The Relationship Between Public Engagement and Coproduction.

• Author: Lemmie, Valerie
• Position: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND COPRODUCTION

In considering the institutional and civic benefits of public engagement in the budgeting process, we need to acknowledge the relationship between public engagement and coproduction. Elinor Ostrom defines coproduction as "a process through which inputs from individuals who are not 'in' the same organization are transformed into goods and services." (1)

Rather than playing a passive role, with government acting on their behalf, citizens can act as coproducers with government, becoming active contributors "in the conception, design, steering and management of public goods and services." (2) Their contributions provide an economic value to government in increased efficiency and effectiveness, values that should be recognized and captured in the budget. Coproduction also fosters equity and inclusion as all citizens in a neighborhood or community can participate in the work to be done. Local government can help facilitate coproduction and the benefits accrued by creating places for civic learning, neutral spaces where citizens and government can learn to work together in more democratic and complementary ways to produce the goods and services that are important to them.

All communities have civic resources and assets, though they are often unrecognized by public officials. Resources including skills, historic knowledge, time, associational life, and entrepreneurial networks are made visible through coproduction. When community assets and resources are combined with the expertise and resources of local government, a synergy develops that results in collaborative outcomes that promote democratic work and a culture of public engagement, inclusion, and complementary public acting, or coproduction.

Public engagement works best when it is woven into the fabric of civic life, creating a culture of shared problem-solving. It is more than an initiative dusted off at budget time and then mothballed until the following year. It includes a series of democratic practices or behaviors that allow people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, with varying opinions, interests, and perspectives, to put their differences aside and, through deliberation, find common ground upon which to act. In finding common ground, citizens and government develop an informed consensus on how to solve the difficult, often divisive public problems they face.

Coproduction is about building civic capacity and aligning professional routines with the work citizens do to fix public...