Title image: What is co-production and why is it important?

Why co-production?

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Introduction to Section 1 What is co-production? Why co-production? Participation and co-production What does co-production look like?
Introduction to Section 2 How to start co-production Methods and techniques Spotlight on lived experience panels Spotlight on facilitation techniques Supporting people in co-production
Introduction to section 3 Advocating for co-production The policy context Frameworks and tools
Introduction to Section 4 Reflecting, evaluating and learning Tips and helpful resources for evaluation

Having a definition and a better understanding of co-production is a useful starting point but why should we do co-production in the first place?

Benefits to individuals and families 

The first and probably most important reason is that the people who receive or use services are the ‘experts’ in what they need to live better and healthier lives. Co-production is a way of recognising this and moving from being service-led to being person-led or person-centred.  

An example of this is Intensive family support through prevention and family empowerment in Coventry 

In this example, Coventry City Council, through their Intensive Family Support Initiative, worked with families with children excluded from school, committing crime or involved in anti-social behaviour. There has been a high focus on empowerment of families to build resilience and sustainable behavioural change. Families have to agree and develop their own plan and identify how they will input into this. The philosophy of co-production is central to the whole approach. Coventry City Council now promotes strength-based approaches, which means that the whole early intervention approach seeks to work with and help to develop the capabilities of families and all their members.  

Benefits to communities 

Genuine co-production of services, including community-led service provision, can help to support thriving, healthy and sustainable communities. It can also help to realise community aspirations and ambitions through collaboration between communities and public services. 

An example of this is the Community Asset Transfer of Dalmellington Community Hall in East Ayrshire described in this short film called Rocky Road.

It tells the story of how a local community association worked with their community, the local Council, and other partners to take on the running of their local community hall which was in danger of closure. 

Benefits to services 

There are a range of benefits to service providers from increased co-production with service users, families and communities. These include improved services which are: 

  • Flexible 

  • Appropriate 

  • Effective 

  • Efficient 

Benefits to decision-makers/policy-makers 

People who make decisions about our services both at a local and national level need to understand the needs of their population, what policies need to be developed to respond to these needs, and how resources and budgets should be allocated. Taking a co-production approach to policy-making will mean that these policies and resource decisions are much better informed and responsive to the needs of individuals and communities.  

Recent examples of this from the Scottish Government are the co-production of their 10-year Dementia Strategy and the development of the National Children’s Charter for School-age Childcare. 

In this short video, Amy Watson from the Scottish Government highlights the value of lived experience within these co-production processes.