Co-production doesn’t have to be complicated

It can often seem that the more people talk about co-production the more complex it becomes. But if you look at examples where the concept has been put into practice it actually gets simpler - and people do just ‘get it’. At least that’s what we’ve seen through neighbourhood management…

Five examples from neighbourhood-based teams

1: Agreeing with community groups that they will act as publicists and champions of council-funded activities (like healthy living classes) - See Brighton’s neighbourhood contract on healthy living

2: Switching from sedentary community engagement (forums in dreary rooms on Wednesday evenings) to active (the park on a Saturday afternoon) and make it about doing something practical - maybe even saving the council time and money - See Moat Housing Group’s engagement through environmental volunteering in the Pollards Hill neighbourhood, Merton, South London

3: Actively engage with FixMyStreet users as co-productionists instead of simply bouncing them back with impersonal “Thank you for your comment” automated replies - See Oldham’s Street reps, who carry out the monitoring of their neighbourhood agreement which cover Green and Clean, Peace and Quiet, Healthy Living, Local democracy, and Housing standards.

4: Use DreamScheme or similar to incentivise young people to become co-producers by giving them reward points for taking part in decision-making, volunteering, or doing something off their own back which helps the community and public services - See the scheme run by Plains Farm neighbourhood management team with their local Youth project ‘A690’ in Sunderland

5: (actually this was a drugs action team not a neighbourhood team) Run film-making competitions to generate more imaginative responses and ideas on local issues - which can result in practical ideas for service re-design - See the work Hastingshave done with a schools film competition to find out how to improve community safety measures