We present our experiences of working with a wide range of stakeholders towards a commonly agreed sustainable vision for Southern Transylvania. This vision was developed in a transdisciplinary scenario planning process, and is based on understanding local social-ecological system dynamics. To better understand plausible pathways towards the desired future, we explored existing and anticipated contributions by different stakeholders in workshops and interviews. The resulting data generated an understanding of how different stakeholder contributions address various system elements now and in the future. We analyzed existing contributions, and also used back casting to identify additional contributions still required to reach the desired vision. Existing contributions focused on different topics (i.e. nature,
culture, tourism) and targeted different aspects of sustainability. Despite a wide variety of existing contributions, our analysis revealed system elements
that are currently not prioritized. Such gaps, in turn, highlight where more attention and adaptation is needed to support the local transformation. Furthermore, our analysis showed challenges that stakeholders" face working along transition pathways, not ably when they initiate contributions that either fit or challenge the prevailing local and global regime. We argue that
recognizing existing contributions and achievements empowers stakeholders on pathways towards their desired vision. Moreover, viewing contributions in the context of future pathways enables stakeholders to realize that transformations can capitalize on and validate a diversity of complementary stakeholder contributions. For transformation-oriented case studies, our research underlines the importance of
recognizing existing stakeholder contributions to diverse local and global transformation pathways and the empowerment that comes with this recognition.