May Team update: Learning from each other and springing into action

Welcome to our May Update! This month as a community we have been reflecting on how we are doing against Our Direction 2023-2028 , what makes for good practice regarding payments and alternatives to payment, and what more we can do to be an anti-racist community.  We are also excited to share new opportunities to get involved in what we do.

What we’ve been up to

Aleem and Hania, together with Jess from our partners at the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and two of our project team co-producers, hosted a co-production session as part of the first phase our seven-year project with them that you can read more about on this webpage. With seven new participants, we started working together to shape a shared set of guiding principles, supporting our commitment to centring lived experience in suicide prevention work across London. If you would like to keep up to date with this project email our colleagues at livedexperience@nspa.org.uk. They are currently recruiting for a New Lived Experience co-chair you can find out more apply on their website. Deadline for applicatons 9:00 Tuesday 19 May.

Rosie went along to our May RECENTRE catch up with the research team at UCL, where we have started a series of ‘deep dives’. These allow space to get to know each other, share knowledge and learn from each other's disciplines and experiences ahead of an in-person workshop in September. You can find out more about this project in this blog.

We continued our work with IMPACT at Birmingham University and People's Voice Media to develop a training module about anti-discriminatory practice in co-production.  Rosie and Isaac met with the rest of the team who are co-producing it to further develop the module and work out what could be used a taster that could potentially be shared during Co-Production Week at the beginning of July.

Championing co-production and co-producing ourselves

As part of our ongoing review of Our Direction 2023-2028 Niccola, Asma, Aleem, Hania, and Sarah hosted an online workshop for 25 community members. People shared their valuable perspectives on our core values and discussed whether the ambitions from our strategy are still relevant. The session was really insightful and helpful, so thanks to all those who took part. We will be going through the reflections shared during the workshop and the supporting survey, over the next few months, with the aim to share our findings during the summer.

Niccola and Asma, along with our collaborator Rianna, led an interactive workshop at the Engage Summit in Birmingham, a conference organised by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). Our workshop, ‘Telling the Story Together: Understanding the Difference Engagement Makes’ was co-designed and co-led by Emma Sarcol from the University of Oxford and Amy Cameron from the University of Dundee. Together, we introduced three practical approaches to evaluating engagement and involvement: Oxford University's Difference Framework and Toolkit, the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee's Public Engagement Evaluation Model, and Co-Production Collective's Learning by Doing approach.

Coming up

Our Anti-Racism Working Group will be meeting this month to discuss project updates and the development of our ant-racism strategy.

Niccola and Asma will be leading a ‘Ways of Working' session for Green Horizons Programme, which aims to develop and test a scalable model of disability-inclusive climate action, with Disabled people recognised as leaders in resilience at local, city and national level.  During the session they will recap project values, discuss ways of working, and conclude with a conversation around accessibility and safety.

Get involved

Join us at the Stronger Things Conference

New Local is hosting its annual Stronger Things Conference on Tuesday 16 June at the Guildhall in London. This one-day conference celebrates community power and aims to “reimagine the future of public services and unleash the potential in our places.” We’re looking for people who have previously been involved in our work as we will be delivering a workshop about co-production and would like your input into this. You’ll be paid in line with our payment policy, and your travel expenses and conference fee will be covered by us.

If you would like to take part, please complete this form by 9am Tuesday 2 June.  The successful person will be chosen at random.

Help shape research about blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections

The Health Protection Research Unit for Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections are looking for ten to twelve people to help shape their plans and direction. This is a partnership between University College London and the UK Health Security Agency, that carries out research to improve how we prevent, detect and respond to sexually transmitted infections in England.  

There are two ways you can get involved. You can either join the Public Contributor Panel, or if you have more time available you can join both the Public Contributor Panel and the Steering Group.  

The deadline to apply is: 12 noon on Friday 15th May

For more information and details about how to apply, please have read our blog post.

Job opportunity at Green Horizons (a programme we are part of)

Are you interested in leading an innovative project that aims to create inclusive, climate-resilient urban spaces for Disabled people in London? Over four years, Green Horizons will develop and test a scalable model of disability-inclusive climate action, with Disabled people recognised as leaders in resilience at local, city and national levels.

Green Horizons is being delivered by a partnership made up of Groundwork London, Inclusion London, Disability Rights UK, Inclusion Barnet and Co-Production Collective.

They are now looking for Programme Manager (Peer role) to support the planning, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring of this programme.

You can find out more and apply on this web page.

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 19 May.

Co-Pro Cuppas

Today we hosted a themed Cuppa on ‘Payment and alternatives to payment’. Thirty-five people attended and we a rich and varied discussion about the challenges organisations can face when paying people and how these can be overcome. As well as the importance of paying and rewarding people with lived and living experience in meaningful and non-tokenistic ways that work for them. We look forward to sharing more from what came out of this discussion in a future blog.

Our next Co-Pro Cuppa will be on Tuesday 2 June from 12.30-14:00 (UK time). You can find out more and book at the bottom of our Co-Pro Cuppa web page.

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Photo Credit: Canva Pro