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Navigating Anti-Racism and Co-production

Navigating Anti-Racism and Co-production

How our commitment to anti-racism shapes our work and what we are doing to advocate for this approach in all co-production spaces.

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Outputs
Blogs
Past Events
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Project Summaries

As part of our efforts to explore how we can become an anti-racist community we launched a project with People’s Voice Media in October 2023 to understand the experiences within co-production of individuals from racialised backgrounds and global majority communities. This project resulted in the launch of our ‘Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces: Centring the Voices of Racialised Individuals Report ‘ in February 2025 as well as the launch of our Amplifying Voices Programme. Since then, our work on anti-racism has deeply shaped our work and practices at Co-Production Collective. This has not been a separate strand of activity, but something that has run through our ways of working, our relationships, and our understanding of power, voice, and lived experience. What began as a series of conversations, learning spaces, and training sessions has grown into a clearer, more intentional anti-racist approach and strategy.

This work has been grounded in the belief that co-production cannot be meaningful if it does not actively challenge racism, structural inequality, and the ways that systems silence or marginalise racialised people. Anti-racism is not an optional extra; it is central to how we create shared power, value lived experience, and work towards social justice.

In October 2025 we established Global Majority-led Anti-Racism Working Group bringing together racialised co-producers, allies, staff, and academic partners to guide and oversee the next phase of work. They identified three priority workstreams for 2025 and 2026:

  • Development of an organisational Anti-Racism Strategy, including looking at how we might need to redevelop our core values and ways of working.
  • Creation of safety-focused guidance in a Collective Safety Resource to support anti-racist practice while minimising harm.
  • Development of educational resources and training on anti-racism in co-production.  

You can read more about we are progressing with these workstreams on the Outputs and Blogs tabs of these pages.

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Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces: Centring the Voices of Racialised Individuals Report

Published February 2025 in partnership with People’s Voice Media

The project came from concerns raised about the negative experiences of racialised people in co-production settings, and the racism in these spaces that mirrors that of wider society. We gathered and curated 37 stories to collect key learnings and produce some actionable recommendations.

These are the recommendations of the report:

  • Centre the voices of racialised individuals
  • Create spaces for open dialogue about race
  • Commit to anti-racism as an ongoing process
  • Empower Global Majority leadership

There are a number of ways to explore the Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces: Centring the Voices of Racialised Individuals Report:

• ‍Read the Full Insight Report - available as a PDF with single page spreads or as PDF showing double page spreads or as a Word document.

• Read the Summary version of the Insight Report - available as a PDF or as a Word document.

• **Coming soon!** A video version of the Insight Report Summary and other accessible versions of the Full Report.

Please also explore our collection of video clips (via You Tube).

Please help us promote these resources by sharing them on social media. You can find posts from us on Bluesky and LinkedIn.

Accessible versions

We also have the following accessible versions of the Report available to download from a Google Drive folder:

  • A screen reader friendly version - as a Word document and as a PDF document.
  • A large font version - as a Word document.
  • An audio version - as a MP3 file.
  • Versions of the Interactive summary in Braille, EPUB, DAISY, MOBI.

If you would like a different format or another version of Braille not listed please ask us, we will happily send this to you - please contact us via email on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk.

Community Commitments

Our community commitments support how we work together in Co-Production Collective’s group sessions. They centre anti-racist principles and best practice in inclusivity. We share and explain our Community Commitments at the start of all our sessions and ask people to honour them.

If you require these tips in any other format please contact coproduction@ucl.ac.uk

Collective Safety Tips

Our Collective Safety Tips acknowledges the privacy challenges that come with co-production. These safety tips are designed to encourage our community members to prioritise their  own safety and to hold organisations accountable  in relation to being proactive about creating as safe a space as possible when co-producing. This is now an integral part of our sessions and projects. If you require these tips in any other format please contact coproduction@ucl.ac.uk

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Illustration by Kareen Cox of five adults sitting around a table in a meeting room, engaged in conversation. One person holds a tablet, and a noticeboard hangs on the wall behind them.
Learning

Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-production Spaces: one year on

In this blog we reflect on how anti-racism has been integrated into how we work over the past year as well as our plans for the future.

February 12, 2026
February 16, 2026
A diverse group illustration showing six people of different ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds standing together and smiling. They wear varied clothing and hairstyles, representing inclusivity and community - Illustration by Kareen Cox of Absolutely Kareen.
Get Involved

Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces Report - 9 months on

An update on how we have begun to action recommendations from the ‘Anti-Racism in Co-production Spaces’ report and how you can get involved.

November 27, 2025
November 27, 2025
Photo of handwritten text in black ink on a wall reads: “Black joy is me being able to live openly, loudly and freely, as I am…” The word “joy” is written in orange ink.Photo taken by Issac Samuels at the Anti Racist Cumbria Summit
Learning

Celebrating Black History Month: Honoring the legacy and joy of Black communities

This Black History Month, Co-Production Collective wants to celebrate members of our community and some of the brilliant contributions and achievements they have made to our work.

October 23, 2025
October 24, 2025
Photo of a global majority person's hand holding a white woman's hand - Photo credit Canva
Learning

Recognising and Acknowledging White Privilege: My Journey in Becoming an Ally

In this blog Vita shares her journey in understanding and acknowledging her privilege as a white person and becoming a better ally for people from the Global Majority.

February 24, 2025
February 24, 2025
Ilustration of 6 people from racialised backgrounds by Kareen Cox (showing their head and shoulders) on the top left there is image of a man win blue jumper with dreadlocks in the middle is a woman in a blue jumper saying be kind on the right is a woman wearing hijab on the bottom row is an older man with a beard next to woman with glasses wearing a jumper with blue blue flowers next to a man wearing a turban
Learning

Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces: Centring the Voices of Racialised Individuals

In this blog Isaac Samuels introduces key themes and recommendations from the 'Understanding Anti-Racism in Co-Production Spaces' report supported by us and People's Voice Media

February 18, 2025
February 19, 2025
Photo of hand writing 'Acting' on piece of paper with the words 'Cheerleading and Curiosity' and 'Empathy' and 'Gentleness and Kind' in red and ' Asking questions' in black ink with some post its on as well
Get Involved

Changemakers Wanted: Amplifying Voices 2025-2026

In this blog Isaac Samuels & Cecily Henry tell you about an opportunity to be part of Amplifying Voices 2025-2026, a new change makers programme in partnership with People’s Voice Media and Co-Production Collective, funded by The National Lottery Fund.

February 6, 2025
February 6, 2025
photo of a broken paper heart on black background
News

Standing in solidarity in troubled times

In this blog, Isaac Samuels and Samantha-Jane Ofoegbu who have been facilitating our anti racism work at Co-Production Collective, share their thoughts on the pain and injustice affecting our communities. They offer some advice on turning our solidarity into tangible support.

January 29, 2025
August 13, 2024
A close up of lots of different colorful lights. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
News

Racism within co-production: exploring ways we can be an anti-racism co-production community

Find out about our new project with People's Voice Media that aims to achieve anti-racism in co-production.

October 31, 2023
October 31, 2023
Two hands making the freedom sign with their fingers, one hand has black skin and one has white skin (Credit: Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash)
News

Our next steps in becoming an anti-racist community

An update on how we plan to move forwards with our work on becoming an anti-racist community.

November 25, 2022
November 25, 2022
A series of photos of black people with a black person in silhouette in front of the photos
Get Involved

What would it mean for Co-Production Collective to be an anti-racist community?

A group of us got together recently to talk about racism and how Co-Production Collective could start to have a conversation about what being an anti-racist community really means

October 27, 2022
October 27, 2022
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