I tend to take things I do lightly.
That's fine, until the day comes when you need to make a list and then I'm scrabbling to remember what I've done that is relevant.
It's like that with things I write. I make a list. Then I remember I wrote a chapter in a book published by RHP. Oh, and I know I've done articles for magazines. But can I remember which magazines, let alone which issues?
And it's like that with coproduction. It's time for me to make a list of what I've done, and I'm not sure where to start!
I have good reasons for resisting making lists. I hate people showing off what they've done, or treating themselves as more important because they can put more on their cv.
I have bad reasons for resisting making lists. I tend to dismiss anything I can do as being worthless. I fear being judged. I am too chaotic to be systematic about anything - and research relies heavily on being systematic.
Now I have a good reason to make a coproduction list. I'm going to the first meeting of people in South Wales who are interested in research and coproduction. To get and give the most, I need to marshal in my own brain what I've done, what I know, what I think, where I see research and coproduction in the future.
Blogging is one of my ways of thinking out loud and capturing that thinking. So here goes with an attempt to develop a timeline for my relationship with coproduction:
- went to a North Wales Working With Not To meet-up about coproduction and listened to Edgar Cahn
- went to hear Eddie Bartnik at a South Wales Coproduction Wales meet-up
- resisted when people started to call what Barod does 'coproduction' because I disliked the term
- worked out why I disliked how 'coproduction' was being used as a term, and found a way to explain what I want 'coproduction' to mean.
- worked with Constance of Wales Council for Voluntary Action on re-explaining 'coproduction' in terms that made sense to members of the public (Being At the Centre booklet)
- got involved with the ESRC research seminar series about academics, people with learning difficulties and practitioners researching together - and realised that it helped move things forward to combine thinking about inclusive/participatory research with coproduction thinking.
- Barod conceptualised what we mean by 'coproduction' in a slide show and workshop (thanks to Good Practice Exchange for giving us the chance to develop those, and Mel Nind for inviting us to adapt the slides for use in a research context at NRMF 2015)
- had a few exchanges with Professor Tony Bouvaird about coproduction
- kept developing ideas of ways to work together as equals within Barod, and between Barod and other organisations
- Barod explicitly 'did coproduction' with Jim Wright and Torfaen People First. We worked together from November 2016 to March 2017. I'm thinking through sociological stuff from my PhD, to see if I can explain why what we did felt like 'real coproduction'. We are also jointly writing up tips on 'doing coproduction'
- went to the launch for Coproduction Network Wales, and began to think it may be time to dip my toes into the formal side of developing coproduction as a public services practice in Wales.
- met Dr Gideon Calder to talk coproduction and ethics - and now have an invitation to the South Wales meet-up for people sharing an interest in coproduction and research.
Masked by that list is four years of thinking, reflecting, theorising and doing, which in itself draws on 20 years of thinking, reflecting, theorising and doing variations on 'working together' and 'consulting'.
I think it's possible to sum up the key things Barod and I have learned:
- you can't coproduce unless you can communicate freely
- you can't coproduce unless your shared vision is stronger than your desire for the familiar and personal comfort zone
- you can spot coproduction because anyone in the group can initiate anything (budget decisions, ideas, strategies, projects, parameters for working together, who should be involved), and everyone knows what the budget is
- coproduction isn't the only way to work together. Consultation and representation on boards are still important and valid. What's vital is that we don't label something as 'coproduction' just because it sounds good or involves some form of working together.
And that's why the list is helpful. By putting together the list, it's helped me put the pieces together of what we have learned. And I reckon those four key points were worth the effort of making a list.
