ENILEuropean Network on Independent Living

www.enil.euRevisiting Co-production

Miro Griffiths, ELOSH Trans-partnership Meeting, 17th February 2015

Who am I?• Worked in disability and rights-based issues for over ten years…

• ENIL, Think Local Act Personal (UK Department of Health Programme), In Control

• Advisor to Local Authorities on creating partnerships and moving forward with the personalisation agenda

• Guest Lecturer on Disability Theory and Public Services Policy

• MA in Disability and Social Policy; currently completing a PhD in Sociology

• Particular interests in community development, principles of Independent Living and self-directed support

Consider this a journey…

“The Obstacle is the Path”

Our learning objectives are…

Five minutes:

Introduce yourself and explain your service……and…

What do you want to achieve in this session?

(Write your answers on post-it notes)

What will we discuss?• Understand the concept/philosophy of co-production…

• Support services and marginalised groups…

• Consider the challenges and barriers to embedding it into our practice…

• Thinking about co-production and ELOSH…

• Any further questions…

Back Story of Co-production…Edgar Cahn – “No more throw-away people”

• Background in civil rights policy

• Became aware of how people who use services become disempowered

• Promoted concepts of community development

Elinor Ostrom – “Bigger doesn’t mean better”

• Focused on relationships between services and communities

• Interested in joint ways of working

• A pioneer of a new form of co-operative economics

The meaning…Produce:Means to make something or bring something

into existence

Co:Means ‘together’ or ‘with’

Consider the steps…

Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation:

…Consider the steps…Nicoll’s Ladder of Participation:

Co-production Principles:

Recognising People as Assets

Valuing Work

Differently

Promoting Reciproci

ty

Building Social Networks

Cahn’s Principles (Cahn, 2000)…

• What themes link the principles together?

The Lego Challenge…

Each table must build something…

You have five minutes…

…Go…

“Everything is cool,Everything is

awesome,Everything is cool

when you’re part of a team!”

The Lego Challenge…ContinuedTen minutes to discuss the following questions:

• How did you decide on what to build?

• How did you work as a team?– Who did what…– Was someone in charge…

• How does this task relate to co-production?

Then we will do feedback…

“Everything is cool,Everything is

awesome,Everything is cool

when you’re part of a team!”

The Parable of the Blobs and Squares

The Parable of the Blobs and Squares…

Ten minute discussion on the following questions:

• What were the key messages?

• If you met a ‘blob’ or ‘square’, how would you define co-production?

So, Co-production is…• An approach to transform our ways of working and improve

relationships

• There is no standardised process to embed co-productive practices…which is fine!

• The reality? People have been marginalised and isolated by societal structures and behaviours. For. Too. Long.

• Co-production is core to both choice and control and the production of better, more efficient outcomes

Co-productive Approach to Support Services…

• It has become all too familiar to recognise ‘central decision-making’ and ‘negative relationships’…

• Does the co-productive approach assist with addressing some of the inequalities that exist within service design, leading to services supporting the aims and aspirations of the people who use them?

• We must acknowledge the role of activism in pushing forward this agenda. Learn from our past, reflect on the advancements, consider solutions to previous barriers –

“If you don’t know your history, you’re like a leaf that doesn’t know it’s part of a tree.” (Jenny Morris)

“We know what needs changing, what works and what

doesn’t work. We know this because we live it 24/7, with no days off.”

(Person who uses services, Disability Hate Crime Conference 2014, Croatia)

The Vision and the Reality

“When it comes to real co-production, common sense is not common practice.”

Clenton Farquharson MBE, Disability Rights UK – Independent Living

Conference, 2014

Building a service based on dignity, time and support, equal power…

Current services are rooted within a reactionary process…

Co-production to deliver us to the vision of Independent Living…

The devastating impact of labelling individuals as ‘useless’ and ‘powerless’…

Creating an environment where:

A Vision for Support Services…

Twenty minute discussion on the following questions:

• Do you agree with this vision? Why?

• How does your service involve people in helping to achieve this vision?

• What changes could you make to your service to help turn this vision into reality?

Where are we…People who use services/experts by experience start and finish the work together, and do not come in half-way through the work plan

People are equal partners and able to share power/responsibility; furthermore, people are compensated for their time and expertise

What can be achieved…

Helpful reminder for how services will continue to operate if change is not implemented…

Concerns…• The false claims of co-production – feedback, consultation,

tokenism…

• The pressure to deliver quick wins, causing the agenda to be short-term and inaccessible; furthermore, the relationship is based on excuses and protecting roles and responsibilities – leading to strained partnerships…

• Aspirations Vs Resources

…Miro, stop talking…Examples from: • Co-production Network – Using co-productive approach to providing social care

• Northamptonshire, UK, Community Housing Network – making co-production real

• FEANTSA – Using Participation Toolkits• ELOSH Partners – Experiences of a co-productive approach to delivering the training (Irish Council for Social Housing, Helsinki Deaconess Institute, Slovenian Association for Mental Health).

Any questions? Any observations?

Co-production Network

Northamptonshire CHN

http://vimeo.com/43101533

Have we discussed…• Understand the concept/philosophy of co-production…

• Support services and marginalised groups…

• Consider the challenges and barriers to embedding it into our practice…

• Thinking about co-production and ELOSH…

• Any further questions?

Miro Griffiths• Email: mirogriffiths@gmail.com• Twitter: @mirogriffiths • Mobile: 00447835 413 238

Let’s keep talking…