Last week in Bucharest Uyen Nguyen, a PhD researcher at the KU Leuven’s Public Governance Institute, presented her work within the BlueGreen Governance (BGG) Project at European Network for Public Administration (ENPA) Inaugural Conference at Bucharest University of Economic Studies. ENPA is an independent and European academic learned society which aims to deliver effective conferences and other knowledge generation and exchange events. 

Key findings

At the conference, Uyen shared findings from her systematic literature review on co-creation and stakeholder engagement in transboundary marine governance, contributing to ongoing project’s efforts to identify barriers and strengthen participatory approaches. Three key findings in brief:

1. Participation is heavily front-loaded: co-design dominates, while codecision and co-delivery are rarely documented.
2. Public authorities and scientific experts shape the knowledge base and retain statutory mandate. Large-scale industries (offshore wind, shipping, oil & gas) hold disproportionate influence. While f.i. small-scale fishers and coastal communities lack time, capacity, and organisational cohesion. Inclusion often devolves into tokenism, i.e. consulted to satisfy legal mandates.
3. Barriers are amplified in transboundary settings, affecting actors with limited institutional power. Fragmented authority creates diagonal exclusion: local stakeholders in one country are shut out of national-level decisions in another – challenge unique to transboundary contexts.

The conference offered valuable feedback, inspiring insights into co-creation practices, and opportunities to build connections for future collaboration aligned with the BGG project’s objectives.