Co-Pro Stories: Exploring Lived Experiences of Co-production

This report explores what the experiences of 15 co-producers from the Co-Production Collective community can tell us about co-production. Coming from different backgrounds and perspectives, their individual stories come together to provide insights about the value of co-production in practice.

The report covers what co-production means to our storytellers, the challenges they’ve faced and the benefits they’ve seen as a result. It also explores how Co-Production Collective’s core values – human, inclusive, transparent and challenging – are reflected in their experiences.

The three key findings from the report are:

Co-production should be approached as a practice governed by a set of values, rather than an exact science or process.
Co-production can bring real value to research projects and be key to ensuring that services are more effective and better meet the needs of the people who access them.
Co-production can be challenging but with support and encouragement, embracing continual and shared learning and by creating spaces for co-producers to connect, barriers can be overcome.