Hannah’s blog for National Coproduction Week
“Co-production Week is being celebrated on 29 June – 3 July 2026. Co-production Week is important as it champions all the benefits of co-production. People with lived experience know subject matters more than anyone else and co-production centers those with lived experience at the heart of its work. Co-production promotes inclusion, shares best practices and overall creates better services. Valuing people’s lived experiences is vital and during Co-production Week we reflect on that. Co-production Week brings people with lived experience and staff together to collaborate.
Co-production means an equal partnership between those with lived experience and staff. Co-production can be designing, creating and delivering on products or services by giving your advice and opinions. Co-production needs to be worked on with lived experts from the start. Co-development is different and this is where you may bring in people with lived experience at different points. To get the best result for your service or setting you need to implement co-production from the start.
I have been lucky enough to be involved with several Gaddum opportunities such as designing the new Live Well logo and working on the Manchester Design Group. I have also been involved with co-production opportunities with lots of other charities too. I love to be able to share my lived experience to make meaningful change and impact.
To be able to deliver co-production successfully you should work in a person-centered way making it accessible for everyone to join in involvement opportunities. People can contribute in different ways to co-production. This may be via online methods or typing in the chat, in person opportunities and you may even involve some creative opportunities too such as collages as this way we are catering to lots of different people who may input in different ways. You should consider reasonable adjustments. For example, you may provide a quiet room, one-page profiles or pictures of the room. Valuing lived experience is so important. People that have lived experience are the best ever and you should treat it that way.”
To find out more, or to get involved with coproduction opportunities at Gaddum, email our team: coproduction@gaddum.org.uk
