Youth participation endeavours to establish collaborative working between young people and adults. However, co-production is taking this one step further by using the service user (young people), their experiences and life skills, to support the delivery of public services.
One example is a youth project in a community run by members of the neighbourhood. They are seen as professionals, the young people are the experts. Responsibility, leadership and authority is shared and devolved, and no-one directs from above.
In my view, there are some significant challenges ahead if the co-production culture is to enter the youth sector and be successful. For example, by ensuring professionals are fully committed to the principles and approaches and have an obligation to joint working, by bringing together a range of young people, members of the public and professionals to engage with the design and delivery of services.
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