Coproduction of public services
Z Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej
COPRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SERVICES – direct involvement of citizens as equal partners in the process of planning, designing, delivering and evaluating public services. The aim of c. is to improve the quality of public services by adapting them to the needs and expectations expressed by recipients, i.e. citizens. The idea of c. originates from the United States and originally boiled down to direct involvement of citizens or clients of the public or private sector in the production of services (in the 1970s). Nowadays, there has been a shift from the traditional model that emphasized the full and exclusive responsibility of the public sector for the supply of public services towards treatment of c. as an approach based on cooperation of public administration with citizens and requiring a significant contribution from both sides. This redefinition has changed the role of the citizen – from the consumer of public services offered by the administration to one actively involved in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of public services [ E. Szulc-Wałecka ].
Literature: S.P. Osborne, The new public governance? Emerging perspectives on the theory and practice of public governance, London 2010 ■ Partycypacja publiczna. O uczestnictwie obywateli w życiu wspólnoty lokalnej [Public participation. On participation of citizens in the life of the local community], ed. A. Olech, Warszawa 2011 ■ Together for Better Public Services: Partnering with Citizen and Civil Society, OECD 2011.