Earlier this month a 2-Day training programme took place in Manchester as part of the ‘Not Another Co-Production Project’. Covering the fundamentals of Community Reporting and exploring how this method can be used as a tool for co-production the event was delivered in person at the St. Thomas Centre in Ardwick.

This is a 3-year project funded by the National Lottery that will see People’s Voice Media and Ideas Alliance work together to move co-production from a buzz word into an embedded practice across different areas in England. We want a future where policy, research and service design are informed by local people and where collaboration is the heart of how things are done. This way of working is messy, fun, challenging, but can really make a difference to those who are willing to give the time and energy to it.

The training was a mixture of presentations, individual/small group/whole group activities and discussions, reflection tasks, practical recording activities and Q&A.

As part of the day, we shared our own experiences of co-pro and here’s some of what chatted about:

• Co-production can lead to new ways of thinking and new ways of doing thing – different people’s perspectives ask us to think differently
• In larger organisations and institutions it can be hard to do things in the way you’d like to do them if you don’t have the authority to make certain decisions – sometimes the people who are advocating and practicing co-production struggle to get their bosses to see its value and share or handover their decision-making powers 
• A big part of co-production, is reflecting and critiquing – who has control, who have the power, who is setting the agenda?