New Public Governance, the Third Sector, and Co-Production

3  From Engagement to Co-Production

How Users and CommunitiesContribute to Public Services

Tony Bovaird and Elke Löffler

INTRODUCTION

Not so long ago—in the 1980s—public services were essentially seen as activities that professionals did to, or for, members of the public to achieve results “in the public interest.” Much has changed since then. We now believe that public services should be designed to bring about “outcomes,” not just “results,” and that these outcomes should, in large measure, correspond to those that service users and citizens see as valuable, not simply those that are seen as valuable by politicians, service managers and professionals. From being a kind of “marketeering” heresy in the 1980s, such views are now largely shared ...