There are wide range of definitions of what Co-production is. We have developed a definition based on the principles of Co-production, which communicates the essence of Co-production as:
“A group of people, working with each other, from the start, to achieve a goal.’
We feel the key words in this definition are ‘working with’ and ‘from the start’.
In practice, co-production involves people who use services being consulted, included and working together from the start to the end of any project that affects them.Most work takes place outside the money economy, in what Prof. Edgar Cahn refers to as the ‘core economy’. Core economy work includes whatever it takes to raise healthy children, care for the old, ill or vulnerable, build a sense of neighbourliness and community, redress injustice and make democracy work.
On this basis it is clear that the real wealth of society is in its people. Co-Production works on the principle that we are all equal partners and all have something of value to contribute. At the heart of the approach are reciprocal relationships, built on trust, respect and mutuality, and on the universal human impulse to give back.