Ruth Dineen's Blog (82)

The Co-production Network for Wales is launching a membership drive!

And sure as eggs is eggs it can't happen without you. More information and a link to the Membership Form is on the home page of…

Lots happening in Wales - and with your help we'll scale it up to lots more.

Check out our Network site, shriek with glee, and please pass it on!…

Help us kick-start the revolution! Expert Classes covering the what, why and how of co-pro, particularly in relation to the implementation of our (potentially radical) Social Services and Wellbeing Act.

Cardiff, 22 February, 9.30 - 16.00

Cardiff & Vale College, City Centre Campus, Dumballs Road, CF10 5BF.

Llandudno, 8 March, 9.30-16.00

Venue Cymru, Promenade, Llandudno, LL30 1BB.

Carmarthen, 15 March, 9.30 - 16.00

Halliwell Centre, University of Wales…

Sunshine, lollipops and hand-knitted bathers...

Anyone out there remember the profound horrors of the hand-knitted bathing costume? I had one in beige and green stripes. No-one asked me if I wanted one in beige and green stripes - choice wasn’t a big thing in 1950s childhoods as I recall - it simply appeared one year and hung around until…

In case you need a bit of cheering up amidst the gloom and despond here's a link to the latest Co-pro Wales blog...

Updates about our fabulous new Network staff; a proposal for an all-Wales time-bank; Edgar Cahn's next visit; serendipitous guinea-pigs and plenty to look forward to in spite of the collapse of society as we know it.

Happy co-prodding.…

We're on our way! Yesterday we launched our Lottery-funded Co-pro Network for Wales - aiming to create a Wales where everyone is valued as a contributor to the common good... Amazing people, radical ideas, inspiring stories, and the wonderful Edgar Cahn all the way from Washington to Welshpool. See the Storify of our launch event here.

Co-production Network for Wales: for a Wales where everyone is valued as a contributor to the common good.

We are looking for two exceptional members of staff - a Network Director and a Network Co-ordinator - to help us set up our member-led Co-pro Network for Wales. Here are the job adverts. Please share with the world.

NETWORK DIRECTOR / NETWORK CO-ORDINATOR

With three…

...and here's the press release to prove it!

Thanks to all of you who helped make this a reality.

Ruth Dineen (Co-pro Wales), Ruth Marks (WCVA), Adrian Roper (Cartrefi Cymru)…

Here it is! 21 cross-sector case studies, an explanation of what co-pro is and isn't and a pile of resources. Please share, read, contribute and help change the world!…

Here it is - an overview of the bid we've just submitted to the Lottery. That's the glorious Cartrefi Cymru along with Co-pro Wales and Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA). We present it to the Committee on 15 December.

Thanks to everyone who have helped to make it happen.…

It's been a bit like attending your first ever foxtrot class wearing one slipper and one thigh-high platform boot and realising that the music is being supplied by a small child in 3/4 time with a comb and paper. One step forward, two back, a sideways shuffle, fall over. Then change partners and do it again backwards. Repeat for several years.

BUT...progress! Big Lottery have invited us to submit a full bid for a Co-production Network for Wales. Deadline November. Presentation to the…

Many of you will know that our campaigning and networking efforts in Co-production Wales have been self-funding - and the piggy bank is now more-or-less empty.

So Noreen is leaving Co-production Wales to return to her previous vocation of life and business coach, working with people experiencing change, with freelancers and the self-employed, and with ethical leaders.

She has given us a fantastic goodbye present via the…

A celebratory final (for now) Newsletter with a whole pile of reasons to be cheerful - and a couple of reasons to feel peeved (but I expect we'll get over it!) http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=aace0428f6d355ad2e8fd4244&id=367c700dbf#mctoc14

Huge thanks to Noreen who has done such a fab job of creating, collating and editing the Newsletter over the past two years and best wishes…

Over the past two years, we have, collectively, helped to build an active and knowledgeable community of practice in Wales, internationally acknowledged and often world-leading.

The result has been a slow but sure shift in the direction of transformative co-production, the first tentative steps towards a realignment of the relationship between state and citizens based on trust, on equal and reciprocal relationships. We have a potentially radical Social Services & Well-being Act, a…

More than 100 organisations and individuals have pledged support for our proposal to establish a Co-production Network for Wales. They include the Care Council, the Bevan Commission, Public Health Wales, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Wales Public Services 2025, the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, Royal College of Physicians, our Sustainability Commissioner and Plaid Cymru's leader Leanne Wood. And a raft of third sector organisations, local authorities and academics. Please spread the word:…

The Welsh Government have just launched their Prudent Healthcare strategy – intended to save the NHS in Wales. http://www.prudenthealthcare.org.uk/ph/

And here’s an interesting thing…fresh from his appearance in our radical new Social Services & Well-being Act (Wales), the glorious Edgar Cahn pops up again in our Health Minister’s introduction:…

The media, and others, often forget that Wales has a Health Minister of its very own. And he's a co-production champion. Feel free to comment on today's statement from the Institute of Welsh Affairs:

http://www.clickonwales.org/2014/08/the-new-bargain-at-the-centre-of-welsh-healthcare/

Powerful blog by Dave Horton, community worker and director of Action in Caerau-Ely, a sprawling suberb of Cardiff where he lives with his family. Raises profound questions about what we mean when we commit to co-production..

http://allinthistogetherwales.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/love-a-dangerous-game/

We're working with Participation Cymru to create an Asset Map of co-production in Wales - and to get your support to keep the pressure on the Welsh Government to deliver on their co-pro commitments (they are doing exceptionally well so far I must say!). If you live or work in Tom Jones country, please help us by completing our 5 minute survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/coproassetmap - part of our collective strategy to make…

25 of us from LAs, Welsh Government, community and third sector have spent the day learning about commissioning for co-production: superb, evidence-based presentations from Julia (nef) and from the splendid Penni and Kate from Cornwall Council who drove all the way to Wales to share their experiences. A knockout day, jam-packed with useful stuff and interesting discussions. And more tomorrow. Ah joy!

If you are involved in the commissioning world and get the chance to attend one of…