Community-initiated co-creation in the Global South: Does the government just watch?

Co-creation has increasingly gained traction as a means to search for innovative solutions to wicked problems, including in the pursuit of the green transition. Whereas several contributions on the forms, determinants and successful outcomes of co-creation for the green transition focus on the Global North, experiences from the Global South – where non-state actors often drive local green co-creation – are increasingly drawing attention. The extant literature seems to suggest that state actors play different roles in different countries and regions, with a directive leadership role being more pronounced in the Global North than in the Global South. To explore the role(s) government actors play in the orchestration of local green co-creation in the Global South, we rely on a multiple case study drawing on the GOGREEN project database, examining the governance factors that shape the co-creation of green transitions through the study of 36 case studies across 28 countries. Relevant case studies from the Global South suggest two possible roles that government actors may play: (i) governments welcome local co-creation processes ‘out of opportunity’, exploiting opportunities for co-creation where non-state actors mobilize local resources and government has limited capacity; and (ii) governments support local green co-creation ‘out of necessity’ in contexts where non-state actors initiate such processes in response to pressing needs despite initial reluctance by government actors due to various reasons.