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

4  Co-Production

Contested Meanings andChallenges for User Organizations

Benjamin Ewert and Adalbert Evers

INTRODUCTION

In the field of social services, co-production has become a buzzword for a set of instruments and ways of working that are meant to produce better outcomes in terms of service quality and efficiency. We understand co-production as a notion that refers to exchange relationships that include several dimensions of interaction (e.g., dialogue, practical matters and cooperation); it can relate to individual service relationships at the microlevel, as well as to the links between organizations at the mesolevel of the welfare system (Brandsen and Pestoff, 2006).

As some authors have already emphasized, as a vehicle for better, smarter ...