In mid-June we brought together eight members of IMPACT’s Co-production Advisory Group (CpAG) from across the four nations of the UK for our second away day in Birmingham. This was a brilliant opportunity to connect, build on our relationships, and reflect on our co-production involvement.
The agenda was co-produced and planned with a subgroup of CpAG members, building on our reflections after from our first away day. We started the day with presentations and updates from each member on recent co-production work they have participated in.
In the last year, we have increased our involvement and engagement with co-production work across IMPACT – this means that we more than ever need to update each other on the work we are involved in so we can share feedback and learning across the projects.
We heard from Jacqui and Isaac on the anti-racism and co-production training they are involved in, and CpAG members look forward to attending a pilot session for this later in July. Ceri and Terry shared about the interview panels they have sat on as part of IMPACT’s recent recruitment, and the brilliant opportunity this gives them to have a voice on important decisions about the recruitment of new IMPACT staff. Chris shared that she had been involved in co-developing an interactive webinar about Understanding Evidence, and that she was proud to have hosted a breakout room for the first time. Ann Marie and Nat updated group members on their involvement as CpAG buddies supporting the Demonstrator project: Direct payment models of community support – IMPACT – and how their lived experience of direct payments in Scotland can inform the Demonstrator in England.
Our second session focused on updating CpAG about IMPACT’s future funding beyond 2027, and we began discussions on how CpAG can be involved in shaping these decisions.
We then shared a delicious lunch, with other colleagues from IMPACT’s central team joining us. It was lovely for colleagues to connect in person with people they may have only interacted with over email before. We had a lot of fun throughout the day snapping pictures on a Polaroid camera – we wanted to bring some joy and connection to the day as well as giving people a memento to take home with them.
In the afternoon, CpAG member Isaac Samuels led a session teaching the group about community reporting methods: ‘Community Reporting is a digital storytelling method that helps people to gather, and share lived experiences. We use it as a framework to transform stories into real-world change.’ (People’s Voice Media). Members paired up and recorded short videos sharing their reflections on meaningful changes they have seen through co-production in the last year.
We rounded off the day with reflections – sharing what we liked about the day, what it lacked, and what we like to see at future away days. We look forward to continuing our co-production work with IMPACT online, and seeing each other in person again next year.