Understanding co-production as a new public governance tool

Abstract

Co-production has become a buzzword for both scholars and practitioners in the past decade. This introduction to the thematic issue 'Co-production: Implementation problems, new technologies and new designs' unpacks the concept of co-production and illustrates how it has been operationalized on the ground in diverse country-specific contexts. To facilitate the analysis, we make a distinction between 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' forms of co-production, even though the practice has not really been around long enough to have established a tradition in the true sense of the word. However, these two distinct forms of co-production are highly useful conceptual lenses through which to view the finer details and nuances, to identify the enabling conditions and to foreshadow the governance challenges, but also to highlight the innovating role co-production plays in forging public services and public policies. Thanks to the rich and varied ways in which the contributors have approached this central topic; the thematic issue enables the research and practice to more fully appreciate the ins and outs of co-production and suggests the most promising directions for future study.

Collective citizenship: From citizenship and mental health to citizenship and solidarity

“…1–2). This collective approach also aligns with an increasing focus in policy making on co‐production (Sorrentino, Sicilia, & Howlett, ). Co‐production is defined as “when you as an individual are involved as an equal partner in designing the support and services you receive” (Clark 2015).…”

County-level Correlates of Dental Service Utilization for Low Income Pregnant Women. Ecologic study of the North Carolina Medicaid for Pregnant Women (MPW) program.

“…Co-production has emerged as an alternative economic framework for conceptualizing service delivery in the public sector (Voorberg 2015). In health care service delivery, this framework expands the traditional doctor-patient dyad with an enhanced model that includes community stakeholders and support systems to add value to the process (Batalden et al 2016;Sorrentino et al 2018). This is in contrast to the traditional model for utilization of dental services in underserved areas (Allison and Manski 2007).…”

The role of local energy initiatives in co-producing sustainable places

“…As Sorrentino et al (2018) put it, co-production is a public governance tool. As a form of governance, citizen-led initiatives such as LEI fit into Driessen et al (2012)'s definition of 'self-governance', in which the initiative is started by civil society and/or the private sector and may or may not interact with the public sector.…”

“…In such cases, public institutions are expected to have a supporting or background role (Soares da Silva et al 2018). Although this is often the case when it comes to the establishment of the initiative, institutional actors can still play a central role both as a resourceful actor and as a facilitator in various phases of the process (Sorrentino et al 2018).…”