These inspiring examples of collaborative public services in action are designed to help practitioners learn about co-production practice. 

Key findings:

• Co-production means delivering public services with people rather than to them.
• It implies an equal relationship between professionals, the people using the services, their families and their neighbours. 
• We have found that when public services are delivered in this way, the services themselves and the people who use them, become far more effective agents of change.

The purpose of this catalogue is to showcase a range of case studies to show co-production in action.

It enables practitioners to reflect on their own practice and the extent to which that represents co-production. It also enables them to learn about what co-production looks like in practice.

It has a particular focus on health and social care, as well as resources and other information on co-production in the UK and internationally.

As well as its ability to enable more people-centred approaches, we think co-production can also tackle the lack of trust between some users and professionals, a dependency culture where people look to the state to solve their problems and a culture of expertise where professionals are trained to be the sole source of solutions. 

At its best, co-production can build people’s capacity to live the life they want, in the community where they live. 

This catalogue was commissioned by Nesta to support the People Powered health programme and produced by nef.

Authors
Nesta, nef, Innovation Unit