Who: As an associate of the Co-production Lab Wales, I delivered three co-production training sessions for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Regional Partnership.
The brief:To provide a short recap on the foundational concepts of co-production, and to spend most of the session thinking about the implementation of co-production in the participants’ work contexts.
What I did:I started with a refresher / quick overview of the key concepts that assist in understanding co-production: what it is and isn’t, the values that underpin the approach, how co-production is part of a spectrum of engagement approaches, and using complexity theory models to understand when to use co-production. Then in breakout groups in their teams, and with regular support and feedback throughout, the participants worked through a structured template that enabled them to consider how they would turn the 5 values into tangible action, on a project of their choice.
What they said:
- “Really great training. Excellent facilitator. Really challenging and thought through. Inspiring.”
- “Very engaging and gets you thinking with the team work. Also helps to learn from others and hear their ideas.”
- “Really informative and explained well. After doing previous courses I felt this masterclass taught me more than I learned previously. Thank you.”
Variations on a theme:
I ran an Introduction to Co-production session for Cardiff University as part of their Public Engagement Training Programme. Our usual audience for these kinds of sessions are public services people, who are involved in services planning, design and delivery. It was fun thinking about the University as a place of knowledge generation as well as a civic institution and community anchor organisation: what would researchers and university staff need from the session? I adapted the content to focus more on participation in research and knowledge creation, and drew on some great examples I found about decolonising research. The presentation gave rise to thoughtful questions and excellent discussions.
