Co-production
Jump to: – About Co-production – Resources – Useful Links
What is co-production?
Co-production is a way in which organisations can relate to people, which enables people’s meaningful contribution to:
• agreeing joint priorities for action;
• influencing decision-making; and
• determining quality indicators.
Co-production is one of the many ways in which organisations and people can interact. When organisations want to actively relate to the people who use their services or products, there’s a range of ways in which they can do this. Each of these has different purposes and can work well in different circumstances.
The Spectrum of Participation
We’ve developed our Spectrum of Participation which shows the various useful ways that people can be invited to input ideas and perspectives to organisations. Crucially it also shows how co-production differs and is distinct from other types of participation.
We describe the Spectrum and the key questions in more detail in our resources below. The questions help organisations choose which type of participation is most appropriate for what they want to achieve. The questions can also be used by people with lived experience to identify what type of participation is being offered by an organisation.
Why co-produce?
The purpose of co-production is to bring together the knowledge, skills and experience of the people working in an organisation, with those of the people served by an organisation, to better inform policy and practice.
When done well, effective co-production produces:
- A combination of thinking to achieve change – either by innovation or adaptation;
- A mutually beneficial relationship which affects the way organisations and people see each other; and
- A service, policy, process or product which is more fit for purpose from the perspective of both the organisation and the people using it.
Peoplehub has a wealth of expertise and experience in working with organisations to implement co-production. If you would like to talk to us about how we can support your organisation with developing co-production do get in touch with us. You can email us at hello@peoplehub.org.uk.
Resources
Why all involvement is not co-production – and that’s a good thing! Learn more about why we developed the Spectrum and the different types of participation.
This table describes how the Spectrum resolves some of the common obstacles experienced with the ladder co-production images.
Co-production – a new definition
Read more about the Spectrum, and the other graphics and key points that we’ve developed to help clarify what co-production is all about.
Useful Links
A Ladder of Citizen Participation – Sherry R Arnstein 1969
Arnstein’s original article about power structures in society and decision making.
Depoliticising Development: The Uses and Abuses of Participation – Sarah White 1996
White’s work on the forms and functions of participation.