Co-produce our Associate Roles with us!

What is this all about?

Co-Production Collective is going from strength to strength, meaning that the team needs help to meet the demands of co-production. We are doing more and more projects in partnership with other organisations to support them to co-produce, and we need more hands on deck!

We are reaching out to our co-production community for that help, and will be sticking to our values all the way: to be human, transparent, inclusive and challenging. As usual we will be ‘co-producing the co-production’ by working together to develop a way of involving people in paid roles (currently with a working title of associates) to help with co-production projects at Co-Production Collective.

We would never think of writing the criteria for an associate, the role description, and the contract in isolation, as we are about doing things differently. To start with, do we even want to use that language – is ‘associate’ even the right word for how we want to work with our community on projects?

Co-production means avoiding the easy way out. We need help to work out how to involve people, pay people, support people, assign roles to people, and many more questions. We want to make this process fair and equitable; drawing on everybody’s diverse skill sets. If you are up for a challenge which involves creative uncertainty and unique answers, please sign up to join us for these co-production associate sessions.

Who can get involved?

Anyone who is interested in being an ‘associate’ working on projects with Co-Production Collective!

These sessions are aimed at people who would be interested in leading or helping to run various projects. Being an associate therefore involves a different level of responsibility and commitment compared to coming in as a co-producer for one or more sessions to share your perspective and experiences. Examples of work associates may be doing for Co-Production Collective include:

• Running or helping facilitate workshops
• Qualitative or quantitative research
• Conducting interviews
• Being the lead on a project (e.g. overseeing and organising activities within it)

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When are the sessions taking place? - **Please note: these sessions have now ended, please do not sign up**

• Session 1: 13 June 10am-12pm - this session will be quite open and exploratory. It will include discussions around our principles for working with people in paid roles

• ‍Session 1 (repeat): 15 June 10am-12pm - same session as above. You only need to sign up to one of these, either 13 or 15 June.

• Session 2: 30 June 2pm – 4pm - in this session we will focus on more detailed questions around the associate role and explore and clarify how it’s different from getting involved as a co-producer.

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Where are the sessions taking place?

After gathering preferences from initial registrations, we will be running these sessions on Zoom to ensure accessibility. We will send dial-in details to participants nearer the time.

Payment

If you would like to be paid for your time we can offer £75 for each session, £150 if you attend both sessions.

Sign-up

Please sign up via this Eventbrite link for Session 1 on 13 June, this link for Session 1 on 15 June and this link for Session 2 on 30 June. Number of attendees is limited to 30 people in each session. Due to the high level of interest in this session, we will run Session 1 twice. You only need to sign up to one of these (13 or 15 June). If sessions are fully booked, please do add your name to the waiting list and we will free up places if possible.

A note from Mandy, who will be in co-facilitating the sessions:

Having a meeting about an idea that is quite unformed can be exciting and daunting. I struggle with that sense of not knowing what I am doing. More importantly, any anxieties are compounded by the pressure to look as if I do know what I am doing. The joy of working with the Co-Production Collective is that I feel I can be transparent and honest about that sense of uncertainty because that is the point.  

In order to co-produce, we have to start from a place of uncertain exploration; not knowing all the answers, and avoiding the temptation to assume or predetermine things to satisfy our need to feel in control. In this spirit, we are really looking forward to co-producing the associate role with you.

Mandy Rudczenko

A note from Isaac, who will be in co-facilitating the sessions:

This is a great opportunity for the Collective not only to go from strength to strength but for individuals to grow their skills/ knowledge and contribute to the work in a different way.

As somebody who has had multiple disadvantages and lacked self-esteem and self-worth, that really played out when it came to me doing more in co-production. Developing my own skill set for co-production has been lifechanging. This is a great opportunity for people not only to be involved, but to develop their own skills and to contribute in a different way.

We look forward to being part of your journey, and in turn you being part of the Co-Production Collective’s journey in really embedding co-production and disrupting the status quo. The more that we lead, the more we can influence.

Isaac Samuels

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