What are the four main principles of Co-production?
Access |
Co-production needs to be accessible if everyone is going to take part on an equal basis. Everyone should have the same opportunity to participate in a way that suits them best. As well as physical access, making sure that information is easy to access and that it is provided in a range of appropriate formats is a key part of making sure that everyone can take part in co-production. The impact of time on co-production and the need to allow time for co-production to develop are important issues. |
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Diversity |
Ensuring that a project is comprehensively inclusive, and representative of the community can be challenging, but it is vital to the co-production process. Diversity takes precedence over equality and co-production should strive for maximum inclusivity. |
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Equality |
It is fundamental to co-productive practice that no one group, or person is more important than any other group or person. Everyone is equal and has assets to contribute. |
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Reciprocity |
This rather obscure word has been defined simply as, ensuring that people receive something back for putting something in, and builds on people’s desire to feel needed and valued. We will work to understand what people need or want. |
Unlike other forms of interaction that people may have with us, co-production is about blurring boundaries between professionals and those who engage with our services. It’s about a whole life, equal involvement in the development of a service, product, or idea.
Whole-life involvement means from the beginning to the end, joint development of an improvement to a local service, designing together new projects, and the joint management of an improved or new service.
We like to say: ‘imagining, planning, and managing together'. This means that through co-production our officers support as facilitators and people who draw on services may become active partners in how the service is delivered.
As all input is valued equally it follows that contribution of skills and knowledge should be recognised and rewarded. Where people work with us to develop services, we will make sure people receive something back for working with us. Co-production cannot exist without the firm foundation provided by all these underpinning principles.