It’s national co-production week – hosted by The Social Care Institute for Excellence – a time to celebrate effective co-production work which truly engages, involves and respects all participating parties. At the same time, this week gives an opportunity for us to challenge misleading or ineffective “co-production” and discuss how to better the practise and ensure that the term is used to describe real and positive joint-working.
“Co-production means delivering public services in an equal and reciprocal relationship between professionals, people using services, their families and their neighbours. Where activities are co-produced in this way, both services and neighbourhoods become far more effective agents of change.” New Economics Foundation
The key to effective co-production is understanding the three elements to it – co-planning, co-design and co-delivery – each step is crucial for the whole process to be genuinely carried out in collaborative way and be termed “co-produced”.
We have produced a ‘Hints & Tips’ document on effective co-production; focused on work with older people through our Wisdom in Practise project. The document gives an accessible overview of what co-production means, how it can happen, why it is important and what it looks like in practise. Read our Hints & Tips on Effective Co-production.
We also published a report last year on Building Community Based Support with Older People which brings together summaries of research and other reports looking at the impact of community support for older people. Many of these initiatives have a strong focus on co-production.
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Co-production Week Scotland is taking place on 14th – 20th November, through the Scottish Co-production Network. Keep an eye on their website for updates and for how you can get involved.
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“You can’t have co-production unless there are already ways for people to participate and have their say. But participation and co-production are not the same thing. Co-production opens up so many more opportunities and benefits.”
Join the conversation this week via #coproweek