“I have made a terrible mistake. I waited 14 years to do something that I should have done my first year of teaching: shadow a student for a day. It was so eye-opening that I wish I could go back to every class of students I ever had right now and change a minimum of […]
A highlight of the recent (and excellent) 2014 Community Currencies conference hosted by Spice was the number of presentations by citizens. One of those presentations was by Derek Hermann – an inspirational young man whose story demonstrates both the limitations of a purely medical model of health, and the powerful connection between wellbeing and the […]
Here’s an interesting blog post – a critique of a recent North of England analysis on how best to tackle health inequalities. The original report acknowledges that “the most disadvantaged members of society lack influence over how public resources are used” and recommends that their influence needs to be increased through “shared power over resources”. Nothing […]
The ability to see the world through others’ eyes – to walk in their shoes – is arguably an essential co-production skill. It’s not, unfortunately, a skill which is regularly demonstrated by organisational leaders or senior professionals. In this informative and energising blog post, Gill Phillips (inventor of the superb ‘Whose Shoes?’ training game) reflects on […]
“There is a new orthodoxy: people who use health services can no longer be viewed as passive recipients of care but must be active co-producers of their own health. But there remains a stubborn gap between the commitment and the reality: only a little over half of people are involved as much as they want to […]
“It could only be a good thing if more organisations recognised their service users as the asset that they are and took advantage of their expertise to improve the service through mutual trust and co-operation.” On the Participation Cymru blog
From an article by Mike Gulliver: “Academics should consult Deaf people before we plan to co-produce research with them. Surely?” “How can we think of a project, think that it’s an interesting idea, think that it’s a good idea for the community, think that we know how to set it up… and then write the […]
“After my first trip to the Dominican Republic, I pledged to myself that we would, one day, have a camp run and executed by Dominicans. Now, about seven years later, the camp director, program leaders and all but a handful of counselors are Dominican. Each year we bring in a few Peace Corps Volunteers and […]
Remarkable examples of beautiful and truly generous design, places designed for people to use, enjoy and improve – at no cost and for no profit. “To do things like this, you have to give people the benefit of the doubt. And if you do, people will respond positively. In this case the benefit of being […]
Q: “What is the single greatest solution for solving the planetary crisis?” A: “The answer is that too many single solutions are being offered. I have seen the damages that a monoculture of the mind does. There are millions of solutions, as many solutions as people. There might be some principles we respect, such as […]
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