Co-production Matters H&F hosted their 2nd in-person public event to celebrate National Co-production week in H&F on Wednesday 3 July. Over 70 people came along to the Irish Centre to hear about the work Disabled residents are doing working alongside council officers and community organisations to bring the Council's commitment to co-production, to life.
Co-production Matters H&F are a group of Disabled residents, councillors, community organisations and senior council officers working together to support the council to deliver its commitment to coproduce services and polices with Disabled residents.
Resident members of the 7 co-production groups talked about the exciting and sometimes challenging work they are doing to shape and influence council services to be ruthlessly inclusive including work being done on housing, inclusive environments digital accessibility, direct payments, inclusive design and planning, as well as using an Independent Living approach to transform social care and the ongoing work on the Civic Campus redevelopment.
The theme of the event was 'Sharing power through co-production' this included a thought provoking workshop led by 2 brilliant Disabled facilitators, Mark Harrison (Director of Social Action Solutions) and Tasnim Hassan (Disabled research activist). Mark and Tasnim talked about how sharing power with residents can change relationships, making them more collaborative and equitable.
This is about partnership working where everyone's learning, expertise, knowledge is valued. Tasnim highlighted that sharing power through co-production can sometimes lead to challenging or uncomfortable conversation, but that this is important because it is a sign that power sharing is happening.
During the discussions, participants shared what this looks like: "Having an openness to change helps to reduce power imbalances," "making sure people have lived experience of an issue are at the heart of the decision making, not just work or academic experience. And making sure that residents involved in co-production are paid".
View image of the event graphic that you can enlarge
We also had a graphic facilitator (Sandra Howgate) capturing the discussions and at the end of the event Sandra presented her graphic of what people had talked about and highlighted several key points from the day for example the pioneering work being done in H&F, particularly the vision for Independent living, the recognition that sharing power is hard and requires cultural change and the ripple effect of change created by co-production by residents using their voice to make the change.
Cllr Holder and Donna Fenner, co-chairs of Co-production Matters H&F, closed the event by encouraging more residents to get involved in co-production and be part of the change to make Hammersmith & Fulham the most accessible and inclusive borough for Disabled people.
Please contact the Co-production team on coproduction@lbhf.gov.uk to find out more about the work we are doing and how you can get involved!