Lessons on effective co-production

Joy is essential to the success of the work and cannot be treated as a ‘nice to have’ or an afterthought. Intentionally creating opportunities for all participants to socialise together, build trusting relationships, and find common points of interest, as well as celebrating successes and emphasising care in all the work, is central to effective co-production.

Co-production work is as individual as the people involved and the circumstances in which they’re operating. Approaching each collaboration with the power of curiosity, with a commitment to the principle of working equitably alongside young people, and with an openness to seeing how the work could develop, is more impactful than a pre-determined programme which is based on an incomplete understanding of who you’re working with and what they could bring to the organisation.

It is essential to build flexibility into the collaboration’s way of working, contracts and pay structures. This allows young people to step in and step away according to their other needs, interests and responsibilities. For example, building an understanding of a young person’s caring commitments, or exam and revision timetable, or plans to travel, means they can be supported into appropriate Work Areas and each Area is properly resourced throughout.

Everyone needs as much time as the work can afford. For young people, more time creates more opportunities to learn and ask questions, so that they are then better informed and empowered to challenge: an important aspect of sharing power. For the Foundation, time allows the organisation to learn through iteration and to make adjustments following feedback. It also allows staff to develop their skills in working with young people. Finally, time is essential in building the relationships and trust which underpin effective co-production work and which allow all the stakeholders to truly collaborate.

Bringing together different working patterns (for example, traditional office hours versus evening or weekend availability) is challenging for all parties. Throughout, it is essential to maintain mutual respect and understanding of stakeholders’ different commitments and accept that contrasting working patterns will result in the work moving more slowly. This can feel as though it is in direct competition with other time pressures and having a third party in the collaboration - like HUDL - can help navigate this challenge.

Getting the right balance of information is vital to the success of co-production work. Too little information and young people are working in a vacuum and don’t have confidence in the decisions which are being made. Too much and it can quickly become overwhelming, especially if jargon is also involved. Determining the right balance is informed by the capacity of the different collaborators and requires strong relationships and excellent communication.

The importance of creating an environment of continuous reflection which includes all the different stakeholders involved in a collaboration. Without opportunities to consider how the work developed, what went well and what could be improved, the work can become superficial and tokenistic.

In a long-term collaboration, there are benefits to regularly refreshing membership of the Collective. From a young person’s perspective, membership often feels like a valuable opportunity with significant benefits and they want to ensure that others have a chance to join the IYPC. From an organisation’s point of view, refreshing the membership exposes the organisation to a greater variety of perspectives, especially if - after several iterations and opportunities to learn - the organisation feels better able to work with young people whose needs they might not have been able to meet at the start of the collaboration.

The long-term commitment from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has demonstrated that they want to fully invest in the members of the Collective, their relationship with the IYPC, and the co-production work. This has helped to deepen the young people’s commitment in turn, while also giving the collaboration, as a whole, the space and opportunity to surface many of the lessons which have been shared in this report.