Where to begin with ‘embedding’ co-production?
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 6th November 2024.
Later this month is Co-production Week Scotland, and this year it’s focused on how we embed co-production as the way to deliver services and support across the country.
So, where to begin? In a new article, David Allan from the Scottish Co-production Network has explored why embedding co-production is so important, and underlined the shared challenge that individual practitioners and community members sometimes face.
“If you sometimes feel like a lone voice championing co-pro – you’re not alone! The well-worn example of turning the supertanker around is useful to consider here. We know it is much easier to change a way of working with a small group of people than it would be with a larger organisation such as a local authority or health board.”
What’s clear is that embedding co-production is essential if we’re to truly shift the balance of power towards communities. While individual instances of co-productive practice can be hugely powerful, broader, more strategic change is how we’re going to see co-production firmly placed at the core of how decisions are made.
To help make this happen more easily, a new Co-production Guide will be published during the week, which will explore what co-production is, how to do, how we know it's working and, crucially, some of the tools and ideas we need to embed it into the way we work.
“From there,” David continues, “the significant questions about how we resource co-production, how we deliver it in reality, and what might need to change about our current practice, can get that little bit easier to broach.”
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