How we can help Co-pro practice keep up with principles
Sam Jordan is the Communications Manager at SCDC, which supports the Scottish Co-production Network. Here he shares some reflections on how we can learn from co-production practice.
It was great to once again be celebrating Co-production Week Scotland a chance to come together to explore how co-production puts people and communities at the heart of support and services they’re part of.
As part of the week we explored how we put co-production into practice. With co-pro now the way things ‘should’ happen, we wanted to find out whether the rhetoric matches the reality – are services and communities truly able to work in a co-productive way?
So, what’s the theory vs. reality? That’s a question we often come across when we talk to others about co-production. With such a strong set of principles and values, how do we actually deliver on them, in an environment of limited funding and stretched capacity?
During the week we saw remarkable, innovative practice, especially in light of the pandemic forcing us all to try new ways of working, and push beyond what we thought were the limits of co-production.
That’s led to new opportunities, but also new challenges and it’s hard to not feel overwhelmed by how important co-production is, and how difficult it can be to achieve well.
Some of these puzzles are addressed in our Key Messages for Co-production resource. Developed by Network members, these short statements offer some practical steps in tackling some of these issues (you can read in full here):
Addressing inequalities is part of the job.
Resource communities to address their priorities.
Champion digital, but address the barriers.
Give co-production the time it needs.
Invest in showing co-pro it works
These key messages reflect some of the realities of co-producing right now, and what we heard from Network members during the week was that there was still some way to go. Good practice is often in small bubbles, highlighting the importance of sharing what we learn - both the positive, and the things that were challenging.
At our learning event we came away with a strong list of questions, statements and ideas about what we need to look at next. We had a number of themes emerge:
Renumeration
Guidance and standards
Culture shift and relationships
Shifting the balance of power
Learning and practice
All big issues for co-production, and we’ll be having digging into them all in future conversations.
The Scottish Co-production Network is a place to have these discussions, so make sure you sign and up and join your colleagues in helping us all learn together.
