-by-step manual for citizen engagement and co-creation in local climate policy. It aims to support local and regional decision makers – such as politicians, civil servants, or other relevant stakeholders – in co-creating climate actions, policies, and strategies together with their citizens. To fulfil this aim, it provides the reader with step-by-step guidance, hands-on methods, and lessons learned from five case studies.

What Can I Find in It?

The manual consists of:

• A main text of around 30 pages offering a theoretical background (Chapter 1) and step-by-step recommendations on how to set up a citizen engagement process at the local level (Chapter 2).
• Two annexes:
  • Annex 1: a list of methods matching the steps of Chapter 2,
  • Annex 2: descriptions and lessons learned from 5 real-life case studies.

What Makes It Innovative ?

• It is adaptable to different experience levels – it offers basic theoretical foundations for newcomers as well as technical recommendations for citizen engagement experts.
• It has a special focus on co-creation – going beyond information and consultation, the manual emphasizes engagement formats where citizens and decision-makers sit together and co-create climate policies in dialogue.
• It puts inclusion of vulnerable groups at the center –  the recommended approaches and methods are especially aimed at involving vulnerable groups, meaning those who are most negatively affected and socially vulnerable to the impacts of climate policy measures.
• It is suitable for both mitigation and adaptation policies –  making it relevant for a wide range of local climate action planning.
• It is grounded in real practice – the recommendations are the outcome of a systematic analysis of five citizen engagement processes carried out in Austria, Poland, and Spain, in collaboration with three LOCALISED partner regions.