Many thanks to Robin Causley, Funding Adviser at Torbay Community Development Trust, for asking us to share details of the following excellent resource.
Stronger Together – Ageing Better’s co-production toolkit has been co-created by the 14 national Ageing Better programmes across England.
Ageing Better is a seven year, £87 million investment to improve the lives of people aged over 50 by addressing social isolation and loneliness within local communities, and includes Bristol Ageing Better and Ageing Well Torbay.
Co-production has been at the very heart of Ageing Better’s work. The voices of older people have been involved within every aspect of our programme – from the setting up, dissemination, design, & delivery, through to the evaluation of services, projects & activities for people aged 50 and over.
Part of the Ageing Better legacy has been the development of an interactive Toolkit, a one stop, user friendly space where people can share their collective experiences across the last 6 years. The extensive learning is brought to you through a beautifully illustrated PDF document which sets the scene, linking to hundreds of stories, tools and resources available at your fingertips.
The toolkit is organised into 12 distinct co-production themes:
1. Creating a co-production culture.
2. Community development through micro-funding.
3. Tackling ageism through co-production & age friendly communities.
4. Co-production within coastal & rural communities.
5. Tackling loneliness through co-commissioning.
6. Empowering communities through partnership working.
7. Co-researching within the community.
8. Growing sustainable groups.
9. Diversity& inclusion.
10. Creativity in co-production.
11. Asset based community development, and
12. Co-production in a crisis.
If you are looking to use a co-production approach to involve people in the design of services, projects or activities that impact them and their communities, then this Toolkit is for you. Whether you’re just starting out with co-production, or looking to refine your methods to meet a specific challenge, you’ll find plenty of useful insights and inspiring stories in the Toolkit.
Ageing Better have produced an “About this Toolkit” document to users get to grips with how the Toolkit works, what you can expect to find within and the best way to find what you need in a way that works for you.
The Toolkit itself is available at this LINK.
If you have any questions about Ageing Better or the Toolkit, would like to be connected with any of the contributors, or would like to find out how to host Stronger Together on your website, please contact customercollaboration@syha.co.uk.
